The New York Knicks are poised to make Allan Houston the richest player
in franchise history with a whopping 6 year, $100 million dollar contract.
Allan Houston the richest Knick ever? That doesn't sound quite right for
a team that has boasted such players as Walt Frazier, Earl "The Pearl"
Monroe, Bernard King, Willis Reed, and most recently, Patrick Ewing. Granted,
all of those players, with the exception of Ewing, played in an era where
the game wasn't consumed by money, so let's just compare Houston and Ewing.
In Patrick Ewing's best season in New York, he averaged 28.6 points per
game, 10.9 rebounds per game, and 2.2 assists per game. Allan Houston's
best season included 19.7 points per game, 3.3 rebounds per game, and 2.7
assists per game. Ewing's career scoring average in New York was 22.7 compared
to Houston's 17.7. Now of course in Ewing's prime, he never played with
such players as Latrell Sprewell or Marcus Camby and in their respective
best seasons Ewing did attempt 5 more shots per game. However, in Ewing's
first 4 seasons, he averaged 15.7 field goal attempts per game compared
to Houston's 15.5 attempts per game in his best statistical season. So
maybe that's a better point of comparison. However, Ewing still averaged
21.2 points per game in his first 4 seasons, and this was definitely before
his prime, whereas Houston is in his prime right now. Patrick Ewing also
gave everything he had every single game and is a true warrior in the NBA.
Obviously, Houston doesn't deserve to make a dime more now than Ewing ever
did.
Don't get me wrong, Houston is a talented ballplayer, and, along with
Ray Allen, is probably one of the two best straight-up shooters in the
league. Again, there are glaring differences between the play of
Ray Allen and Houston. Allen is a premier shooter, but he can also take
it strong to the hoop. When's the last time you saw Houston throw down
a massive dunk? Houston's fear of going hard to the basket has allowed
injury-ridden players like Dan Majerle to completely shut him down. In
the 2000-01 season, Houston shot 38.1% threes, Allen shot 43.3%; Houston
shot 44.9% field goals, Allen shot 49%; Houston averaged 3.9 free throw
attempts per game, Allen averaged 4.8; Houston averaged 18.7 points per
game, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. Ray Allen averaged 22.0 points per
game, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists. The most blatant difference, however,
is that with his new contract Houston will make $16.67 million dollars
per year. Ray Allen is under contract right now for $11.82 million per
season.
But perhaps Houston's greatest flaw is his propensity to disappear in
the games that the Knicks need him most. In the do-or-die game six of the
conference finals against Indiana in the 2000 playoffs, Houston went 5-15
with 10 points (Spree had 32). In the 2001 playoffs, Houston had 10 points
until he hit two meaningless 3-pointers when the game was already decided
against Toronto in the deciding game 5 (Spree had 29).
The Knicks have two established rivalries with Miami and Indiana, and
one up-and-coming rivalry with the Raptors. Obviously, these are important
games where the outcome is usually uncertain until the final shot. Perhaps
these games wouldn't be so close if Allan Houston wouldn't consistently
take the night off against these teams. In the four games versus Miami
in the 2000-01 regular season, Houston shot 35.3% field goals and averaged
12.8 points per game. In the four regular season games the Knicks played
against the Raptors, he shot 37.5% from the field and averaged 11.5 points
per game. And most appalling of all, in the three games that Houston played
against Indiana, Houston shot a shocking 25.6% from the field and averaged
11.7 points per game. Allan Houston is a fantastic shooter, and with the
new rule changes, these types of players will become a great asset. However,
there is no way that he is worth even close to $100 million dollars. He
is only an average defender, ball handler, and playmaker, he rebounds poorly,
and has very questionable grit or heart. Houston is desperately trying
to get a no-trade clause in his new contract, but he doesn't need to worry.
Only New York (and possibly Portland) is crazy enough to pay him that much,
making him untradeable anyway.
