When DeAndre Liggins was at Kentucky, he was told by John Calipari that he would have to play defense in order to win consistent minutes in the NBA.

The message stuck with Liggins and he started looking at the way Tony Allen plays.

"His grit, his toughness," Liggins said of his admiration for Allen following Monday's practice ahead of back-to-back games against the Grizzlies. "My thing is to stay ready and my opportunity has presented itself and just come in and bring that tenacity on the defensive end, take open shots and make them."

Tyronn Lue can see the comparison as he was an assistant coach with the Celtics when Allen was on the team.

"Defensively, yeah," Lue said. "T.A. (Tony Allen) is smaller, but I think he might be stronger -- T.A. is a strong guy. Liggs can shoot it better. T.A. actually played point guard for us for 10 games I think and did a great job. He's a very smart player. It's crazy to see that you play the 2 or 3 and then move him to the point guard and he knew all the plays, all the positions and it's crazy. They have similarities for sure. If (Liggins) can keep playing like that then I mean, T.A. won a championship. Tough, gritty player that everybody would love to have on their team."

Liggins has played overseas and has also been named the D-League Defensive Player of the Year on two occasions. 

Liggins grew up in Chicago as Allen did.

"Me and T.A. we grew up kind of in the same dirt," Liggins said. "We always have that competitive edge to us, that chip on our shoulders and teams like that. Every team needs a guy like that on their team to pick up a guy 94 feet and to make a guy rattled a little bit. That's what I bring to this team."