For those that entertained the idea of houston coming here (as unlikely as that seemed), well forget it...Interesting what implications this will have on Webber... NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks apparently will make Allan Houston the highest-paid player in franchise history. The New York Daily News reported Saturday that the Knicks and Houston have agreed in principle on a contract that would pay the All-Star guard $99.25 million over six years. Houston became a free agent earlier this week, opting out of the final two years of a contract that would have paid him $21 million. The 30-year-old Houston would become the highest-paid player in Knicks history, easily eclipsing the four-year, $68 million deal signed by Patrick Ewing in 1997. The Daily News did not report any details of Houston's contract. He would be eligible to negotiate a no-trade clause because he has been in the league eight years and has been with the Knicks the last four. According to various published reports, Houston and his agent, Bill Strickland, met with Knicks president Scott Layden and Madison Square Garden president Steve Mills on Thursday night to negotiate a deal. The Knicks appear intent on settling the status of Houston before other free agents can be signed beginning July 18. The new salary cap will be set a day earlier. There was speculation that the Knicks would attempt to trade Houston in an effort to acquire Sacramento's Chris Webber or another prominent free agent. The Daily News, however, reported that the Knicks never considered Houston in any sign-and-trade deal since he would have to agree to it. Houston represented the Knicks on the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the second straight year. He averaged 18.7 points while shooting 44.9 percent from the floor last season. Houston spent his first three NBA seasons in Detroit before signing as a free agent with the Knicks in July 1996. Copyright 2001 SportsTicker Enterprises, L.P. ------------------ "Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." - George W.
Wow 16.5 million a year for Allan Houston! He is nowhere near worth that kind of money. That's the kind of money you use on Franchise players like Garnett, Duncan, O'neal and McGrady for example. Houston is NOT a franchise player. He's not the type of player you spend almost 1/3 of your salary cap on and build your team around. He is a good 6-9 million a year player maybe, but not a Garnett Money type of player. ------------------ http://www.cld9.com/chris/nbau.html
Talk about knocking the payscale outta whack... a no-defense jumpshooting shooting guard making "Elite" money. ------------------ "Yes, it's true. Kelvin Cato DOES have plenty of heart. I think the downside of Hakeem's six weeks absence is the upside of Kelvin Cato's emergence as a power in the NBA." jscmedia - 12/2/99 7:13pm : the off-season is truly a great time to reflect.
Looks like they don't know how to draft -or- deal with FAs. ------------------ Anyone need a C/C++/Win32/HTML/PHP/SQL/Java/Perl/x86 coder?
He has weaker numbers than Cat and makes three times as much. That almost justifies Cato's contract. The key word is "almost". ------------------
