With all of the recent chatter about how the NBA referees will supposedly be issuing technical fouls at the mere sight of a player sneezing in their direction, it's natural for Celtic fans to feel a bit uneasy. After all, they have essentially re-written the book on how to get rung up for a variety of reasons. Just choose a random game from 2007 through 2010 and there's a solid chance you'll see someone on the C's generously donating a portion of their paycheck to the league. We all know that Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnett get their fair share of technicals. But none of them can claim ownership of the title of: "Biggest Whiner."
That distinction belongs none other to Ray Allen, at least statistically speaking. The Wall Street Journal actually kept track of such stats as complaining after getting whistled for a foul, and here's a sampling of what they came up with:
These stats were compiled through the first 5 games of the NBA Finals, and only consist of data from those 5 games. Admittedly I'm a few months behind on this piece by the Wall Street Journal, and didn't notice it while I was in Los Angeles for Games 6 and 7. Either way it's relatively surprising that Ray Ray is ranked that high. Especially since he's widely considered such a class act for a lot of reasons, as evidenced by his WEEI interview this morning, among many others.
SI.com has a photo gallery that lists the "Top 16 Whiners" in the NBA, with Perk and Paul Pierce joining Ray on the list. The list does not appear to be in any particular order, but it's hilarious to see Kobe Bryant on the first slide.