Rich
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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/30/sports/basketball/30knicks.html
September 30, 2004 Knicks' Houston Proceeding With Caution By HOWARD BECK Allan Houston could have gone the bravado route, proclaimed himself fit and guaranteed a full 82-game season for his much-scrutinized knees. For an antsy Knicks fan base, and a hopeful front office, those would have been welcome assurances.
But Houston tried that approach once - choosing aggression instead of prudence - and the result was the most painful and disappointing season of his career. It is a course he would rather not travel again.
So when he sat down with reporters yesterday for the first time in two months, after a summer spent dutifully reconditioning his body, Houston let the optimism flow but tempered his bright smile with words of caution.
Indeed, he invoked the word cautious six times in 15 minutes.
Houston, 33, offered his assessment after giving a basketball clinic for 40 fourth and fifth graders at Public School 28 in Washington Heights. The event was orchestrated by the school and the Community League of the Heights.
"I'm really happy about where I am," Houston said of his physical condition, "because a lot of the first part of the summer, it was really kind of slow. And it seems like lately it's kind of picked up. I've gotten stronger, and I'm just not really pressed like I was last year to do something if I'm not really ready to."
"I feel stronger than I've been in a long time," Houston added. "My body just feels good."
What that portends for the next few weeks and the coming months, Houston could not say. He figures to take it easy when training camp opens Tuesday in Charleston, S.C., and he would not predict how many preseason games he would play next month.
He called playing in the Nov. 3 season opener at Minnesota a realistic goal, but also said, "I don't think anything's a lock."
If the playoffs began tomorrow, Houston said he could play, but it was clear he would not rush into anything.
There is good reason for his sudden embrace of patience and caution. A year ago, three months after undergoing surgery on his right knee, Houston rushed himself back into service and soon regretted it. Forced to overcompensate for a still-weak right knee, Houston had troubles with his back and his left knee and missed 30 games. He had missed only 10 games because of injury or illness in his previous seven seasons with the Knicks.
"From training camp on, it was just bothering me," Houston, the Knicks' captain, said. "I just dealt with it and I played through it. And it was really, it was stupid."
Now 15 months removed from surgery, Houston said he was far healthier now than he was at this time last year. There is also less pressure for him to lead the Knicks offense.
Stephon Marbury's arrival in a January trade gave the team another 20-point scorer. The Knicks picked up another gifted scorer, Jamal Crawford, this summer, giving them an insurance policy on Houston's health and, in the best-case scenario, a dependable third option in Coach Lenny Wilkens's guard rotation.
"I just don't want to do what I did last year and just try to overdo it too soon," Houston said. "I've done a lot of long, hard work to get to where I am. And there's no reason to go out and get ahead of myself right now. It's just so early. So I'm just cautious."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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