Friday, October 21, 2005
Bill Maher Addresses BUSYYYY
Now, I kid, but seriously, Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore. [laughter] There's no more money to spend. You used up all of that. [laughter] You can't start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. [laughter] [applause]
Yeah, listen to your mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's maxed out, and no one is speaking to you: mission accomplished! [laughter] Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. [laughter] [applause] Like you did with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or spaceman?! [laughter] [applause]
Now, I know what you're saying. You're saying that there's so many other things that you, as president, could involve yourself in…Please don't. [laughter] I know, I know, there's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela, and eliminating the sales tax on yachts. [laughter] Turning the space program over to the church. [laughter] [applause] And Social Security to Fannie Mae. [laughter] Giving embryos the vote. [laughter] [applause] But, sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. [laughter] You've performed so poorly I'm surprised you haven't given yourself a medal. [laughter] You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. [laughter]
Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis to rising water and snakes. [laughter]
On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two Trade Centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans…Maybe you're just not lucky! [laughter] [applause] [cheers]
I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side. [laughter] So, yes, God does speak to you, and what he's saying is, “Take a hint.” [laughter]
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
THANK YOU ALLEN
Sports of The Times
A Quiet Gunslinger who had to Suffer Slings and Arrows
Greenburgh, N.Y.
THEY are all gone now, everyone Isiah Thomas inherited not yet two years ago when he stepped into the pressure chamber at Madison Square Garden to remake the Knicks. When the inevitable occurred yesterday, when Allan Houston gave up the tortured chase of his career on incurably arthritic knees, there were no Knicks remaining from the Scott Layden years, or the Dave Checketts days. No players who could wax nostalgic about the Ernie Grunfeld-Jeff Van Gundy wars.
No Knicks who ever suited up with old No. 33, who lobbed the ball into the post to Patrick Ewing's hungry hands.
Houston outlasted them all, from Ewing to Oakley, L. J. to Sprewell, and those flawed and flummoxed who followed, in small part because he was the most well-behaved Knick of his era and in large part because he had the most disproportionate of contracts on a team with too many to count.
He re-signed with the Knicks in 2001 for $100 million over six years and was eventually treated as if he had foisted the deal upon himself. By last season, when a gimpy Houston could play in only 20 games, when the Knicks were an eyesore from top to bottom, some fans saw him as a microcosm of their misery, and even an in-season acquisition like Malik Rose had to lament the unfiltered courtside abuse.
"It was tough for me sitting next to him," Rose said before Houston arrived at the Knicks' practice facility to retire his silk-smooth jumper after playing 9 of his 12 N.B.A. seasons in New York. "It was like someone two feet tall, punching you and punching you and saying, 'Hit me back, hit me back.' "
Rose was a rare Knick who could vouch for the fact that Allan Houston, serene as he seemed, once had the goading eyes of a cold-blooded gunslinger. "He was crazy, especially in his scoring area, top of the key, out on the wing," Rose said, recalling how Houston carried the Knicks to their one victory in the 1999 finals against Rose's old team, the Spurs.
As the years passed, as the franchise sagged, that Knicks team was portrayed more as Latrell Sprewell's, even though it was Houston who rescued the Knicks when they were about to meet their maker in the first round in 1999, in Miami, and hit the shots when they needed them most.
Houston, the quiet one, did get credit for the end-game runner against Pat Riley's Heat in Game 5 that saved Van Gundy's job and elevated his career. And while he agreed it was his defining moment, an opinion echoed by his father and college coach, Wade, the memories that best capture Allan Houston's bittersweet totality come from the Eastern Conference finals of the same season, Game 6, with the ball on the left wing, one-on-one against Reggie Miller.
Often, Houston had heard that the Knicks had signed the wrong free-agent shooting guard when they whisked him out of Detroit in 1996. He was only a work in progress, it was said, whereas Miller would have brought his mouthy self-assurance, his imperviousness to pressure.
But in Game 6, it was Houston who couldn't be stopped, who appeared to be lapping Miller in the race, who could even be seen with a snide smile of satisfaction curling at a corner of his mouth as he toyed with his opponent off the dribble.
As he recounted his best nights, Houston mentioned that night, though only the collective joyousness he experienced when the franchise's second trip to the finals since 1973 was clinched. "Hugging my teammates, hugging Jeff, seeing the fans' reaction," he said. "The next day, my daughter was born."
Houston was only 28, the picture of health, a rising star. Back in Indianapolis for the playoffs the following spring, he nodded affirmatively as he agreed that he had never been more confident at his craft than Game 6 the previous year, and promised he was just clearing his throat.
"Like they say," he told me, "yesterday and forevermore."
How fickle the future turned out to be, as the team collapsed gradually around him, then the organization, and finally his knees. Thomas came to survey the wreckage and suggested that Houston retire. Now there is a new coach, Larry Brown, and Thomas, after wheeling and dealing over what seemed like a much longer period than it was, has infused the Knicks with hope.
Houston desperately wanted to move forward with the franchise, but he finally admitted to himself that he had been passed in his chase by younger, more athletic legs. "It became more of a reality to me, that this is what it is," he said.
He told his teammates of his decision and made Stephon Marbury, already with nine N.B.A. years behind him, wonder: who knows where the time goes? "Eventually, this is all going to be over with," Marbury said.
And then one day the news conference is called and the family gathers and the tributes are spoken. Thomas told of how he took the rookie Houston home for spaghetti dinner in Detroit, back when Thomas was near the end of his own Hall of Fame career. Wade Houston recalled his son showing the beginnings of his pure-shooter's form when the targets were lampshades and curtain rods in the family home, all leading to nights at Tennessee when he, the coach, was booed and his son, the star, wanted desperately to make it all better.
