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Pierce: Ray Allen was 'the Barack Obama of the NBA'

Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS

Ray Allen officially announced the end of his NBA career just as Barack Obama is bracing for the conclusion of his two-term presidency. And according to Allen's former Boston Celtics teammate Paul Pierce, that isn't the only parallel between the two.

"I would consider Ray the Barack Obama of the NBA," Pierce told The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears. "He spoke really well. Not that he is not intelligent, but he would come off really well. He can convince you pretty much about anything."

Allen may have picked up a thing or two from the Commander in Chief, with whom he's shared golf outings in the past.

To hear Pierce tell it, Allen was a stabilizing force on the championship-winning Celtics team that featured the two of them and the flammable Kevin Garnett (who also recently announced his retirement).

"He was like the political side of our basketball team," Pierce said of Allen. "He was the even-keeled demeanor of our basketball team, which made us so unique. KG was really intense. I was kind of in the middle. Then you had Ray to kind of balance us out."

Though he didn't go so far as to compare him to the president, Doc Rivers, who coached those Celtics teams, was equally effusive in his praise for Allen's professionalism and all-round studiousness.

"A pro's pro," Rivers called him. "People have no idea how hard he worked on his craft. I never had to worry if Ray was ready or not. I always appreciated that."

"If he saw you reading a book, it was guaranteed the next day he would have it," Rivers said of Allen's famed literary proclivities. "He was a seeker of information."

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