Upon the End of an Error

Yesterday at approximately 4:00 PM EST, the Knicks bid farewell to the player who has become the poster-boy for all that is wrong with NBA contracts, Allan Houston. At the fairly young age of 34, Houston decided that his oft-operated upon knees simply did not have it in them anymore.

When Allan Houston signed with the Knicks from Detroit, he was envisioned as the outside scorer who would complement the aging warrior Patrick Ewing. Injuries prevented Ewing from playing at full strength with Houston in the strike-shortened 1999 season, and he was entirely absent when the Knicks were steamrolled by the Spurs in that year's Finals. For the rest of his Knick tenure, including the years following Ewing's departure, Houston was a 20-1-1 player who shot excellently from 3-point range, had a stellar FT%, and didn't have much to speak of in the other statistical categories. His biggest Knick moment, on the court, came when his last-second jumper bounced on the rim again-and-again, before dropping in and eliminating the Miami Heat.

In 2004-2005, Allan played about 30 games and earned $17,531,250!!!!!!!!!!!!! (sorry, but each one of those exclamation points was necessary). Let me just show you the chart to see where is salary fits in:

RANK PLAYER SALARY
1) Shaquille O'Neal, Miami $27,696,429
2) Chris Webber, Sacramento $17,531,250
3) Allan Houston, New York $17,531,250
4) Kevin Garnett, Minnesota $16,000,000
5) Jason Kidd, New Jersey $14,796,000
5) Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana $14,796,000
7) Ray Allen, Seattle $14,625,000
7) Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Portland $14,625,000
7) Allen Iverson, Philadelphia $14,625,000
7) Antoine Walker, Atlanta $14,625,000

That's right folks. Houston was earning more than anyone but Shaq and Webber(and C-Webb's deal was made when he was arguably heading toward being more valuable than Shaq). When Houston signed his $100 million deal, it change the game for everyone who was up for a contract after that, much more significantly than the A-Rod deal did for baseball. Hell, his deal may have convinced Texas that such insane numbers were possible. Also, this dead weight contract spent on a non-productive player hand-cuffed the Knicks for years. they are still not out of the hole, and carry the league's highest payroll again.

I say happy trails to Allan, who rightly retired after allowing the Knicks to use the luxury tax exemption which was prematurely named "The Allan Houston Rule" to cut the money owed to JYD. I wish he could have lived up to his Reggie Miller-esque potential, but that's what injuries do. Maybe we will see a Grant Hill down the road, but I doubt it.