Across the peaks and valleys, so many memories, and, above all, there will always be Miami.
With Hopes Cut Off at Knees, Houston Passes up Last Shot
GREENBURGH, N.Y., Oct. 17 - Allan Houston carved his place in Knicks lore with clutch jump shots, a dignified public persona and a thoughtful approach that endeared him to teammates and coaches for nearly a decade.
Houston surrendered his No. 20 jersey Monday while displaying most of those traits. If he could have launched a few more timely 3-pointers, he might have done that, too.
Allan Houston, with his wife, Tamara, and children, Remie and Allan III, when he announced his retirement.
Among the many key shots Houston made for the Knicks was the one in the final second that allowed them to oust the Miami Heat in the 1999 playoffs.
Houston, who signed a six-year, $100 million extension in 2001, had knee problems for four years and was limited to 70 games over the past two seasons.
But after nearly four seasons of coping with knee injuries, and two seasons of failed comebacks, Houston, 34, at last yielded to his physical limitations, announcing his retirement and cutting the Knicks' last tie to their 1990's glory days.
Houston was the only remaining member of the 1999 Eastern Conference championship team. He was also one of a handful of veterans on an overhauled and youthful roster.
The team could have used his sweet shooting stroke and his leadership, but Houston's chronically arthritic left knee would not permit it. Despite repeated vows to play again, Houston concluded it was time to step aside.
"I always said that I would be back and told the fans that I would be back, and I always truly in my heart believed that," Houston said at a news conference. "But sometimes your will, your passion, your competitiveness, kind of override what your body is going through, and I was strictly running off of those emotions and that will."
The team could have waived Houston in July under an amnesty provision that allowed teams to avoid the N.B.A.'s luxury tax. Depending on how the league rules on Houston's injury, his retirement could save them as much as $72 million but will not provide salary-cap room.
Houston had microfracture surgery on his troublesome right knee in the summer of 2003, after about two seasons of playing in pain. He came back too soon the next season, leading to problems in his left knee, and he played just 70 games over his final two seasons, including 20 last season.
Yet Houston kept working to regain his health and sounded optimistic when training camp opened two weeks ago. The pain in his left knee resurfaced after a few days, however, and Houston - told to shut down activity by team trainers - again contemplated retirement. He said he made the decision last week after many discussions with his wife, Tamara.
He called James L. Dolan, the Madison Square Garden chairman, on Saturday, and talked to Coach Larry Brown after a team shootaround. He delivered the news to his teammates Monday morning.
Houston's departure was not unexpected, but it was treated as a solemn occasion.
"His leadership is definitely going to be missed," said Penny Hardaway, who is one of three Knicks players older than 30. "It's just unfortunate that we're losing him."
Houston joined the Knicks as a free agent in 1996, after three years with the Detroit Pistons. In his prime, he was one of the top scoring guards in the league, averaging at least 18 points in 7 of his 12 seasons. He was an elite 3-point shooter, making 40.2 percent in his career.
"Lethal," Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury said. "One of the best shooters I've ever seen."
Houston's signature moment as a Knick was on May 16, 1999, when he made a game-winning, series-clinching runner with eight-tenths of a second to play to defeat the Miami Heat and push the Knicks into the conference semifinals. A few weeks later, the Knicks were in the finals. They lost to the Spurs in five games.
"He's just one of the most mentally tough players I've ever seen," said forward Malik Rose, who was a member of the Spurs in 1999.
Houston is the fourth-leading scorer in Knicks history, with 11,165 points - ranking behind first-place Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier and Willis Reed. His 921 3-pointers rank second to John Starks's 982.
As recently as three seasons ago, Houston still ranked among the top guards in the league. He played all 82 games in 2002-3 and averaged a career-high 22.5 points. Then came the knee surgery. In his final game as a Knick, on Jan. 19, Houston scored 12 points in 27 minutes in a 98-81 loss in Toronto.
He said he had hoped for a more fitting end.
"I exhausted everything that I had to do it," Houston said. "And if it had been what was supposed to happen, it would have happened. It just was not supposed to, and I'm comfortable with that."
In recent years, Houston was often viewed as an albatross, a player with declining abilities and a huge contract. His six-year $100 million contract extension, signed in 2001, was widely criticized and contributed to the franchise's salary-cap troubles.
He was booed during introductions at an open practice at Madison Square Garden last year. Houston revealed no ill feelings.
"The fans of New York were unbelievable," Houston said. "I want to thank the fans for not only supporting me, but challenging me."
It was his way to take the high road. Teammates and team officials lauded Houston repeatedly Monday for his high character and class. Two gestures underscored the point. Even after he announced his retirement to the team, he stayed for a film session and gave pointers to his young former teammates. In the afternoon, before attending his news conference, Houston pulled together a number of team officials and asked them to say a prayer for Dolan, who had heart surgery Monday.
"I can't say that I've met a more classy individual in the N.B.A.," said Isiah Thomas, the Knicks' president, who related the story.
"I don't think there's another player who would have done that. We've all been blessed to have known him as a player, and we're all extremely fortunate to know him as a man."
Team officials had long said they would let Houston determine his own timeline for walking away. There were perceptions, however, that they pressured him to retire last season.
"Anyone who suggests that was misinformed," said Bill Strickland, Houston's longtime agent. "I never once got that impression, irrespective of what was printed. But I think Isiah, having played the game, understood how things would evolve eventually. What was important, I think, was that when this moment arrived, everybody was on the same page."
