Tony Allen was one of the best defenders in the NBA. He spent 14 years in the association, facing some of the toughest matchups in the league’s history.
During this time, he met some complex rivals that made his life very hard. Recently, he opened up on the toughest competitors he had to face. Kobe Bryant named him his toughest defender. Allen paid respect to the Black Mamba but admitted that his toughest matchup was somebody else.
Talking on The Ryen Rusillo Show, Tony revealed the Dwyane Wade, and his versatility made him a tough player to guard, even harder than going against Kobe (4:12).
“Although Kobe is cold, big respects to Kob, but I just think when I used to against my hometown coworker D-Wade at the time, I thought he was always trying to go at my head. And I thought it was my duty to try and stop him. Boy, was he tough. He gets to that line, he slashed, he wasn’t just your typical superstar where he just catches it in the post or catch it on the wing and just go to work.”
He was dominant during his prime and his skillset was something different. Wade always found the way to score and that drove defenders crazy, including the former Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies star.
“He used to pick and roll sometimes, he’d be in the offense. If he can’t get his shot going off the pull-up, back door cuts. You’ve got to be aware of a superstar staying this active, watching the offensive rebound, he might come tip dunk. I thought every time that I got a chance to play, he performed and it was difficult. I don’t know the numbers. But I know for a fact if I could look at the numbers for sure, Dwyane Wade, he used to give me fits man.”
There you go. Although Kobe earned Allen’s respect for all the things he did, there was no more significant menace for him than D-Wade. Flash was really something else, giving nightmares to defenders on his way to winning three NBA championships.
