Before I piss off all of the Knicks
fans out there, please allow me qualify myself before I say what I’m going to
say about Allan Houston:
·
I’ve been a devoted Knicks fan, my entire life,
in fact, in my humble opinion; I believe that I am the most knowledgeable
Knicks fan on the planet. I challenge anyone to find someone who knows more
about my Knicks than I do (including you Spike).
·
I have
watched every second of every game Allan Houston has ever played for the Knicks.
·
Throughout
my life, I’ve met Allan Houston several times, most recently at the Microsoft
Store in White Plains, New York. He is one of the nicest people I have ever
met.
With that being said, I believe Allan
Houston is the most overrated Knick of all time.
When I think of New York Knick legends,
players like Patrick Ewing, Willis Reed, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Dave Debusschere
and coach Red Holtzman are the first names that usually come to my head. In no
particular order, those are the five greatest Knicks in their 68-year
history. Yes, it is okay to include
coach Red Holtzman in that group; he brought the organization their only two
championships and is one of the 10 greatest NBA coaches of all time. And no, I did not forget about the other Knick
legends such as Bill Bradley, Dick Barnett, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, and Dick
McGuire. Those guys are Knick legends as well, but they just are not on the
same level as the previous five guys that I mentioned.
But if someone were to ask the majority
of the Knicks fan base what they think about Allan Houston, most people would
tell you that he is in fact, a Knick legend.
In fact, Allan Houston was number eight on Espn’s article “The 25
Greatest Knicks”, ahead of guys like Dick McGuire, John Starks and Charles
Oakley. On February 23, 2011 during
halftime of Carmelo’s first game as a Knick against the Milwaukee Bucks, Allan
Houston was “honored” as being the “Knick Legend” of the 2000s, even though he
only played five years in that decade; I’m not counting 2005 when he only
played 20 games, sorry! It was a strange honor considering that the Knicks
decided to leave off the 2000s during the Knicks’ first annual “Legend’s Night,
which was the right move considering the 2000-2009 was the worst decade in New
York Knicks history. To win the title of
best player of the decade, here is a list of guys (and their stats) that were
on the ballot:
· Allan Houston: Played five seasons (six, if one
wants to count the 20 games he played in 2005), two all star games, averaged
20.1 ppg. 3rebs and 2 ast. during the regular season, averaged 18.3 ppg. 2.9
rebs. and 1.9 ast. during the playoffs
· Latrell Sprewell: Played four seasons during the
2000s, one all star game, averaged 18 ppg, 4 rebs, and 4 ast in the regular
season, averaged 19.5 ppg, 4 rebs. and 2 ast. during the playoffs, was a fan
favorite.
· Marcus Camby: Played three seasons during the
2000s, zero all star games, averaged 11 ppg. and 10 rebs. in the regular
season, averaged 5 ppg. and 7 rebs. during the playoffs, only played 151 out of
a possible 246 regular season games
· David Lee: Played five seasons during the 2000s,
one all star game, averaged 13 ppg. and 9.6 rebs. in the regular season; the
Knicks did not make the playoffs during Lee’s five seasons as a Knick, was MVP
of the Rookie-Sophomore Game in 2007
·
Kurt Thomas: Played
six seasons during the 2000s, zero all-star games, averaged 11.5 ppg., and 8.5.
in the regular season, averaged 7.7 ppg.
As you can see, aside from Latrell Sprewell, there wasn’t much competition
for Houston for the legend of the 2000s. The fact that David Lee, Marcus Camby,
and Kurt Thomas were even on the ballot is laughable, but I guess SOMEONE
had to be on the ballot right? The
Knicks were better off just leaving that decade alone, they had it right the
first time. What reasonable Knick fan wants to remember the 2000s anyway?
Most Knick fans, which defend Allan
Houston being a Knick legend will bring up
his sweet shooting stroke. They will bring up the game winning running
floater he hit in the deciding game five in the first round of the 1999 NBA
playoffs against the Miami Heat, which helped the Knicks become the 2nd 8th
seed to beat a number 1 seed. They will bring up the 32 points he scored in
game six of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Indiana Pacers, to help
clinch the series and gave the Knicks their first trip to the NBA finals
(against the San Antonio Spurs) since that devastating loss in the NBA Finals
to the Houston Rockets in 1994. They’ll bring up the 34 points he scored in
game 3 the Finals, which helped them get their only win in that series. They’ll remind you of the two 50 point games
in 2003, becoming the first Knick (and 3rd overall) since Bernard King to have
two 50 point games in a season. They’ll even bring up the fact that he is 4th
all time on the Knicks scoring list, only trailing Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier,
and Willis Reed. Listen I get all of that, those are all great accomplishments,
but that still doesn’t make him a legend in my eyes.
Don’t get me wrong, Allan Houston was a
good player during his tenure for the Knicks. Unfortunately to be a legend, you
have to be great, which Houston failed to do.
