For all the individuals claiming that Jamal Crawford needs to start or that the Knicks need to trade Alan Houston, it might be a good idea to watch our "athletically gifted" Olympic squad. It is so obvious that dunks are overrated by U.S.A. basketball fans. I can still see Richard Jefferson soaring into the air and throwing down his two thunderous tomahawk jams while letting out loud emotionally charged screams. But then one looks at the final score and wonders, what if RJ had hit about half of his jump shots instead? All of this brings me to Allan Houston, simply the best shooter the Knicks have had in the last decade. He is a player that can hit shots with hands in his face, almost ignoring the defender in front of him. Not to mention that you simply cannot leave him open. Granted, he is never going to come down the lane with authority and throw one down in traffic while screaming. Yet, I sometimes wonder, actually I'm almost positive that if he averaged 14 points per game instead of 20 ppg, most Knick fans would love him if 4-6 of those points where dunks instead of jump shots.

The Olympics also prove that team USA could use H20

I would love it if Houston played with pride....that is my problem with Houston. You rarely see him excited on the court.....

Ray Allen, and Micheal Redd are supposed to be the other two great shooters the league has.....Ray can run the point and has proven he can with the Bucks and Seattle. Redd is more aggressive shooting the ball and he can score in the paint. Plus Redd is a better superb rebounder for his size and position.

Houston is nothing but a jumpshooter with no confidence. It's one thing if he is killing teams with his game.....Houston doesn't attack the basket. He just looks to get a rythmn....that's why he complains about getting the proper lift on his jumper....he's 33 man if dude is basically saying if he can't jump he can't be effective....dude is washed up....

and yes Crawford better start ahead of him.....Crawford does too many things with the ball and can make his teamates better.....Houston is a one on one spot up shooter.....Running plays for him makes everyone lazy cuz all they have to do is fight for the rebound cuz the play is for Houston to take a jumpshot.....

and yes Crawford better start ahead of him.....Crawford does too many things with the ball and can make his teamates better

NO HE DOESN'T! If that were the case, the Bulls would be a much better team. Crawford is a scorer, who just so happens to get a couple of more assists than Allan. And no matter what Simrud and Silverfeul say to you, Allan is still the better player, overall. I would rather have him playing in the closing minutes, than Crawford.

And with that being said, I think Crawford CAN be a better player than Allan, if he opens up his ears, and listens to the 15 former all star guards on the Knicks organization. They can all teach him something different. Jamal Crawford is perhaps, the luckiest young guard in the league.

Back to the olympics. The team needed a couple of shooters, and like Briggs said, they needed guys who could bang in the inside, like Amare.

Just remember 4 years ago, Team USA had it all. Big scorers in Vince and Ray Allen. Ray Allen could do any scoring he wanted. They had their post players like Garnett and McDyess. They had their shooter in Allan Houston who did make a nice contribution. They had their trust PGs. And everyone on the team played big time defense. Now, it's just dunkers. It's a shame. To be honest, I am kinda glad they lost, b/c now maybe this will knock some sense into USA basketball players. We aren't all that anymore.

Posted by Silverfuel:


Why does he refuse to rebound? Are you saying that he lacks the ability to get 5 rebounds a game? How about pass the ball 3 or 4 times a game? He promised us that when he signed the contract and he never delivered.

Of course Houston is a good shooter. My beef is that he refuses to do anything else.

I knew you'd jump on my back at the second I push the post button. you didn't disappoint me at all on this one, sil.

I understand your frustration. Yet, had houston been offered 25-30 millions less and had he sign for that with us, nobody would question his game now.

His contract amplified his flaws while lowering his merits.

His flaw is that he's one dimensional player. Agree on that.
His merit is to be one of the purest jump shooter this league has known over the last decade. I thought that the Olympics would remind to all people that forgot it how shooting is important, and how it shouldn't be taken for granted.

I hope he'll come back strong to prove how much valuable this guy is to our team.

