New York Knicks: 5 Reasons Amar'e Stoudemire Will Return to Form Next Season

Falling down a seed in the Eastern Conference and failing to make it out of the first round, last year was a down year for the New York Knicks.

No one player had this reflected in their play more so than Amar'e Stoudemire, whose career-worst season was one of the main reasons for the Knicks' downfall.

Next season, however, will give the Knicks' $100 million a chance to bounce back and prove his worth.

Here are five reasons why he will do so in 2012-13.

No Injuries (Yet)

More than anything, what really hurt Amar'e Stoudemire last season was injuries.

Stoudemire went into the 2011 offseason, nursing a back injury from the playoffs, and as a result, was barely able to touch a basketball for eight months between April and December.

Due to the ongoing labour dispute, STAT was also not allowed to talk to the Knicks' trainers and instead, had to deal with the injury on his own—something he clearly struggled with.

Eventually, Stoudemire came into camp with too much muscle and weighed in at a career high of 260 pounds. This caused the forward a world of problems, as he lost his explosiveness and the flow of his jumper.

This offseason, though, Stoudemire is free of injury and will now be able to come into training camp already in basketball shape.

His trademark explosiveness should return, as should the mid-range jumper he showed us back in 2010-11, and this will provide the backbone for his return to form.

The NBA has already seen the damage that a healthy Stoudemire can do, so the league better watch out now that he's in shape.

Mike Woodson

Not only last season, but also throughout his career, Amar'e Stoudemire has been criticized for his defense.

Stoudemire just doesn't seem to have his head in the game on the defensive side of the floor and despite his impressive blocked shot numbers, has always been a liability.

But in 2012-13, Stoudemire will be able to spend an extended period of time with one of the NBA's very best defensive head coaches in Mike Woodson.

Whilst Stoudemire was injured last season, Woodson's coaching really helped improve the defense of J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony—two players whose defense have also been questioned over the course of their careers.

Add to that the addition of Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas, and Stoudemire has quite a cast of defensive-minded guys around him to keep him in check.

Working with Hakeem

As I mentioned earlier, Amar'e Stoudemire is free this offseason to actually play basketball, and he's taken the opportunity to receive some coaching from one of the best.

Hakeem Olajuwon has done great things for LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, and his next student should reap the same benefits in 2012.

Stoudemire has just started working with the Hall of Famer for the hefty price of $100,000 (per Yahoo! Sports), but it should pay off once the season starts.

His post game will be the best of his career by the time he's finished working with the former Rocket, and this will help things tremendously for both he and the Knicks.

Point Guard Play

One thing Amar'e Stoudemire craved last season was the play of a true point guard, which he really missed, having played with Steve Nash for the bulk of his career.

The Knicks went into the season with Toney Douglas, Mike Bibby and Iman Shumpert as the point guards, and neither one could provide what Stoudemire needed—a pick and roll partner and someone who could get him the ball.

Unfortunately for Amar'e, when the Knicks finally found a point guard in Jeremy Lin, he was greeted with the news of his brother's death and had to miss time as he recovered.

Once Stoudemire finally got to play with Lin, he unsurprisingly played his best basketball of the season over the 21 starts they had together.

Next season should be different, though, as the Knicks Front Office has completely revamped the position, bringing in Pablo Prigioni, Jason Kidd and STAT's old partner in crime, Raymond Felton.

Felton and Stoudemire had arguably the best pick and roll partnership in the NBA back in 2010-11, and now that they are back together, it will go a long way to reviving the careers of both players.

Motivation

As much as Amar'e Stoudemire has been questioned recently, one thing that has never been absent is his drive.

Stoudemire may be trying to come back from the worst season of his career, but the man has already come back from a plethora of injuries and other problems with his career, after putting his mind to it.

Working out everyday and training with Hakeem are proof that Stoudemire wants this title more than anything else, and if he can bounce back, the Knicks will at least be in with a shot.

The Knicks know they are going to get great play from Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler, so the big question mark right now is Stoudemire.

Ultimately, he will be the difference from this team, being a low-seeded playoff team or the title-contending team they intended to be when the big three was put together.