Ray Allen is a fool if he picks a Western Conference team

Free agent guard Ray Allen hasn’t committed to an NBA team just yet, but all signs point to him following LeBron James to Cleveland.

Allen said this summer that he wants to make the decision in September.  We’re now into the second week of October and less than three weeks from the start of the regular season. I find it hard to believe the veteran sharpshooter hasn’t made up his mind.

WHY IS HE STILL UNDECIDED?

If he’s already made the decision, what’s the point of not announcing it?

Let’s face it — at 39 years old, Allen will likely call it a career either after this season or the following year. If we can safely assume that much, then we can basically narrow down the list of team’s he’s apparently still considering to the following five franchises: the Cavaliers, Bulls, Thunder, Spurs and Clippers.

Other teams have a decent shot at making the NBA Finals — namely the Mavericks and Rockets — but Allen is the prototypical veteran who wants to win, and wants to win now.

The way Marc Stein of ESPN characterized today Allen’s timing on an announcement, it should be any day now.

Chris Broussard of ESPN has been saying all summer that Cleveland is the front-runner, and it makes sense. Any team with LeBron is the favorite to win it all. That’s no slight to the reigning champion Spurs, who have quietly gone about their business early on in the season for the past 15 years and then find themselves in the thick of the title hunt  virtually every June.

LeBron has been to the Finals four years in a row. He’s won two of those times, is still in the prime of his career and has a renewed sense of hunger to bring Cleveland its first NBA title. I really don’t need to tell you the reasons why he makes any team a title contender.

EAST VS. WEST – WHICH HAS A TOUGHER ROAD TO GLORY?

The current Cavs team is similar to that Heat squad of the past four seasons in one obvious way: a big three of three likely future Hall of Famers followed by a bunch of role players. James, Love and Kyrie are a better core than what Miami had in James, Bosh and Wade. I can’t see how Allen figures the Cavaliers will not come out of the East to put themselves in a position to win it all in the NBA Finals. The Bulls are obviously right there in the mix, but their success largely depends on the health of Derrick Rose. Even with Rose at 100 percent, I don’t see them beating LeBron and the Cavs in an entire series.

Allen could sign with the Rockets, Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, etc., but that team will have a much tougher time making it out of the Western Conference than the Cavs will have out East, where the conference is still fairly lopsided despite encouraging signs out of Chicago and Washington.

So why the waiting game? What could Allen still be considering at this point?

To me, the decision should be clear: Ray-Ray should follow LeBron to Cleveland, get his third NBA ring and end his career on a high note.