The Knicks are in a full-scale rebuilding mode, and the new faces of the team are almost all 25 and younger - including the rookies Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and David Lee, and young veterans Eddy Curry, Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson.
"I thought with this young team he was vital for us," Brown said. But, he noted, "I wouldn't have enjoyed watching him play handicapped as he is."
Houston said he planned to stay involved with the team, and the franchise intends to keep him involved in an as-yet unspecified role.
"I feel like I have a lot of experience to share with them," Houston said. "I still want to be a part of the Knicks."
NY Daily News
| Allan gave it his best shot
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| Knick faces reality & injury in ending $100 million career
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"Daddy's done with work now," the child said. And just like that, one of the league's most feared outside shooters, author of one of the greatest playoff moments in Knicks' franchise history and a model citizen for the league, segued into life as a stay-at-home dad. "I guess," Houston said upon hearing his daughter's words, "that sums it all up." Houston ended his grueling comeback yesterday, announcing at the Knicks' practice facility in Tarrytown that at the age of 34 the chronic pain in his surgically repaired knees had gotten the better of him. The decision came six days after Houston felt sharp pain following a workout at the College of Charleston in South Carolina and was advised by the Knicks' medical staff to take a week off. Houston said that when the Knicks returned to New York Wednesday, he consulted with his wife, Tamara, and his father and former college coach, Wade, and did a good amount of praying. By Friday, Houston decided to take the rest of his career off and put a stop to a sad and painful rehabilitation that became a distraction for the organization. "I pictured this day for a long time but I didn't think it was going to happen so soon." Houston said. "I did everything that I possibly could to get back and finish my career the way I would have like to. But the injury wouldn't allow me to do that. This is the right time for me to move on." Houston, who signed a Knick-record $100 million contract in 2001, was scheduled to earn $40 million over the next two years and likely will get every penny. Because of insurance, the Knicks may only have to pay $8 million to $15 million and figure to avoid paying luxury tax on the contract. His departure leaves Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway as the longest-tenured Knicks. The Knicks considered releasing Houston in August, which would have saved them $40 million in luxury tax. Instead, Jerome Williams was cut because Garden chairman James Dolan, who was grew close to Houston over the years, wanted to give the veteran every chance to return. Yesterday, along with thanking his teammates, the organization, the fans and the media, Houston publicly thanked Dolan, who was unable to attend the press conference because he was having heart bypass surgery. Moments before the announcement, Houston gathered his family and Knicks executives and said a prayer for Dolan. "Other than David Robinson I don't know if I've met a classier individual in the NBA," said Knicks president Isiah Thomas, who was with the Detroit Pistons in 1993 when Houston was drafted in the first round by the team. Three year later, former Knicks president Ernie Grunfeld signed Houston to a free-agent contract and over the next seven years Houston blossomed into a two-time All-Star and won an Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Games in Sydney. "The way we want to coach and play ... he exemplifies all of those things," said Larry Brown, who was a Team USA assistant coach in 2000. "I thought with this young team he was vital for us because he's the most mature and the most experienced and really a true professional. I felt it would really help the young guys." Houston too wanted to serve as a mentor to the young Knicks the way Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley and Larry Johnson tutored him during his first season in New York. The 1996-97 Knicks won 57 games and were on a collision course with Michael Jordan and the Bulls before the infamous brawl with the Miami Heat derailed their season. Two years later, the Knicks reached the NBA Finals with Houston playing a starring role. He saved the season and Jeff Van Gundy's job by making a dramatic last-second shot to beat the heavily favored Heat in the first round. Along with Willis Reed's lone basket against the Lakers in Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals and John Starks' dunk over Jordan in 1993, Houston's leaner is a timeless moment in franchise history. "That shot definitely sparked us to that great run," Van Gundy said yesterday. "I think it even had a great impact on next year's team. I know it prolonged my career with the Knicks. Allan had a career with New York that's worth having his numbered retired. He was professional, dignified and clutch. He really had a tremendous run. I'm sad that his career was shortened due to injury." In the Eastern Conference finals in the spring of '99, Houston scored 32 points in the clinching game. With both Ewing and Johnson sidelined, Houston made eight of nine shots in the second half as the Knicks advanced to the Finals. The following day, Remie was born. In 63 career playoff games, Houston averaged 19.3 points and shot 45%. He averaged 17.3 points in the regular season but his game and health began to decline following microfracture surgery on his right knee two yeas ago. He eventually developed arthritis in his left knee, which was operated on in 1997. Over the past two years, Houston played in just 70 games, making his last appearance on Jan. 19. With Houston sidelined, Thomas twice hinted last season that he should consider retirement. But Houston was intent on giving himself one last chance before going out on his own terms. "I exhausted everything," said Houston, who wants to work in the organization and may one day run the team. "If it was supposed to happen it would have happened. It just was not supposed to and I'm comfortable with that." Ups & downs of Houston