During the summer of 1996, which happened to be one of the greatest free
agency classes in NBA history, (which included guys such as Michael Jordan,
Alonzo Morning, and Reggie Miller) the Knicks signed Allan Houston, to a seven
year, 56 million dollar deal, hoping that he (along with Larry Johnson and
Chris Childs, who they also acquired in 1996) was the missing piece to the
elusive championship. When he first arrived to the Knicks, Houston took the
place of John Starks in the starting lineup. As I mentioned earlier, he was a
solid role player for some good Knick teams, but he never stood out to me as a
great player. For all of his wonderful skills on the offensive end, he was a
terrible on ball defender, and wasn't much of a leader. He never had that one
historic season, where I was like, “Wow, I’ll never forget this!!!” For example
:
Bernard King had one in 1984,
where he finished 2nd in MVP voting, led the league in scoring, and had one of
the best individual playoff runs in Knick history averaging nearly 35ppg on 57%
fg
Carmelo Anthony had one last
year, where he led the league in scoring, the only Knick besides Bernard King
to accomplish that, and finished 3rd in MVP voting and leading the Knicks to
their first division title in nearly 20 years.
Willis Reed had one in 1970,
become the first player in NBA history to win the Most Valuable Award in the regular
season, All Star Game, and the NBA Finals and had the greatest moment in Knick
history, when he walked out of that tunnel in game seven of the 1970 NBA
Finals.
Patrick Ewing had one in 1990,
averaging nearly 29 points and 11 rebs a game while averaging 4 blocks a game,
making 1st team all NBA, beating hall of famers, David Robinson, and Hakeem
Olajuwon and finishing 5th in MVP voting, in one of the best MVP races in NBA
history (Jordan finished 3rd despite averaging 34 ppg. 7rebs and 6ast.)
In fact, Allan Houston’s legacy has nothing to do with
what he actually did on the court. After losing to the Toronto Raptors in five
games in the first round , and only scoring 16 points in the deciding game at
home in 2001, Houston opted out of the final two years and 21 million dollars
on his contract. At the age of 30, he
resigned with the Knicks for six years, $100 million, which would become
the worst signing in New York Knick history. During the press conference announcing
his extension, Houston infamously said, “I see a lot of faces that look
confused, but for me, this is all smiles.”
He responded during the first game of the 2001-2002 season, scoring 22
points in a two point victory against Michael Jordan and the Washington
Wizards. In fact, during the first two years of the contract, Houston
“answered” all of his critics, averaging 21.5 ppg, although it didn’t help much
in the win column as the Knicks failed to make the playoffs (after qualifying
for the playoffs for 14 straight seasons) in 2002 and 2003. He missed 32 games
the next year, due to a knee injury, the one year the Knicks actually made the
playoffs from 2002-2010, and wasn’t able to play during the New Jersey Nets
four game playoff sweep of the Knicks. He would end up retiring the next year
after playing only 20 games. He tried to make a comeback a few times, but it
ultimately failed. In 2006 and 2007 he
was the league’s 2nd highest paid player even though he played as many games in
the NBA as I did.
Despite that horrible contract, the NBA
gave the Knicks ( and other teams) one chance to release a player’s contract
without it counting against the luxury tax, no matter how rich the contract
was. This was dubbed the “Allan Houston Rule”.
You know your contract is
bad when the NBA decides to create a rule after you regarding the release of a
player, in order to save one of the NBA’s biggest franchises. Amazingly, the
Knicks decide to use the rule on Jerome Williams and his $21.3 million dollar
contract that was due over the next three years, and not Allan Houston, who was
due $40 million dollars over the next two years. The Knicks decided to keep
Allan Houston because the Knicks were not willing to cut a “popular figure” and
were afraid that Houston would resurrect
his career with another team. Anytime you have a chance to keep a 34 year old
shooting guard with bad knees and $40 million dollars left on his contract, you
have to do it. Houston’s relationship with chairman James Dolan, also played a
huge role in the Knicks deciding keep Houston.
Dolan has said numerous times that Houston was one of his favorite
Knicks, for some insane reason that I will never understand, I mean Houston
isn’t THAT nice of a guy.
Houston had a decent career for the
Knicks averaging a little less than 19 ppg in eight seasons (again not counting
2005). But to be a legend, being decent is not good enough. It’s unfortunate
that Houston became the poster child for the Knicks futility under James Dolan
, and it’s not necessarily his fault why he got that $100 million dollar
contract. But if I were to make a list of the greatest Knicks of all time, he
would not make the top 10. I would obviously take Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier.
Willis Reed, Bill Bradley, Dick Barnett, Dick McGuire, Bernard King, John
Starks, Charles Oakley, Richie Guerin,
Dave, Debusschere, and even Carmelo Anthony, despite only playing for the
Knicks a little over three years ahead
of Houston. The Knicks won’t even retire
his number so he can’t be a Knick legend right?
I find it strange that he still has
such an important role in the organization, being the assistant general
manager, when the greatest player in Knick history by far, Patrick
Ewing, doesn’t even have a job with the Knicks.
There were even rumblings, that he could become the next Knicks coach,
if they decide to fire Mike Woodson. (cut to Knicks fans trembling in fear of
the thought of Houston being a coach). Couldn’t the Knicks give him a role that
has nothing to do with the team like, Assistant Fan Development Advisor , or
that dreaded “consultant” role. I guess it’s too much to ask Dolan to make
rational decisions since he has proven time and time again that he is incapable
of making them.
Allan
Houston has one more chance to rewrite his Knick legacy. If he does a good job
when he becomes a general manager, and help turn this Knick team into a
championship contender, then my views him will change. I doubt this will happen, but hey I have to
give him a shot right? But until then,
please stop calling him a Knick legend, and save that title for the few players
who actually deserve it.
