Amar'e Stoudemire's Knicks Era Must Be Remembered for Its Promise, Not Decline
It was expensive, turbulent, disappointing and ultimately unsuccessful. But Amar'e Stoudemire's New York Knicks tenure once represented something meaningful to a fanbase that hadn't experienced playoff basketball in eight of the nine seasons before his arrival.
Stoudemire's signing with New York in July 2010 instantly made the Knicks a desirable landing spot for the first time in decades. Carmelo Anthony admits that without Stoudemire, New York may not have had a chance at acquiring their current star in the first place.
But five years and $100 million later, the roller-coaster ride that was the Amar'e Stoudemire Era is officially through in New York. Stoudemire and the team reached a buyout agreement over the break, according to the New York Daily News' Frank Isola, who tweeted the news immediately after the All-Star Game.
It's easy to fault the oft-injured Stoudemire for New York's struggles over recent years. They've gone 110-145 with him in the lineup since 2010-11, and his colossal salary has hamstrung management's spending in each summer since he was introduced.
Criticizing management for offering Stoudemire an uninsured maximum contract is valid, given his troubling injury history with the Phoenix Suns. It's not at all fair to bash a player, though, for signing the contract put in front of him—one that could easily stabilize his financial health for life. And to his credit, before the injuries piled up, Stoudemire was living up to the contract.
He suited up for 78 of the team's 82 games during his inaugural New York campaign, even with Mike D'Antoni running him out for a career-high 36.8 minutes a night. He was on the receiving end of "MVP" chants before Anthony's arrival, and finished ninth in the voting that year. He finished as the league's sixth-leading scorer with 25.3 a game, including one of the more memorable individual stretches in team history: a nine-game streak of scoring 30 points or more.
But while attempting to upset the No. 2-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round, Stoudemire tweaked his back in the layup line. After New York was swept in four games, he added 20 pounds of muscle, hoping to strengthen his back for the 2011-12 season. The result, however, was a half-season of a non-explosive, hardly mobile Stoudemire. It took him until late February to shed the weight, but when he did, he finally seemed to be returning to form in time for the team's playoff push—until the back flared up again, forcing him out for a month.
Then came the fire-extinguisher incident. Then three knee procedures. By the start of this season, Stoudemire had been reduced to a role player, battling health issues and minutes restrictions, on the NBA's worst team.
Through it all, though, Stoudemire always fought to get back and attempt to earn his bloated salary. He agreed to come off the bench upon his return to the 2012-13 Knicks, just two years removed from being an MVP candidate.
When the Stoudemire and Anthony pairing was critiqued for failing to gel, STAT worked to master a new skill set, and succeeded. Now not as explosive facing up his defender, he's a threat in the post with his back to the basket—a method of attack he hardly utilized before 2013.
| 2010-11 | 12% | 1.08 |
| 2011-12 | 10.4% | 0.77 |
| 2012-13 | 35.9% | 0.92 |
| 2013-14 | 31.8% | 0.91 |
Had D'Antoni not run him into the ground—like he did Kobe Bryant two years later—perhaps Stoudemire would have been better preserved for the years to come. If James Dolan insisted on, say, an $85 million contract instead of the maximum $99.7 million, maybe Stoudemire would be less ridiculed.
But the combination of an inflated salary and chronic health issues—neither of which he could control—turned most fans against the player previously associated with the franchise's return to relevance.
If we're being realistic about the Dolan-led front office of 2010, had the Knicks not signed Stoudemire and struck out on that star-studded free-agent class, the unreasonably volatile owner may have blown up management to bring Isiah Thomas back into the fold. After all, David Stern was the one responsible for putting Donnie Walsh in charge of the Knicks' rebuild in 2008, and Dolan had tried to rehire Thomas several times during Walsh's reign.
Poor management can actually be held responsible for a number of missteps relating to Stoudemire's demise. In addition to handing him the outrageously expensive deal, Dolan forced a trade for Anthony, the one co-star who was least compatible with Stoudemire's skill set. Further, by trading for Anthony instead of simply waiting to sign him as a free agent five months later, New York ridded itself of the assets it could've used to acquire Chris Paul, who may have run the offense to better include two primary options.
Finally, once the team managed to find a winning formula in the 2012-13 season, with Stoudemire in an ideal role behind Anthony on the depth chart at power forward, it traded for Andrea Bargnani, blowing up a successful nucleus and forcing Stoudemire into even more dysfunctional lineups.
In his current form, Stoudemire will still be able to contribute on a title-contending team. As a second or third option off the bench, he's still capable of providing 20 minutes and infusing offense into a reserve unit. The Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs are already interested, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
As the one person solely responsible for returning the Knicks to relevance, Stoudemire has faced a fallout of epic proportions with the team's fanbase. And considering the unavoidable nature of issues he faced as a Knick—injuries, poor fits within schemes, a salary unequal to his performance—placing the blame on him is a bit too simplistic.
After an ultimately fruitless five years, Stoudemire's run with New York will be remembered by some as a failure. But for what his arrival represented, and for the opportunities it granted a desperate franchise in despair, Stoudemire meant more to the Knicks than many will ever realize.
Follow me on Twitter at @JSDorn6.
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