Allan Houston experienced the full range of emotions and performances in eight years with Knicks. Here's a look back at the highlights and lowlights. Highs May 16, 1999: Sinks a running one-hander with 0.8 seconds remaining in Game 5. Ball bounces endlessly on rim before finally falling to eliminate the Miami Heat. June 11, 1999: Scores 32 points, including 18 in the second half as the Knicks, playing without Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson, defeat the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 and advance to the NBA Finals. June 21, 1999: Scores 34 points, including 12-for-12 from the foul line, in Game 3 victory against San Antonio. February 2000: Earns the first of his two All-Star selections and scores 11 points in 18 minutes. September 2000: Helps the USA win Olympic gold in Sydney. July 23, 2001: Signs a franchise record six-year, $100 million contract. February 16, 2003: Scores career-high 53 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, converting 18 of 29 shots. March 16, 2003: Scores 50 points against Milwaukee and goes 18-for-18 from the foul line. Jan. 9, 2005: Scores season-high 25 points against Portland. Ten days later, Houston appears in his final game as a Knick. Lows Dec. 29, 2000: Does not play against the Chicago Bulls due to a stomach virus, snapping a streak of 258 consecutive games played. May 4, 2001: Latrell Sprewell criticizes Houston for "not showing up" in a Game 5 loss to Toronto that ends the Knicks' season. Houston scores 16 points in 29 minutes but is hampered by foul trouble. June 10, 2003: Has microfracture surgery on his right knee and plays in just 70 games over the next two seasons. Oct. 17, 2004: After having appeared in 50 games the previous season, Houston is booed by fans during an open practice at Garden. |
| A terrific run but only once did we see Heat of moment
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He said he would try at this training camp. But a ruined knee was going to end it too soon for him the way knees like his had ended it for others in New York, much bigger guys than him. Mantle. Namath. Reed. Houston was never that kind of star. Just enough of a basketball star, plenty of star, that day against the Heat. With enough shooter's touch to make that famous runner, off the rim and finally through the net with .8 left in Game 5, Knicks 78 and Heat 77. They were still talking about that one yesterday when Houston quit the Knicks for good. Go back and look at the footage of that game, not just the shot, but the way Houston ran around the court at Miami Arena afterward. Not the cool Allan Houston in the great moment of his basketball life. Not the serene one. The happiest kid on the playground. That was before one of his knees turned into something that could have belonged to Patrick Ewing. Houston finally had microfracture surgery. They tell you it is supposed to save the knee, stop the bones from rubbing together once the cartilage is gone. Hardly anybody is the same after they have it. Allan Houston sure wasn't. He was just on the long road to yesterday, going through one doctor after another and one trainer after another and one rehab after another, moving further away from the spring of 1999. "For two years I wasn't ready to accept what I had to accept," Houston said yesterday. He gave it one last shot in Charleston, surrounded by all those young guys, so many of them in their early 20s, good legs underneath them, everything ahead of them. Not because of the $100 million contract the Knicks gave him the last time he was a free agent. Not because of the money he could save the Knicks by walking away. Just because he had to know. Because they all have to know. He knew as soon as he got there he couldn't run. It is still a running game first. If you're a guard, even a superb shooter like Houston, you can't play if you can't keep up, no matter how much basketball has been your life and your dreams. In Charleston everybody else saw what Houston already knew, was finally ready to accept. He couldn't even make it through the non-contact drills, at least not for long. Nobody is even sure how many times he actually ran up and down the court hard in Charleston. But if he tried one day, the knee would hurt bad the next day. He was the old Knick out of the past, a stranger to Isiah's kids, to Larry Brown's kids, on the sidelines again, the way he had been on the sidelines for two years, the way he was on the sidelines in a suit Sunday night. The kids knew as much about the way he could shoot when he was young and still had his legs as they did about Frazier and Monroe. "A 50% jump shooter," Celtics' coach Doc Rivers said once. "Do you know how rare those are?" That is what must have eaten away at Houston the most: He could still shoot. Oh, man, could he shoot. Even on one leg. There he would be on the court at Charleston, able to participate in spot-up shooting drills, making everything he looked at. One day before practice, Knicks PR man Jonathan Supranowitz offered to rebound for Houston under the basket, even with a cell phone in his hand. Houston told him, "Don't worry, you won't have to move." The PR man didn't have to move. For a few minutes, Allan Houston was still Allan Houston. Catch it, make the shot. Move a few feet, catch, make another one. Larry Brown was talking about it the other night, how he even stopped to watch. "He's one of the greatest shooters I've ever seen," Brown said. Still, the coach had seen enough by then to know this had to be the end of it for Houston, the coach's son from the University of Tennessee who eventually would make more money to be a Knick than anybody except Patrick Ewing. It wasn't too long into the last contract, the one for $100 million, before people were calling it one of the worst in history. And when the NBA came up with that amnesty rule, allowing teams to cut one big contract and get relief from the league's luxury tax, immediately it was called "The Houston Rule." It is still fair to ask this, as Houston leaves now: How much is something like the spring of '99 worth in sports? The Knicks were No. 8 and the Heat were No. 1. Then Houston made his shot in Game5 and the Knicks were off, on that run that produced an even more famous shot later, Larry Johnson's four-pointer against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. Both would leave the NBA too soon and too young, Johnson with a bad back, Houston with this knee. "I'll never ever forget that moment," Houston said yesterday of Game 5. No one will. You know what they say about moments like that, right? It's got legs. |
| To very end, a nice touch
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| Allan makes classy exit
