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New York Knicks: 25 Best Players To Play For The Knicks

By Phil Watson

Mar 26, 2016; New York, NY, USA; General view as the New York Knicks are introduced before the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2016; New York, NY, USA; General view as the New York Knicks are introduced before the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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UNITED STATES – DECEMBER 17: The New York Knicks’ Allan Houston stays a step ahead of New Jersey Nets’ defenders Rodney Rogers and Lucious Harris in game at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks won, 101-99. (Photo by Keith Torrie/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES – DECEMBER 17: The New York Knicks’ Allan Houston stays a step ahead of New Jersey Nets’ defenders Rodney Rogers and Lucious Harris in game at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks won, 101-99. (Photo by Keith Torrie/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) /

player. 27. <strong>How acquired:</strong> Free agent, July 14, 1996.. SG. . Allan Houston. 18

Allan Houston‘s timing was perfect. The former first-round pick had a breakout season for the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks were ready to pounce, signing Houston to a seven-year, $56 million free-agent deal in July 1996.

Houston proved it was money well spent, earning All-Star bids for the Knicks in 2000 and 2001 and developing into a smooth scoring threat from the wing.

NYK_18_HOUSTON
NYK_18_HOUSTON /

He was fourth in the NBA in three-pointers in 2002-03, while also leading the league in free-throw shooting, and in 1999-2000, Houston finished fifth in three-point shooting.

In 1999, Houston was one of the leaders of New York’s run to the NBA Finals after qualifying for the playoffs as a No. 8 seed in the lockout-shortened campaign.

He averaged 21.6 points, 3.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds in a whopping 44.4 minutes per game, shooting .427/2-for-12/.923 in a five-game loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

But his knees began to betray him in 2003 and Houston was out of the league by October 2005, when he retired.

He attempted comebacks with New York in both 2007 and 2008, ending the first after 10 days and the second was finished in less than a month when he was waived near the end of the preseason in October 2008.

In nine seasons with the Knicks, Houston averaged 18.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 36.1 minutes per game, shooting .444/.399/.872.

An All-American as a senior at Tennessee, where he averaged 22.3 points per game in his final season, Houston was taken 11th overall by the Pistons in the 1993 NBA Draft.

He is 34th in NBA history with 1,305 three-pointers, 31st with a .402 three-point percentage and 32nd with an .863 mark from the free-throw line.

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