At 36, Allen continues to work as if he's trying to win a roster spot.
Boston Celtics' Ray Allen, left, drives past Detroit Pistons' Damien Wilkins in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Boston, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011. The Celtics won 96-85. Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers loves to tell stories about Ray Allen's work ethic.
They started out small, but over the years, as he's gotten to know Allen better, they've evolved into more fantastic fables that you likely wouldn't believe if you didn't know the hero.
The latest one came after Friday's win over the Pistons.
"He golfs all day during the summer, but he still gets it in. He does what he wants to do, but he'll still get into the gym," Rivers said with a wipe of the brow, as if he was sweating at the thought. "I don't know how he does it, I really don't. It's amazing."
I don't know about you, but I'm spent after slicing the ball onto the wrong fairway for nine holes, but not Allen. At 36, an age when most articulate players such as him move onto the broadcast booth, he continues to excel.
He's currently averaging a clean 20 points on 58.1 percent shooting from the floor, and unofficially leads the league in screens run around. Watch a Celtics game and it's easy to figure out why he's their most efficient player right now.
Here's a hit: he's the only one in midseason shape.
"When I went through (the last lockout) back in '99, I saw all the guys that came in out of shape," Allen explained. "That's just all I thought about when I worked out.
"I was like, 'Don't be that guy,' because everybody's like, 'You're one of the older guys.' You come back in and you're not in shape, they're going to expect that from you, and I was like, 'I'm going to be on the other side of that,' because, what I did, working out-wise, I knew nobody did what I did."
I'm not ashamed to say that I admire Allen's work ethic.
Of all the athletes I've covered in the last year since coming here, he and the youths who take part in Steve Berube's Unified Sports Program are the only ones that have truly inspired me to try and better myself.
Sure, other players work hard and amaze me with their play on a nightly basis.
Seeing Tom Brady's efficiency in person on a weekly basis is the greatest gift I've ever received as a sports fan, and watching Dustin Pedroia defy odds each time he takes the field isn't bad, either.
But Allen is different. He's been blessed with a plethora of natural talent, yet he still works to be the best he can be. It's nothing to see him still shooting jumpers or running on a treadmill hours after practice while his teammates are already back home on the couch.
If someone that great at what he does still works that hard to be better, what does it say about those of us – myself included – who count down the hours of the day or rush off that next article or report?
It makes you think and take a moral audit of yourself.
Now if he could just have the same effect on Kevin Garnett, maybe the Celtics' slogan of "We are not South Beach" would begin to carry its intended meaning.