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| "Let's pray for Jim Dolan," Allan Houston said to the assembled. "Let's pray for our organization." It was Allan Houston's day in the sun yesterday, a time to look back on his shot against Miami, to take stock of his future and to address, for the last time, what might be the most controversial contract ever signed by a New York athlete. But with Dolan, his friend and the Garden's CEO, undergoing heart surgery on Long Island, Allan Houston showed why he's always been the prince of the Knicks' locker room. He played a position, shooting guard, where you often find the biggest egos. But even at his big sendoff, he was as classy, humble and well-grounded as the day he arrived in New York. Houston leaves when the time is right. The Knicks have moved on to younger players like Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson. They just don't have anyone who can give them what Houston used to provide in the playoffs: a clutch shooter with a sweet stroke who found his place in Knick history on May 16, 1999, when his leaning jumper with 0.8 seconds left knocked the top-seeded Heat out of the playoffs. With his departure, the only person who knows how to win is the coach, Larry Brown. So yesterday was the end of an era. The last member of the final Patrick Ewing teams decided his knees were never going to be able to provide the lift he needs for his jumper. Sad for someone only 34, but there are no guarantees for pro athletes. "It's a bittersweet day," he said. People used to dismiss Houston as soft, and at the defensive end or on the boards they weren't far off. But it was a different story when he held the ball on the wing or on the baseline, and when the Knicks needed a basket in those playoff games in the late '90s. In those moments, his poker face belied a toughness. "He was as tough as they came," Jeff Van Gundy said yesterday. Houston talked about being blessed, about being an athlete who had the talent to live his dream. And he did. He could take last-second shots in packed arenas and send a place like Miami Arena into a season-ending hush. If Michael Jordan haunts Pat Riley more than any other player, Allan Houston is a pretty close second. "When we beat Indiana, I really don't remember anything about the game," Houston said about the 1999 East finals clincher at the Garden. "I just remember running around and hugging my teammates, hugging Jeff and seeing the fans react to us, that we got back to the Finals." It's such a long time ago and who knows when the Garden will throw another party like that night. Since then, Houston would become a very rich man, even if his talent and impact never matched the price tag. At one point yesterday, speaking for Dolan, Garden president Steve Mills said: "It's well-documented how he feels about Allan Houston." After the 2001 playoffs, Dolan made a decision that would haunt the franchise for years. Bidding against himself, he rewarded Houston with a $100-million extension, the richest in team history. From that point on, the franchise hasn't won a playoff series, Houston saw his career languish in the trainer's room and the team all but lost touch with anything resembling fiscal responsibility. The only hope now comes with Brown, who doesn't shoot or rebound or defend. The Houston contract really started the Knicks on their downward spiral. They could get some cap relief now as Houston walks away with $40 million left over this season and next. But really it's too late in the game. At $120 million currently, and with contracts extending from here to kingdom come, they can't even see the cap ceiling from where they're sitting. Nor do they want to. It's the best and worst of Dolan. He spends freely, but seldom wisely. "I don't think Jim has any regrets about the contract with Allan," Steve Mills said off on the side, after Houston had made his announcement. "He deserved it. We felt good about what he delivered as a basketball player, as well as a person. In pro sports, having players who stand for positive things, that's worth something to your business." It just didn't end the way everybody wanted. The way Allan Houston deserved. |
SEE HOU LATER
By MARC BERMAN
October 18, 2005 -- Perhaps Allan Houston was the last to realize it, but the hobbled $100-million Knick finally came to his senses yesterday.
Thirteen days into training camp, Houston announced his long-anticipated retirement during a touching news conference at the club's Westchester campus.
Houston's wife, Tamara, two of his three young kids, his parents and in-laws sat in the front row. "Looking at them, on a day like this, it's nice to look over there and see what I have to look forward to," Houston said.
It was a classy line to end a classy 12-year career - nine with the Knicks. The gentlemanly Houston possessed one of the game's sweetest, clutch jump shots during his prime, but his soft defense and shortness of career prevented what some once predicted would be a Hall of Fame career. His lack of on-court emotion also never made him the Garden's favorite son.
"Soft is a mental thing," Houston said. "Mentally, I thought I was far from that."
Houston still goes down as one of the great Knick guards ever, fourth on the club's all-time scoring list, and was a hero in their 1999 run to The Finals.
"I've thought of this time for a long time, I didn't know it would happen so soon," Houston said. "I did everything I possibly could to get back and finish my career the way I would've liked. My injuries wouldn't allow me to do it."
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Houston, who addressed the team yesterday morning, could not overcome arthritic knees. Eight days ago in Charleston, S.C., he started experiencing renewed pain in his left knee and was shut down. Again.
Houston hinted the end was near but said he wanted to go onto the court again, believing Larry Brown's harsh camp wasn't a good barometer. In the next few days, Houston realized he was tired of making excuses and told Brown Saturday he was done. Isiah Thomas had been campaigning for Houston to retire since last spring. "The reason I didn't give it another chance was because I looked back and said, I've given it so many chances, trying everything I possibly could," Houston said. "It was more in my heart and mind that this was really the time."
The Knicks will save a bundle on Houston's medical retirement, which cements their decision to use Jerome Williams as their amnesty cut last August instead of Houston. The Knicks are responsible for only about $16 million of the $40 million left on his contract, with insurance picking up the rest. In addition, since Houston will likely be removed from the cap Jan. 19th - a year from his last game as NBA rules state - they won't be responsible for any of the $40 million luxury tax due. The Knicks saved $21M in luxury tax in waiving Williams.
Thomas sounded sincere yesterday when he said Houston was the "classiest individual in the NBA" he had ever met aside from David Robinson. And though some in the organization thought Houston was being stubborn, Thomas commended him for not giving up.
"When I first got here, I envisioned Stephon Marbury, with Jamal Crawford and a healthy Allan," Thomas said. "It would've been the best backcourt in the NBA. We never had a chance to see that."
Houston said the pain did not subside last week. "I didn't need to see any doctors; I'd seen so many over the last two years, that's the last thing I wanted to talk to," Houston said. "It was a physical decision but also a heart decision. Before, I wasn't ready to accept what I had to accept because I was so determined to be back."
As The Post reported, the Knicks did not cut Houston with the amnesty rule after he confided to them he wasn't willing to go through another injury-wracked season like the last two in which he played 70 games. Houston admitted he had pain walking up steps last season.
