Boston Celtics' Tony Allen Alleged to Have Directed Shooting in Chicago Restaurant

Tony Allen, who is about to begin his second NBA season, will be interviewed by Chicago police concerning a shooting that occurred in a Chicago restaurant last week. Allen, accompanied by Celtics' teammate Will Bynum and an entourage of about 15 people, is said to have gotten into a heated argument with the victim, Marktwain Johnson, prior to Johnson being shot in the left arm and left side. Johnson alleges that when the verbal argument escalated to a point of serious confrontation, Allen directed someone in his entourage to "F--- him up," and then shots were fired.

It should be noted that Allen has not been charged with any crime. At this point, all we know is that he will be interviewed by the Chicago Police Department about the shooting.

This story is interesting for at least two reasons. One, Allen's exceptional defensive skills have sometimes drawn comparisons to those of Ron Artest. And now, his apparent off-court defensive "skills" might also draw comparisons to those of Artest.

Second, Allen is yet another college graduate (Oklahoma State'04) in the NBA who has apparently gotten in trouble with the law. In my recent study on arrest propensity among NBA players and age/education, I found a peculiar and counter-intuitive trend: NBA players with four years of college represent a disproportionately high percentage of arrested NBA players, while those with no college or one year of college represent a disproportionately low percentage. In his column from last month in the Portland Tribune, Dwight Jaynes discusses the study and offers several explanations.

See 9/24/05 Update: The Tony Allen Story: Gunshots, Punches, and Mysterious Knee Injuries

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