Could Amare Stoudemire Become a Top-5 Power Forward?

In order for Amare Stoudemire to become recognized as one of the top-five power forwards in the NBA, he first needs to stop committing stupid fouls.

It seems to me everytime he plays a power forward that is within that top-five echelon, he is in foul trouble, and most of the time he's committing ticky-tack fouls. Sure, some of them probably weren't fouls in the first place, but his problem is that he tries too hard on defense and doesn't let the game flow. That's why he gets into foul trouble.

Just take a look at his average fouls per game against the top forwards. Against Tim Duncan, Stoudemire averaged 3.9 fouls per game; against Chris Bosh, 4.8; Jermaine O'Neal, 3.8; Lamarcus Aldridge, 3.6; Dirk Nowitzki, 3.4; Elton Brand, 2.8; and Al Harrington, 2.8. So, even against the non-elite power forwards, but definitely talented players, he still struggles to remain in the game.

I guess that's part of the reason why Stoudemire annoys me so much, and I can't really stand him because he's always getting into the foul trouble and is put on the bench, or he's complaining about the call. Stoudemire has all the talent in the world to be a dominating power forward, and he's doing that offensively, but defensively there's no reason why he's only averaging 1.5 blocks per game in his career. He should be at anywhere between 2-3 per game with his athleticism and basketball instincts.

Knee problems aside, there's also no reason why he should be under 10 boards per game for his career, as well as never having a season averaging 10 rebounds per game. Right now his career average is 9.1 and his career high for a season is 9.6 rebounds per game. Some players like Troy Murphy have averaged over 10 boards per game; Murphy has done it in three different seasons, Donyell Marshall has one season averaging more than 10 boards per game, Chris Bosh already has one, etc. These are good players, but Stoudemire has the tools be even better than the former two and as good as Bosh.

Some people argue that Elton Brand is too short to be a power forward, but at 6'8" he's two inches shorter than Amare, Brand has six seasons over 10 boards per game and is at 10.2 boards per game in his career. Likewise, Lamar Odom is an inch shorter than Amare, and Al Jefferson is the same heighth as Stoudemire and each player has at least averaged over 10 boards per game twice for their careers.

In order for Amare to become that dominant player and be put into the top 5 power forwards he needs dominate in all categories.

Latly, though most players when playing the defending champions of the league tend to show up and take the challenge personally. Stoudemire didn't do any of that and he got schooled by Kevin Garnett and the rest of the Celtics lineup.