Dear Ray,

That wasn’t nice. Not nice at all. We offered you twice as much money as Miami, a no trade clause, and an opportunity to cement your legacy as one of the greatest Celtics ever. Heck, we might have retired your number. Not anymore. Since you followed LeBron and took your talents to South Beach, consider your reputation stained, very, very heavily.

Many of us lost respect for you, some hate you, and others are simply heartbroken. We will no longer cheer when you take the floor. In fact, you may here some serious booing. However, most of us will simply be indifferent to you.

If you had gone to any other team in the league, we would love you. If you had picked up the phone when the Knicks, Grizzlies, or Timberwolves called, you would be welcomed back to Boston with mighty cheers and decorative signs announcing your celebrated homecoming. But Miami was just too tempting for you, and too hated by us.

Besides, we can’t blame you for taking half the money to play with the most hated team in the league. Oh wait. Yes we can. While it will be easy to simply hate you for leaving us, we have to remember the kind of guy you are. There was no “decision”, you didn’t make us think you were going to stay, and you never had anything bad to say about your team or the city of Boston.

So, forgive me for writing you such a short goodbye, we are in the process of cleaning out your locker for Danny Ainge. He’s going to need the space to put all the extra money he has lying around now. Maybe we’ll use that to buy Jason Terry some new shoes or something. Maybe we’ll take the new big 3 out to dinner. Oh, and tell Dwayne Wade we said hi, you can tell him as you pass him coming off the bench. I would tell you good luck, but I wouldn’t mean it. As it pains us to say so, you helped bring Banner #17 to the TD Garden, and while we are hurt now, we are still grateful for that. We’re really mad at you now, Ray. But deep down, we love you…I think.

Sincerely,
The Great City of Boston

P.S. Tell your mother we said goodbye, we really will miss having her in the stands.