"He had been taking a lot of pain-killing medication the last two, three years, he was just masking the pain," his father Wade Houston said. "You name it, he tried it and he couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel."
MATES WILL MISS HIM
By BRIAN LEWIS
October 18, 2005 -- When Malik Rose looks at Allan Houston, he doesn't see a 34-year-old with bad knees, but one of the toughest competitors he played against.
When assistant Herb Williams looks at Houston, he doesn't see a $100 million albatross that weighed down his Knicks, but the best shooter he ever played with.
With Houston's retirement yesterday, fellow Knicks captain Stephon Marbury hoped fans would finally stop seeing the expensive shell that missed much of the last two seasons, and recognize the exquisite shooter who carried them for years.
"It's probably better for him," Marbury said.
"Instead of putting himself through all those hard times trying to get back on the court, that fight every day. I think people will remember him for all the good things that he's done and not all the things he was trying to go out there and do."
Houston had done much- including hitting arguably the most memorable basket in club history, a running one-hander that went off both rim and backboard and dropped in with :00.8 left for a 78-77 win over Miami in Game 5 of the 1999 Eastern Conference first round.
He led the Knicks to the Finals that year, averaging 21.6 points in a series loss to the Spurs.
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"He had our whole team in foul trouble that first game; we had to go back to the drawing board because of him," said Rose, then a Spur. "All the emphasis was on Allan Houston at the top of the key and his wing spot and [Latrell] Sprewell. When Allan got it out on the wing, he was hell. He was one of the most mentally-tough players I've ever seen."
Marbury labeled him "lethal," and Williams - a teammate for three seasons - called him the best shooter he played with, saying "Right now he could probably step on the court and make 96 out of 100 - on one leg."
Therein lies the rub. On that one leg, missing 92 games and getting paid well to do it, he became a target of fans' ire.
"People come up and say things about Allan that don't know him. It makes you mad, because they don't know who Allan is as a person," said Penny Hardaway.
Rose added: "It was tough for me sitting next to him hearing that; I can only imagine what it was like for him. It's frustrating. It makes you feel so bad for him, but he never complained."
MEMORIES OF MIAMI MOMENT TO LIVE ON
October 18, 2005 -- IF you're one of the lucky ones, you get one Moment to call your own for the rest of your life, one confluence of instant and opportunity that stays attached to you forever. Allan Houston will never be remembered as the greatest guard the Knicks ever had, sentenced to an eternity in the crowded shadow behind Walt Frazier and Pearl Monroe, to name two.
But while Clyde will always have Game 7 in 1970, and the Pearl will forever have the endless highlight reel that was his career, neither one of them ever had what Allan Houston had late in the afternoon of May 16, 1999.
The play was called Triangle Down, there were 4.5 seconds left in the first round's decisive Game 5 at decrepit old Miami Arena. The Knicks were trailing 77-76. The old building's foundation was rattling from the clatter. Pat Riley was looking stoic on one end of the floor, Jeff Van Gundy like an unmade bed on the other.
The ball was in Allan Houston's hands.
And so was his Moment.
"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about that game," Houston said yesterday. "And there isn't a day that goes by that I'm not reminded of it."
It's funny how the dueling quirks of chance and fate announce certain players to these Moments. John Starks had one of them, back in 1993, when he went baseline and leapt to the sky and stuffed a ball over Michael Jordan and the rest of the Chicago Bulls, a Moment frozen forever in the memory of Knicks fans and thousands of posters immortalizing the Moment.
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Larry Johnson would have a Moment of his own later on in '99, a few weeks later, when he converted a four-point play against the Indiana Pacers that nearly vaporized Madison Square Garden's roof.
Of course, LJ's Moment never would have happened if Houston hadn't come off a Patrick Ewing screen that noisy afternoon in South Florida, taken the inbounds pass, darted past Dan Majerle, and released the ball from just inside the free throw line. Nothing much depended on this, simply the Knicks season, Van Gundy's career. And Allan Houston's legacy.
"It hung up there for what seemed like two minutes and not two seconds," Houston would say later. "I got a friendly bounce from up above."
Almost 61/2 years later, the friendly repercussions from that one shot still reverberate. The shot went in. The Knicks won that series, then two more. That appearance in the 1999 NBA Finals is a memory Knicks fans cling to now, as they dream of a day when they can feel the way they felt on the afternoon of May 16, 1999. One of the last days they believed the Knicks could carry them to that special sporting place all fans crave.
The day Allan Houston seized his Moment, and drove them there.
"It tells you about how passionate Knicks fans are," Houston said. "There aren't a lot of cities where you make one play, no matter how big it was, and people are still talking about it all these years later."
Much of the reason for that, of course, is that the Knicks haven't given their constituency very much to cheer about in the interim. And Houston is as much to blame for that, indirectly, as anyone.
The $99 million contract the Knicks awarded him after the 2000 season has been a ruinous set of platinum handcuffs, compounded by the knee injury that kept Houston inactive most of the past two years, and ended his career for good yesterday.
Houston's retirement helps speed along the Knicks plodding return to fiscal sanity. But really, Knicks fans blamed the team's bosses for offering that contract; they never blamed Houston for signing it. They couldn't blame Houston for much. He was classy, he was polite, there was never a fan who came in contact with him and didn't walk away feeling better for the meeting.
And, of course, there was the Moment. There was the shot. There was May 16, 1999, one of the last days you could say it was a wonderful day to be a Knicks fan. Houston gets to keep that Moment forever. If you happen to root for the Knicks, then so do you.
Houston in retrospect
POSITION: Shooting guard.
BIRTHDATE: April 20, 1971.
HEIGHT: 6-6.
