As long as he comes back healthy... he can stay out until late march.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/17/sports/basketball/17ALLA.html

February 17, 2004
Houston Is Unsure When He Will Return
By STEVE POPPER

GREENBURGH, N.Y., Feb. 16 — When Allan Houston decided late last month that he could not continue to play if he wanted his right knee to heal, he pointed to the Knicks' game on Tuesday night against the Detroit Pistons as the date of his return.

On and off the court, the Knicks have moved on, working through practices, achieving surprising victories, trading more players. And Houston has rested, waiting from the sideline for the chance to come back and help.

But his projected timetable has stalled. Houston is still not practicing and he is not sure when he will.

"I want to make sure I'm ready," said Houston, who last played on Jan. 27. He is eligible to come off the injured list on Tuesday, but he will not.

"I've played with it being injured and with it being sore and with it being painful for a long time," he said of his knee, "and I don't want to go back and do that again. I want to make sure it's strengthened, and I want to make sure it's ready.

"I'm not going to put a timetable on it. I know it has continued to get better over the last two weeks. I kind of started from below ground, and I kind of moved to ground level, and now I'm continuing to move up."

Houston, 32, did not play in the preseason after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee during the off-season. Now, after missing only 19 games in the first 10 years of his career, he has already missed 16 games this season, spending time on the injured list for the first time.

The right knee was never quite right, forcing him to the sideline for three games in December, and the left knee has also bothered him while he has tried to play through the pain.

His absence has only added to the challenge for the Knicks of trying to acclimate new players while making what the team hopes will be a playoff push. The team has gone 5-2 in his latest absence, and he has taken solace in that, trying to wait until he is ready.

"I look at the progress, things I can do that I couldn't do two weeks ago, and I'm encouraged," he said, adding that he wished he had taken that stance in December, when he rushed back to play. "That's what I wish I could have done. But I didn't know.

"All I've known how to do is play with the condition it was in, partly because I didn't know if it was going to get better or not. It's not feeling like I want it to or feeling great yet, but I know it's going to get better because of what I've done in the last two weeks."

Isiah Thomas, the Knicks' president, said the team would be patient. "I think until we can get him healthy we are not pressuring anyone to get out on the floor and ruin their careers," he said. "I've watched a lot of players try to come back when they're not healthy and just blow up, blow a knee out. These guys, they deserve the care. This is how they earn a living."

But asked if he thought it was a short-term problem, Thomas said: "I don't know. That's up to the doctor and up to Allan. Whenever he's ready to come back and play, we definitely welcome him back, but we want him healthy."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Does anyone think that Isiah asked Houston to stay on the IR until after the Tuesday game just in case there is one more trade going down? You know, keep a roster spot open. Just putting it out there.

I posted in the beginning of the season that Houston was never healed. He needs a long stretch to get the swelling down in the knee, then build up the muscles around it... he beat the hell out of it.. so its going to take awhile. And the improvement is a good sign, no permanent damage, hopefully. He should take another three games, another week to make sure its healthy. I'd rather an extra week to make sure its solid than a week at the end of season or in the playoffs.