One thing Houston is not is a bad passer, he is actually quite on point when it comes to distributing the ball. More often than not the Knicks just can't convert.

Rebounding is another story. He may be the worst rebounding guard to ever play in the NBA, 90% of guards in the league are better rebounders and per 48 min, 5'5" Earl Boykins is a better rebounder thats a disgrace

But Houston is severly undervalued, simply because he is over paid he really needs to take the ball to the basket a lot more and take full advantage of his post game.....His handle leaves a lot to be desired as he often gets stripped, which may be the reason he is against taking it to the rack

Silverfeul, this is where we come together and I start to agree with you, except in the pass, it seemed like you said HE CAN'T do anything else. Fact is, he can. He always had the ability to be a very good rebounder for his size. In fact, I remember a few years ago, he grabbed like, 9 rebounds against San Antonio and he kept outjumping Robinson AND Duncan for rebounds. It was quite a sight. Unfortunately, those nights always came few and far in between. And back when he had the quickness and speed, he just didn't concentrate on defense. Now, it seems like he gives his best effort most of the times, but he just doesn't have the quickness anymore. He has to rely on his strength, which is often useless against speedy guards. It's more usefull against certain small fowards.

With that being said, at least he does try on defense now. And no, he doesn't do NOTHING. Like I said, he does at least pass and play with his teammates, and is reliable in the 4th quarter, and other key moments. But at least you understand his importance.

Islesfan once again becoming overdramatic. That is why, as I said, he is going to learn from 5 former all star guards, one of them being someone who will probably make it next year. Crawford is in a good situation. He'll be fine as a Knick. He has a ton of flaws, but him being in the right environment will hopefully fix most of them.

Not sure what Don Chaney has to do with this but I think he's ok with Dolan paying him to do nothing this year.

He (Crawford)is a good shooter, a good scorer and a gifted ball handler.

He's a 38% shooter just like Frank Williams. You too can be a good scorer if you shoot that often. Gifted and exceptional ball handler? What games were you watching?

Jamal can shoot. The difference between his 38% and Frank's is that Frank took hardly ANY 3pfg. Jamal has a solid outside shot. His bad percentage is more a fault of shot selection, Frank actually had great shot selection, but no shooting ability. I don't know which is more important, but shot selection comes with maturity and learning to shot is harder. So Jamal can learn shot selection.

As for ball handling. Believe the hype. Jamal can handle the rock very well, I saw 10 Bulls games last year. He's not a pure playmaker, but can find the play and create with his dribble (which is a skill). Frank could penetrate on occasion, but didn't have any natural speed. He had a nice crossover where he could beat people on a change of pace, but he couldn't always penetrate. He ran the pick and roll very well.

The only definite advantage Frank has is that he is huge (220 to Jamals 190), so he is good on defense. Jamal definitely needs to put on weight. Put that should come in time. If you ever saw young Michael Jordan, he was incredibly skinny too (not comparing their games, but it is possible to put on weight while maintaing quickness).

The thing I don't get is blaming Jamal for the losses of the Bulls. Every game I saw, there was a lack of team defense, a lack of a healthy Chandler, no small forward, pissed off and sulking veterans and Eddy Curry showing flashes of brilliance and flashes of stupidity. Jamal and Kirk were the only constants all year for them. It was a horrible situation. He's coming to a much better situation. Give him a chance.

Posted by dswish:

Like I said before if Houston had lower stats but dunked emphatically at least once or twice per game, fans would conisder him a great player. Fans considered Spree a great player and he only averaged one more assist and one more rebound per game than Houston during his Knick tenure while making fewer trips to the free throw line. Of course Spree did have a few crowd pleasing dunks.

It is simply a matter of style over substance. That is why our Olympic team with all their flashy athletes, their ball-handling and dunking, is getting humiliated by fundamentally sound teams who can actually shoot.

MAN!! Spree played out of position and was considered an excellent defender. The players were bigger in size and actually used to playing the SF position.