BOSTON – Allan Houston was an untouchable last summer. The Knicks had a glaring need for a point guard last August and could have snared Seattle’s Gary Payton for Houston. Coming off a berth into The Finals that overshadowed their mediocre regular season, the Knicks balked.
With their point-guard woes solved with the postseason emergence of Charlie Ward, the Knicks have a glaring need for a prime-time power forward who rebounds like a machine.
The Knicks should not balk again when it comes to dealing Houston. If they are to take the next step, Houston has to be sacrificed, as sweet, gentlemanly and classy a guy he is.
GM Scott Layden should not only offer a Houston package to Portland for free agent Brian Grant and underrated shooting guard Bonzi Wells in a sign-and-trade but should shop him to all teams armed with an elite power forward – Sacramento’s Chris Webber being a good start.
With this new Collective Bargaining Agreement where player movement is scarce and free agents aren’t really free at all, you have to make compromises, have to deal your strength to patch up a major weakness. In this league, no major improvements can come without some risk. And that is why the Knicks should not be hardheaded in making Houston an untouchable again. The only untouchable should be Latrell Sprewell.
The Knicks, who can’t give away Marcus Camby fast enough, are sending out strong signals they would not consider trading Houston, who can opt out of his contract next summer. The Knicks have even whispered they wouldn’t have given up Houston for Grant Hill, which is ludicrous if true.
All that means is the Florida teams will pass the Knicks by in the left lane. Orlando has added Hill and Tracy McGrady. Miami possibly will add All-Star shooting guard Eddie Jones. Without a significant move, the Knicks will remain on the right shoulder with an overheated engine – at best an Eastern Conference Finalist, not good enough in Patrick Ewing’s potential final season in New York.
The Blazers appear unwilling to trade the 6-9 Grant unless either Houston or Sprewell are included. Given the choice of the two, the Knicks must pony up Houston, who, for his occasional offensive brilliance,, still has a lot of holes in his game and still hasn’t developed a good oncourt chemistry with Ewing.
Houston became an All-Star for the first time last season but that was for his dynamic play in November, December and January. Houston slipped after the All-Star Break, became less willing to take over a game in the fourth quarter as Ewing emerged as the go-to guy in the stretch. He had a brutal playoffs. His awful, five-point Game 7 outing vs. Miami, albeit with a bad ankle, would still be talked about had the Knicks not stolen the game at the end.
And that is to say nothing about his defense, which seemed to get worse last season than better. Sprewell, playing out of position, had a much better year on the defensive end. Jeff Van Gundy was also down on Houston’s rebounding as he failed to show the mindset to get his nose dirty. At 6-3, Erick Strickland, their newest acquisition, is regarded by the Knicks as a better rebounder and defender.
The Knicks can not win a championship with Sprewell at small forward and Larry Johnson at power forward, that much is clear. As Van Gundy called it during the season, the Knicks have a “structural flaw” in having two prime-time shooting guards in their starting lineup. It’s wasted.
It resulted in the Knicks being the worst offensive rebounding club in the league, frankly a soft team. As Van Gundy said recently, you can’t be the worst in the league in any department and expect to win a title, which is all that counts next season.
Trading Houston would allow Sprewell to move to shooting guard and LJ to his more natural position of small forward. Now the big question: Is the rugged and ferocious Grant a skilled-enough power forward to make the Knicks championship-caliber? There are no assurances but it is a risk the Knicks should take, that Grant’s best is yet to come.
Certainly, Grant, 28, will never be a big scorer, but last season was an aberration, as he was beset by injury and demoted to a backup role behind Rasheed Wallace. Two seasons ago, Grant, with a decent low-post game, averaged 11.5 points and 9.8 rebounds. With more minutes, he can probably get close to 15 points. The second shots he creates with offensive boards could make up for Houston’s 20-point average while LJ and the surging Ward can be used more as a perimeter threat.
I’d rather see Marcus Camby, currently their best offensive rebounder, be kept out of the package. Camby’s trade value couldn’t be lower after an injury-wracked season. Why trade your best offensive rebounder when that’s the area you’re trying to improve.
If the Knicks can get Grant and Wells, an exciting, underrated deep threat who would start on most teams, for Houston and Chris Childs, the Knicks must do it.
Houston can opt out of the final two years of his contract next summer and leave for nothing. (Miami, if they don’t get Jones, will have a gaping shooting-guard hole and major cap room in 2001).
Houston has had many chances to be the difference-maker, to lift the Knicks to a title. If he is still an untouchable, the Knicks aren’t going to touch the championship trophy next season.
