Which Knick Has More at Stake in 2014-15, Andrea Bargnani or Amar'e Stoudemire?
For all their differences on and off the court—and there are many—Andrea Bargnani and Amar’e Stoudemire can claim a common curse: being given the beastly burden of taking the New York Knicks to the next level.
To say the results have been a mixed bag would be a polite understatement. Owing to a confluence of injury and roster upheaval, both players are peering down the precipice of career oblivion.
So which of the two has more at stake for the 2014-15 season?
STAT Savvy
Of the two, Stoudemire has fostered by far the greater good will—the residual effect of his decision to sign with the Knicks back in 2010, laying the foundation for the arrival of Carmelo Anthony less than a year later.
For the first half of the 2010-11 season, Stoudemire was nothing short of spectacular, breaking the Knicks record for consecutive 30-point games (nine) and single-handedly rejuvenating a fan base long mired in irrelevance.
The addition of Anthony was supposed to give the Knicks the league’s most potent one-two punch. Instead, the resulting roster upheaval resulted in Anthony becoming the team’s unquestioned star.
All the while, Stoudemire’s injury woes—centering around a pair of surgically reconstructed knees—made the subsequent few years a period of fits and starts for onetime frontcourt great.
The good news: After struggling mightily out of the gate, Stoudemire finished the 2013-14 campaign strong, averaging 15.5 points and six rebounds on 60 percent shooting over 22 games between March and April.
Now, with a newly rejiggered roster assembled by first-year president Phil Jackson, Stoudemire is eager to make the upcoming season one of personal redemption. From a recent post-practice interview with Newsday’s Al Iannazzone:
"I think the previous years of battling injuries people have forgot," Stoudemire said after practice Tuesday. The game will speak for itself. You go out and play within the system, play team basketball -- the game will speak for itself…Obviously to reach back to my dominant self, I feel like I'm there now. I feel like my body is feeling so much stronger so I feel dominant.
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To be sure, STAT has never been one to shy away from a bit of bluster and bombast.
At the same time, willingness to augment his game—owing in no small part to his work with famed low-post guru Hakeem Olajuwon—coupled with a strict minutes-management program, may have been just what the doctor ordered for the 12-year NBA veteran.
Stoudemire’s latest challenge: augmenting his game yet again, this time to fit the nuances of Derek Fisher’s triangle offense. Never much of a playmaking threat, STAT’s willingness to adapt to the system’s often complex spacing and ball movement will be a key signpost for New York’s overall triangle learning curve.
Should Stoudemire manage to forge a coherent, efficient niche, there’s no reason to believe he won’t have at least a few teams knocking on his door once next summer’s free-agency period rolls around.
If, however, STAT’s once again becomes a season deferred—either by dint of injury or rotational obsolescence—he could be looking at little more than one or two more veterans minimum contracts, before retirement’s bells toll for good.
Barg-ain Bin Bound?
At this point, it’s hard not to feel for Andrea Bargnani. Taken No. 1 overall in the 2005 NBA draft, the sweet shooting 7-footer was supposed to revolutionize the center position.
Instead, the Toronto Raptors wound up with a flawed, one-way cornerstone as liable to pull up lame mid game as he was to blow a defensive rotation.
So when the New York Knicks sent Steve Novak, Quentin Ricahrdson, Marcus Camby and a trio of picks to Toronto in exchange for the 27-year-old centeri, it was with belief that the embattled Bargnani was indeed a cause worth salvaging.
One year later, the jury is still very much out—the result of a wrist injury that cut the Italian big man’s New York sojourn short after just 39 appearances.
Small sample size aside, the numbers weren’t exactly encouraging:
| Points | Rebounds | TS% | PER | |
| Career | 15.0 | 4.9 | .533 | 14.4 |
| 2013-14 | 13.3 | 5.3 | .510 | 14.5 |
Figuring out how Bargnani fits into the Knicks triangle designs may be an even harder nut to crack than Stoudemire. For his part, Bleacher Report’s Fred Katz isn’t exactly optimistic:
"But there's something about the title, the aura that encapsulates us: the triangle. Phil's made it mystic. But all that occultism may not fit Bargs any better than offenses he's played for in the past.
No scheme is going to prefer a big man who hesitates before every pass and posted a 51.0 true shooting percentage against a 22.4 percent usage rate. He doesn't like the corners, a place he may have to venture in the new offense.
It especially won't help the slow-footed Bargnani that he'll be expected to post up and rapidly switch from one side of the court to another if he's going to be a go-to post option (hardly a guarantee with a new regime in New York).
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Amar’e Stoudemire isn’t exactly Pau Gasol in terms of offensive versatility. But at least he’s efficient—something Bargnani has never been able to claim.
One could certainly make the argument that Bargnani at least deserves a mulligan for last year’s forgettable orange-and-blue debut. Whether Fisher and company will even afford him that chance—given the breadth of data in his disfavor—is another question entirely.
Picking Up Stakes
Unlike New York’s more recent regimes, Phil Jackson’s ties to Stoudemire and Bargnani go no further than his general manager rolodex. Should they somehow surprise, Jackson can take at least some credit for their respective resurrections. If they collapse completely? That dirt's on someone else’s hands.
As far as who faces the bigger stakes, the answer is as clear as the career arcs are stark. Stoudemire, for all his setbacks and shortcomings, has still managed to endear himself to what has always been the ficklest of fan bases. The $165 million he’s earned doesn’t hurt, either.
Bargnani, on the other hand, has yet to approach his once sky-high stock. Plenty of players never do, of course, and worse crimes have been committed besides. But unless he’s able to save some semblance of face this season, Bargnani might well wind up finishing his career on the continent from whence it sprang.
Poll 1,000 NBA fans, you’re liable to get plenty of answers to the contrary. Ask a Knicks fan, though, the difference is bound to be one of a good soldier beset by bad luck on the one hand, and a wayward mercenary on the other.
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