HOUSTON: I MIGHT NEED MORE TIME
By MARC BERMAN
August 27, 2003 -- The Knicks haven't had much luck with knee surgeries the past year.
There's a chance that the rehabbing Allan Houston won't be ready, as the team had anticipated, when training camp gets underway on Oct. 3, Houston told The Post yesterday.
Houston underwent arthroscopic surgery on June 10 to remove loose pieces of cartilage from his right knee. The team has said that Houston was expected to be ready well before camp begins.
Houston's slower-than-expected rehab means that the Knicks' two franchise players, Antonio McDyess and Houston, could be spectators, come Day 1 of veteran's camp. McDyess is a longshot to be ready, though the Knicks have not provided an update on his condition in more than four months.
"I don't know, I can't tell you right now," Houston said, offering an obtuse response to the question of whether he'll be ready for the start of camp. "But I'm not going to pull my hair out if I'm not there for the first day of training camp. The thing is, when the team needs me, if it's the second week or the first day, I'll be there."
The good news is that Houston has been in close contact with McDyess, he said, and is more certain than ever the power forward will play this season. McDyess had surgery on April 21 on his left patella - his third knee surgery in 18 months.
"It doesn't matter if it's October, there's no doubt he will be back," said Houston, appearing at the Knicks summer kids camp at Basketball City. ". . . My sense is he's ready to do more than the team is willing to allow him right now. He's got to be patient. You don't want to rush. He wants to do a little bit more."
Houston's scope was his second in five years, and perhaps his protracted recovery is a function of age. Houston, 32, has missed only 10 games in his seven seasons with the Knicks.
Houston got off crutches one month ago. "The first couple of weeks off the crutches, I got a little discouraged about how little I was able to do," Houston said. "I had to realize to myself I had been on crutches for six weeks. But now every week it's getting a little better."
Houston is doing basketball drills, but he still has soreness. "It's still not healed," he said. "My body can't do all the things it would like."
* The Knicks reportedly have rookie Maciej Lampe, 18, locked up for four years (one more than previously believed) if they wish, The Post has learned. The Knicks negotiated in a team option on a fourth year at the bargain-basement price of $860,000. The complicated four-year deal is worth about $3.5 million.
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