Wikipedia

Allan Houston

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Allan Wade Houston (born April 20 1971, in Louisville, Kentucky, USA) is a former professional basketball player who spent the majority of his career playing shooting guard for the National Basketball Association's New York Knicks. His nickname is "H2O", derived from the first letter of his name and his regular number "20", and acknowledges his graceful jumpshot, which is "smooth as water". http://membres.lycos.fr/overnight/nba/allan_houston.jpg

Early life

Houston played at Ballard High School in Louisville, helping them to win the 1988 Kentucky state championship. He went on to play at the University of Tennessee and graduated in 1993 as the school's all-time leading scorer.

NBA career

Houston was drafted 11th overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 1993 NBA Draft, and averaged 8.5 points per game in his rookie year. His average was boosted to 14.5 and 19.7 points per game in the next two years.

On July 14 1996 Houston signed as a free agent with the Knicks, where he played for the next nine seasons. In his first year as a Knick, Houston took the place of John Starks in the starting lineup, however Starks was a valuable mentor for him coming off of the bench. Houston kept his scoring average at a consistent 17-point-or-so per-game clip, and led his team to the 1999 NBA Finals. He made the All-Star team in 2000 and 2001.

In 2001, Houston signed a maximum contract extension with the Knicks, and that proved to be a mistake, because it cut deeply into the Knicks' already grim salary cap situation and prevented them from making any free agent moves as their team spiraled into mediocrity. Also, his salary cap number made him virtually untradeable. He was considered by many to be one-dimensional as he was primarily a jump shooter throughout his career.

In addition, Houston missed 32 games in 2003-04 due to a knee injury. In the summer of 2004, he refused to have surgery on his knee claiming he would be ready to play the next season. However, he played in only 20 games in the 2004-05 season due to the fact his injury hadn't completely healed. Due to his injury, he announced his retirement on October 17, 2005. Houston was one of the most prolific scorers in Knicks history and his last second bankshot in the deciding game against the Miami Heat in the 1999 playoffs remains a dramatic moment in Knicks history (especially given that the Knicks went on to make the NBA Finals).

Allan Houston ranks 10th all-time in career 3-point field goals made

"Allan Houston Rule"

In 2005, the NBA agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The most striking innovation grants NBA teams a one-time exception to waive a player without paying any further luxury tax on the player's contract, regardless of how long or how rich the contract was.

This rule benefitted teams who had run into serious long-term salary cap problems. The correct term is "amnesty clause", but because the team with the worst problems were the Knicks and their worst financial liability was Houston, it was quickly dubbed "Allan Houston Rule". Ironically, the Knicks chose not to use the rule on him, but on forward Jerome Williams instead, because the Knicks correctly predicted Houston would retire due to lingering injuries over his last two seasons. As result, Houston made $40 million for the last two years of his contract even though he did not participate in any games for the Knicks.

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