(Allan tries to explain the intricacies of the new CBA to a fascinated Claudia Schiffer)
From The New York Post’s Marc Berman :
The Knicks are expected to let Monday’s amnesty deadline pass without waiving Houston, a league official said.
The Knicks are talking about waiving one of four other players in order to take advantage of the NBA’s one-time provision and reduce their luxury tax liability. Power forwards Malik Rose, Maurice Taylor and, to a lesser extent, Jerome Williams are in danger. Perhaps the best option being reviewed is waiving the contract of Shandon Anderson, bought out last October.
Yesterday, Knicks president Isiah Thomas and newly hired coach Larry Brown huddled at their Westchester practice campus, partly to discuss their amnesty decision.
Cutting Houston would save the club $39.8 million in luxury tax; when the league included the provision in its new collective bargaining agreement, some even referred to the clause as “The Allan Houston Rule.”
The club now believes that Houston, once reluctant to retire, will hang them up if he’s not close to being ready by the end of October’s training camp.
Houston has told Knicks officials he doesn’t want to go through the same ordeal of the past two seasons, missing 92 games, and would consider retirement if he’s still not healthy after camp.
Houston’s sentiment changed the Knicks’ position on how best to proceed. A faction within the organization believes the veteran shooting guard’s arthritic knees will not heal enough to allow him to play close to an entire season.