Is Daequan Cook Ray Allen's Mirror?

There is one thing observation that I cannot stop making and last night didn't help. We all have those comparisons - the kind where we wonder what it would be like to watch one athlete play against another from a different era. We call them throwbacks, sometimes. Like watching a rerun, we stop to wonder if a player of the present would matchup well with a great from the past. We wonder would Barry Bonds one-up the Babe? Would Shaq dunk on the Stilt?

Well, I know that this isn't quite on that level, but isn't eerie how similar Daequan Cook's game is to Ray Allen's? Or it it just me?

Well, maybe some people are getting it. This little dialog was found in the Sun-Sentinel - although Skolnick doesn't seem to be making an apparent comparison (I'll do that instead):

"I love his game," Cook said of Boston's Ray Allen.

Allen has honed his offensive game over 12 seasons, and that savvy showed even when Cook defended the six-time All-Star well. Once, Allen went right, then left, then ballfaked, getting Cook into the air, getting the foul. But Cook also played some part in Allen missing 12 straight shots.

"I like his game," Allen said. "He's solid, he can shoot the ball, he's strong. It's going to be about his work ethic, and how he attacks the game. He's got to want it more than somebody else wants it. I like, so far, his makeup."

I just can't help but think of this as a "pot and kettle" situation. Both players have similar shots - just watch their mechanics. They have quick releases and need very little space (and time) to shoot. They also are adept at creating offense without the ball - they can move without the ball and create scoring opportunities. Cook even has, get this!, an affinity for the finger roll! Sure, he can dunk (see the game in Boston where he dunked over Po-Z) and so can Ray Allen - just neither prefer to (although you get the sense Cook has a bit more flair).

The draft day trade of Jason Smith for Daequan Cook has been, so far, one of the few things that has gone right for the Heat this offseason. Riley has to play Cook because, well, no one else can shoot the ball. With Cook, he has a guy who is not afraid to shoot at all, and is pretty darned good at it. He can help spread out the defense and can come off the bench. His game is improving each time out and his defense is becoming pretty good - it is early.

So I wonder, what would Ray Allen say if you asked him, point blank, if he saw any of himself in this rookie. I feel certain he would say, 'yes'.