WEIGHT: 205.
COLLEGE: University of Tennessee.
DRAFTED: 1993, first round - No. 11 overall - by the Detroit Pistons.
SIGNEDWITH KNICKS: On July 14, 1996 and averaged 14.8 points in his first season.
BEATTHEHEAT: In the 1999 first round series against No. 1 seed Miami, his short jumper with 0.8 seconds left in Game 5 gave the No. 8 seed Knicks a stunning 78-77 victory.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: In 839 regular-season games, he averaged 17.3 points. In 63 playoff games, he averaged 19.3 ... On Feb. 16, 2003, he scored a career-high 53 points against the Lakers ... On March 16, 2003 against the Bucks, he hit 18 free throws ... He is the Knicks' fourth all-time leading scorer.
ESPN.COM/AP:
Allan Houston Retires After 12 Years
NEW YORK -- New York Knicks guard Allan Houston retired Monday, unable to recover from knee injuries that kept him out much of the last two seasons.
In NBA History (*-active) | |
|---|---|
| 2,560 | Reggie Miller |
| 1,719 | Dale Ellis |
| 1,559 | Glen Rice |
| 1,542 | Tim Hardaway |
| 1,486 | Ray Allen* |
| 1,473 | Nick Van Exel |
| 1,360 | Dan Majerle |
| 1,326 | Mitch Richmond |
| 1,305 | Allan Houston |
| 1,301 | Eddie Jones |
A two-time All-Star and member of the 2000 Olympic team, Houston was one of the NBA's best outside shooters before he was slowed by chronic knee soreness. He was limited to only 70 games over the last two seasons.
"I did everything I possibly could to get back and finish my career the way I would have liked to," Houston said at the Knicks' practice facility. "My injuries just wouldn't let me do it."
The 34-year-old Houston appeared in only 20 games last season and averaged 11.9 points, his worst season since he was a rookie. He did not play in either of the team's two exhibition games.
Houston's retirement leaves Larry Brown without his top outside shooter as he begins his first season as Knicks coach. New York could use Jamal Crawford or offseason acquisition Quentin Richardson at the shooting guard spot opposite Stephon Marbury.
Knicks president Isiah Thomas had hoped the trio of Houston, Marbury and Crawford would make the Knicks title contenders again.
"I thought that would make the best backcourt in the NBA," Thomas said. "We never got a chance to do that."
Houston averaged 17.3 points during his 12 NBA seasons, including a career-high 22.5 in 2002-03, his last full season. He shot 40.2 percent from 3-point range.
After spending his first three seasons in Detroit, Houston signed with the Knicks, who hoped he would be the outside shooting complement they needed to Patrick Ewing.
Houston helped New York to an improbable spot in the 1999 NBA Finals, when his running jumper in the closing seconds of the deciding Game 5 knocked off the top-seeded Miami Heat in the first round.
"I always wanted to be in those moments when you could have an opportunity to win the game," Houston said.
But ultimately, he became a symbol for why the team couldn't improve in the post-Ewing years.
A favorite of Madison Square Garden president James Dolan, Houston was given a much-criticized $100 million, six-year contract extension in 2001. The deal made him virtually untradeable once he began to get hurt and crippled the Knicks' ability to make moves because of salary cap woes.
That also made him a target of criticism from fans.
"New York fans are passionate. I knew that you have to put yourself in other people's shoes sometimes," he said.
Houston hoped to return this season, but knee soreness returned after preseason workouts. A very spiritual person, he knew then that it was time to give up the efforts to come back.
"If it had been what was supposed to happen, it would have happened," Houston said.
A durable player earlier in his career, Houston missed only 10 games due to injury or illness in his first seven seasons in New York before the problems with his left knee.
"Allan exhausted every single possibility trying to get back," Thomas said.
At the a press conference attended by Brown, Marbury, Crawford, former teammate and coach Herb Williams, and his family, Houston was praised for his character.
Thomas, who noted he was at Houston's first NBA press conference while playing for Detroit, pointed out that Houston took the time to say a prayer for Dolan, who recently had surgery and couldn't attend.
"The only thing I could say to myself is 'wow,' " Thomas said. "I don't think there's another NBA player who would have done that."
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More important, how great a person is he? “Before we walked out here he gathered all of us around and said ‘let’s spend this time to think and pray about Mr. (Jim) Dolan’ (the Madison Square Garden Chairman who’s currently in the hospital awaiting an operation),” Knicks President, Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas said. “I remember how I felt the day I retired. In all my years in the league, I can’t think of another player who would focus on someone else on a day as big as this, on the day of his retirement.”
After a more-than-illustrious 12-year career -- the last nine with the New York Knicks -- Houston finally decided to hang it up due to the recurring pain in his operations-weakened right knee. “It was time,” he said, sadly. “I talked to (his wife) Tammy, and we just decided it was time.” A decision they’ve only arrived to with devastating difficulty. “The past two weeks I was in the locker-room with all these new young kids we have and I could just feel the energy, the passion, the excitement,” Houston said. “It is so much fun watching these young guys right now. This today is bittersweet for me because I really wanted to be out there with them. I never had as much fun not playing. We, the Knicks, are going to have a great year.” Thomas’ emotions were equally bittersweet. “As I was making my decisions, I’ve always envisioned one day to have a back court of Stephon (Marbury), Jamal Crawford, and Allan Houston,” he said. “We never had the chance to see that but I can tell you one thing: Allan has exhausted every single possibility to get back. I thought that would be the best back court in the NBA.”
