Knicks return likely for Allan Houston



CHARLESTON, S.C. - Allan Houston is leaning toward rejoining the Knicks but likely will wait until tomorrow before making a final decision, according to a person close to the veteran shooting guard.

Should Houston choose the Knicks over the Nets, there is no guarantee that he will make the 15-man roster. Isiah Thomas currently has 15 players with guaranteed contracts and would have to make one roster move in order to keep second-round pick Demetris Nichols. If the Knicks elect to keep both Nichols and Houston, the club would have to eat two contracts, which wouldn't make fiscal sense.

When asked why he would go to such great lengths to bring in Houston at the expense of possibly releasing a younger player, Thomas said: "It's out of respect. He's a great Knick. He wants to come back and give it a shot."

Yesterday, Thomas hinted that Nichols could have trouble making the team while at the same time strongly endorsing veteran guard Fred Jones. The Knicks would have held Nichols' draft rights had the rookie from Syracuse played overseas.

"That ship has sailed," Thomas said. "It was an option for him and team-wise for us down the road it would have been great to hold onto his rights. But we don't have that option now."

Nichols wants to play in the NBA and could be in danger of being cut, especially if Houston comes in and proves that he can be a contributing player. Houston, who was forced to retire because of chronic knee pain, has a lot of catching up to do considering he has already missed the first week of camp.

He appears to be favoring the Knicks because Houston feels a strong sense of loyalty to the organization he joined in 1996 and helped reach the NBA Finals in '99. Also, Houston - whose wife gave birth to a baby girl, the couple's third child, on Thursday - has maintained a close relationship with Garden chairman James Dolan and there is a possibility of Houston moving into the front office once his playing career is over.

The Knicks could use a strong leader in their locker room but it is unclear exactly how Houston would fit on the roster. The team has a greater need for a proven backup point guard as opposed to another shooting guard. Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford can both play either guard position. Nate Robinson is better suited to play two-guard while both Quentin Richardson and Jones, acquired in the Zach Randolph deal, can play the position.

"Fred Jones has looked really good and we want the best players," said Thomas, who drafted Jones for the Pacers in 2002. "We're not necessarily looking two or three years down the road."

The Knicks could create a roster spot by releasing Jerome James, who has a sore right knee. James has appeared in 86 games in his first two seasons in New York.

"There's been no talk of a buyout or waiving him or cutting him," Thomas said. "I don't foresee that happening, but you never say never."

The Garden desperately needs a new front man....Dolan will make this happen...And I hope he gets his number back...I hope we keep Jones and Nichols...Isiah just needs to eat JJ contract and admit this one of many mistakes...

I'm 100% in favor of this move. Grandpa Allan with his shot knees and no defense is good for an extra 10 losses this season. I'm sure Crawful and Nate will be thrilled when their sitting on the bench watching Mr. Arthritis clanking shots while Dolan sits in his front row seat masturbating to his beloved Houston.

Again Dolan is out of touch with reality because most Knicks fans were never really enamored with a healthy Houston when he was in his prime. Actually I hate Allan Houston because he brings back painful memories of what has been wrong with this franchise since Dolan took over. Fiscal irresponsibility and players not equaling the value of their bloated unmovable contracts.

F'ing nightmare.

When asked why he would go to such great lengths to bring in Houston at the expense of possibly releasing a younger player, Thomas said: "It's out of respect. He's a great Knick. He wants to come back and give it a shot."

In the history of Knick bad ideas, this is one of the top bad ideas of all time. Isiah has turned into an absolute joke!!! I can't believe anyone would even be in favor of this crap. It's like a horrible situation has returned from the grave. I truely thought this guy was finished three years ago and he might be coming back? OMFG!!! Isiah is trying to destroy this team as much as possible before he is kicked off. Can't any of you see this? If Houston comes back to the Knicks, I'm finished as a fan, until Dolan and Isiah are both gone.

Posted by Ira:

It sounds like Isaiah's mindset is the keep Jones and cut Nichols. That sounds like a bad choice.

I'm gonna be so pissed if Nichols is not on the roster and Jerome, Jared, Fred, or Malik is.

Posted by 4949:

If Houston comes back to the Knicks, I'm finished as a fan, until Dolan and Isiah are both gone.

Yea really! If Isiah wants to be a mother****ing douchebag and sign an older and almost certainly slower Allan Houston I am joining islesfan and rooting against this team. BUNCH OF FUCKING RETARDS!

This is so sad, so mother****ing sad! And to think we should be adding a ****ing defensive player. WTF will he bring to this team? What is Dolan thinking? What an *******! This move will be the beginning of the end for Isiah.

Posted by Ira:

It sounds like Isaiah's mindset is the keep Jones and cut Nichols. That sounds like a bad choice.

Yeah, it makes no sense. Is 10 mins a night from Jones really going ot make that much of a difference on this team? No way should this guy or James for that matter earn a roster spot of Nichols who may have a deceant future. Not saying that Nichols is going to be the second coming of a young Houston, but Jones isn't exactly Artest on the deffensive end either.

This organization stinks form the head down. If we cut Nichols and Jordan, again we would have thrown away another 2nd round pick and money. Who cares that Nichols didn't want to go to Europe. Isiah shouldn't cut off his nose to spite his face. Why keep Jones whose gone after this season anyway? So basically, next year, we wont have Nichols because he wanted to keep Jones. We wont have Jones because his contract will be up. We wont have Nichols because he was cut to keep Jopnes on s one year rental. And we wont have Jordan because there are no more spots. But in the end, we will still have James coming to next years camp out of shape and injured

[Edited by - bigbeast on 06-10-2007 10:03 AM]

I think we should hold of judgement until find out what Allan can still do. Secondly Fred Jones has done nothing in his career , I have no problem getting rid of him. Jerome James and the other bum Jared Jeffries need to be cut or traded. The thing that kills me is that Jeffries was billed as a defensive stopper and yet we saw him stop nobody.

Posted by gambit2081:

I think we should hold of judgement until find out what Allan can still do.

We have offense. We need defense. The guy was slow on defense before he got injured and that was when he was younger. He is now 37, a year out of any NBA action. What do you think we can get from him? Hold of judgement? Unless he took some barry bonds elk juice, he aint getting any better! And **** Isiah, Dolan, Mills or any mother****ing executive that wants to bring this ****er back. Yea he will sell some tickets but we cannot get anything from him. Atleast Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, Lee, Balkman and Jamal Crawford have trade value. WTF do we do with Allan Houston? I thought he was looking for younger and more athletic. WTF ISIAH?