The last time Houston was on the court, he was still appreciably offensively effective despite whatever pain in his knee. Since then, he hasn't sustained any new injuries besides the sore ego from the ramming hes been taking from media and fans. He'll occasionally do a couple of hardcore leg raises and flex in the mirror to make sure he's still got it, but he'll spend most of his days re-reading the first 3 pages of Genesis and asking Rick Fox for modelling advice. The only mild game action he's sleep-walked into was the idle play-by-play chit chat of that Radio City WNBA gig.

And, you know what, thats exactly what he should be doing. His knee will definitely be well rested and he should remain a clutch scorer as long as he plays more reasonable minutes and shoots up on anti-inflammatory during post-game.

Posted by Allanfan20:

Dude, that's a Post article.

Yeah, but the author isn't offering opinions; he's QUOTING Houston.

All I need to know is that he said he'll be ready by training camp. We have to take his word for it.

You can take his word for it. I start to notice a pattern when every month he says he'll be ready for contact next month. If we took his word for it, he would have been fully recovered nine months ago. (And then eight months ago if we took his word for it a month later.)

Posted by codeunknown:

Last time I checked, Allan Houston wasn't a doctor. Naturally, basketball players rend to underestimate recovery time.

Last summer, he underestimated by at least 12 months since he's still not able to play full contact basketball. I wonder how many months he underestimated by this time.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Last summer, he underestimated by at least 12 months since he's still not able to play full contact basketball. I wonder how many months he underestimated by this time.

Its absurdly distorted to suggest that his estimation was off by 12 months. If he'd let it heal instead of rushing it the first time (to save Layden's lottery team), the recovery time wouldn't have been 12 months and counting. His underestimation caused a moronic decision to play which resulted in stressing unhealed cartilage tissue and causing overcompensation in his left knee. His estimation was off target, but only by about a month, the time it would have taken to heal after the original surgery. Instead, he caused additional injuries which will take longer to heal. Obviously, the recovery time estimation for the additional injuries will be different.

Does this remind anyone of the days when people used to crucify Ewing for being injured and 'done'? I'll wait and see with Allan and I hope he can make it back. His contract isn't his fault people.

Dude, you're not listening. He could have been just the player he was, the year before, if he wasn't rammed into the ground, at the beginning of the season. He was literally carrying the team, while your boy, Keith Van Horn was sucking big time (That Spree for KVH trade STILL made us worse, IMHO.) Nobody else on the team was performing. It's b/c we had no talent (Besides the at the time, useless KVH) other than Allan Houston, averaging a whopping 38 minutes a game. If Layden Layden hadn't been such a stupid GM, maybe we wouldn't be having this convo. But now, nobodys jobs are on the line. Allan is easing into things, b/c now he has more talent along his side. Their best player appears to be his biggest supporter (Or maybe I am) and the fans and media, as always, continue to have the minds of wildabeast. This is basically the same exact situation as last year. Just a change of scenery, so we could play it differently.

Posted by Bonn1997:

I am listening (even when you digress to irrelevant topics, like Van Horn, who is not my boy--I supported the TT trade). You're right; Houston had a few good games early in the season. I'm not surprised. The issue is not whether he can have a few good games; it's whether he can be the first NBA player ever to return from microfracture surgery to be even 50% of his former self (not for a few games like last year but for a full season).

I know that the surgery didn't take away from his ability - he proved it with his early games last year. The key was the recurring pain which meant he shouldn't have played at all at the beginning of last year. There shouldn't be any other physical limitation once adequate rest is given. Bonn, you're right that we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking he's going to come back and definitely be the same player. All Im trying to say is that the likelihood is more than you might expect, considering there was no additional sudden injury.