“I did everything I possibly could to get back and finish my career the way I wanted to,” said Houston. “But my injuries just didn’t allow me to do it. Everyone who’s ever played basketball will tell you New York is the place they wanted to play. I had that opportunity and I am really, really thankful.”
“I want to thank the fans for not only supporting me but challenging me,” added Houston. “When you have a family member challenging you -- and I consider the fans family -- you can’t help but get better. And the media? I don’t know if anyone has ever thanked the New York media -- but you made me better, too.”
“I can only thank Allan’s parents for raising the classy young man with great character that Allan is,” President and Chief Operating Officer, MSG Sports Steve Mills said. “Allan donated $100,000 to the Cheering for Children Foundation with only one proviso -- that we don’t publicize it. Well, we’ve kept our promise for over five years.”
As exceptional an athlete as Houston was -- he starred in the high jump in high school -- it was THAT SHOT that made him one of the greatest two guards ever. Pure as the driven snow, it would nestle into the net so softly time after time after time it was like hearing Mozart playing his own music or listening to Shakespeare reciting one of his sonnets. You were stunned when the thing barely touched the rim. Even better, Houston -- “One of the hardest workers I’ve ever been around,” said Thomas -- never stopped trying to get even better. Without a doubt, his off-dribble game reached an entirely other plateau 2001-03 -- not at all coincidentally the two highest scoring seasons of his career.
Dad Wade -- Allan’s college coach at Tennessee -- can barely trace the origin of THE SHOT. “Allan played ball practically before he took his first step,” he recalls. He shot over curtain rods, he shot over lampshades in the living room. Than he played against Darrell Griffith, Pervis Ellison and Scooter McCray in the gym when he was fourteen (Wade was a Louisville assistant). Those guys, they adopted him. But he had a skill level…That release, the hand-eye coordination…I don’t even know where they came from but they were always there.”
Houston finished his career as the fourth highest scorer in Knicks history. A two-time NBA All Star, he played in 258 consecutive games 1998-2000 and missed just ten contests in seven seasons prior to his knee injury. He authored the fourth and ninth highest scoring Knick games ever, the former his classic 53-pointer against the Lakers and Kobe Bryant. He led the league in free throw shooting accuracy with a club record 91.9 per cent in 2002-03. His running one-hander to close out the 78-77 Game Five victory of the 1999 playoffs against Miami -- the one that propelled the Knicks on their eventual foray into the NBA Finals -- might be the most memorable in Knicks history.
“The day after Allan was selected as a rookie by the Pistons, I had him and Lindsey (Hunter) over to the house for spaghetti dinner,” Thomas said. “They asked me for advise and I told them ‘always be true to the game and the game will be true to you.’ Allan Houston was always true to the game. There hasn’t been a classier, more professional person in the NBA since I’ve been associated with the league.”
“I’d like to be remembered as someone who gave his all every time he was out there,” Houston said. “Especially in the big moments, under pressure.” Houston, we’ve got no problem. Mission accomplished.
"My career as an NBA player and member of the New York Knicks must unfortunately come to an end," Houston said. "Over the last two years, I have done everything I could possibly do to get back on the court, but injuries to my knee would not allow me to do it. While it is extremely disappointing to not be in a Knick uniform again, I feel that it is in the best interests of my family and the franchise that I move on.
“I hope that all of our fans realize how much of an honor and privilege it was to represent them and New York at Madison Square Garden for all of these years. When I arrived as a free agent in 1996, it was truly a blessing to be surrounded by the greats: Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks, Larry Johnson and Charlie Ward, to name a few. As time moved on, I have been fortunate to play for and with other great coaches and teammates. I can honestly say that we tried to give our fans 100-percent each and every night. I also thank the fans and the Knicks organization for all their support, and giving me some of the most memorable experiences of my life. I will forever be a Knick and a New Yorker.”
Originally signed on July 14, 1996, Houston finished his Knicks career as the fourth leading scorer in franchise history during the regular season (11,165) and eighth leading scorer during the playoffs (1,139). Only NBA legends Patrick Ewing, Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Willis Reed scored more points during their regular season careers with the orange and blue. On Oct. 4, 1999, he was named a team captain, and held that title for six seasons. He was selected to be a member of the 2000 and 2001 NBA All-Star teams and was a member of the gold medal-winning United States team at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney.
On May 16, 1999, the Louisville, KY-native authored one of the most memorable shots in club history with a game-winning runner at Miami in the closing seconds of Game Five in the first round of the 1999 NBA Playoffs. After defeating the Heat, the Knicks went on to defeat the Atlanta Hawks in the conference semifinals and Indiana Pacers in the conference finals to make their first NBA Finals appearance since 1994.
As impressive as his court-heroics were, Houston’s generosity off the court in the New York metropolitan area will be perhaps his greatest legacy. The list of monetary donations and personal appearances that he has made to support events over the past nine years is beyond compare. The Allan Houston Foundation’s current effort to bring a Life Enrichment Center to Harlem will benefit the entire metropolitan area for years to come.
“My professional goal is to help the Knicks win an NBA championship,” Houston once said, “but I also have a life purpose – to assist in impacting the lives of others in a positive way. God has overwhelmed me with blessings and I am led to share them others.”
As recently as last month, Houston joined other NBA and WNBA players in Hattiesburg, Biloxi and Gulfport, MS to deliver 20 tractor trailers loaded with supplies as part of Operation Rebound to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. His year-round efforts in the area included: Father Knows Best Basketball Retreat, Allan’s Courtside Classroom, My Teacher Is My Hero and Allan’s Hometown Heroes, benefiting young people of all kinds and their parents/mentors. For six straight years, his work saw him recognized as one of The Sporting News’ “Good Guys In Sports.”
