reflections
October 11th, 2007 Don’t Call It A Comeback…Please?

 Now that Allan Houston’s mind-numbing contract has finally been taken off the NY Knicks’ books, he’s decided to make a comeback, leading many Knicks’ fans to exclaim “how convenient!”  The man who singlehandedly catapulted the Knicks into luxury-tax hell has decided that he’d like to test out his stroke again on the Madison Square Garden floors, quite ironically a year after his albatross of a deal has expired.  The only problem is, should Knicks’ fans even want him back? 

Allan Houston was arguably the best player on the 1998 Eastern Conference Championship team (the last respectable Knick team in a lot of fans’ minds), playing alongside other 2nd tier stars like Sprewell, LJ, Camby and even a gimpy Patrick Ewing.  There’s no doubt that, when healthy, Allan Houston is a very efficient offensive player.  Of course he has severe defensive limitations, (as does 3/4 of this Knicks roster), but he’s one player who seemed to make up for it with consistency.  One must obviously question how effective he’ll be after battling knee arthritis, but he’s certainly worth a shot.  The only question is at what cost?

Isiah has already snubbed his 2nd round draft pick (Nichols) in training camp by saying that he’s being outplayed by league-wide bust Fred Jones, and adding Allan Houston to the mix would make it quite difficult for Wilson Chandler or Nichols to make a stamp on this roster.  Allan Houston certainly has a strong reputation here for making big shots, and his name-sake harkens back to the competitive Knicks playoff days (the Knicks could also surely use a good PR move right about now eh?), but should the Knicks be adding more veterans to this team when there’s a mass of young talent to develop?  Is Allan Houston good enough for the Knicks to discard Demetris Nichols; a player Isiah traded a pick for this last draft?

The question of adding Houston generally comes down to how much you believe in the Knicks’ chances this season.  Skeptics of this roster, and Isiah’s coaching ability, will say go with the young talent and see what you have.  Others will buy Isiah’s rhetoric and hope that this team can actually compete in the Eastern Conference this season.  It seems simple; if they’re going to hover just below .500, then adding Houston doesn’t make sense, but, if you believe that NY has a legit shot at the playoffs this season, then he probably does.  As with most NY sports issues, this becomes a polarizing situation; but all Knicks’ fans should cross their fingers and hope that Nichols and Chandler aren’t the ones left out in the cold.

-JR

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