Carmelo Anthony Show: Can Amar'e Stoudemire Handle Being Second Best in NY?

Imagine signing a five-year $100 million contract. Imagine being the toast of the town.

Imagine a monstrous billboard erected in Times Square paying homage to your arrival.

Imagine being the biggest name to sign with one of the most storied franchises since hall-of-famer Patrick Ewing.

Imagine being touted as the savior of New York basketball. Imagine how big your ego would be.

You are literally a king in arguably the greatest city in the world.

Now imagine nearly eight months later, your team is involved in the largest blockbuster trade in league history to acquire a player of superior stature and ability.

His freshly inked deal is more lucrative than yours. His billboards replace yours. He gets more endorsements. His jersey is so fashionable that retailers can’t even keep up with demand.

This is the whirlwind life of New York Knicks power forward Amar'e Stoudemire. On February 20, it is Amar'e's team. On February 21, it was no longer clear who it belongs to.

He abruptly needs to figure out how to share the spotlight with one of the sport’s most talented and popular stars in Carmelo Anthony—and more than likely, hand over the reins that were once firmly in his clutch.

After a reasonable start with Carmelo and Chauncey Billups in the fold, the Knicks found themselves in the midst of a six-game slide. Suddenly, they were a dismal 7-12 post-trade and knocking on the door of a Mets-style collapse that would leave them watching the playoffs from the recliner.

Stoudemire had hit a wall and was noticeably exhausted; he clearly was not the player he was during the previous four months.

A call to action was necessary. Someone else needed to seize the moment, rise to the occasion, put the team on their back and restore belief that the Knicks can compete against anybody.

That player was Carmelo Anthony.

For the first time since his arrival, he put it all together. Anthony’s tenacious defense and ferocious rebounding had catapulted his offensive game to another echelon—and his teammates responded positively to his efforts with increased energy and enthusiasm.

A fire had been lit under a very lackadaisical team with seemingly no resolve to compete. On the heels of a 36-point performance in a disappointing loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, Anthony came out of the gates on March 28 versus Orlando with an edge previously unseen since he became a Knickerbocker.

Taking on Dwight Howard and the fourth place Magic, Carmelo buried 39 points and grabbed 10 boards, singlehandedly willing the Knicks to their first win in seven games.

Two days later, in a victory against the New Jersey Nets, he put up another 39-point 10-rebound performance against the soon-to-be cross-town rival.

With this most recent spectacle, Carmelo became the first Knick to score 35 in three consecutive games since Ewing accomplished the feat 17 years ago.

This is the image everyone had envisioned when the Knicks front office pulled the trigger to bring Carmelo home.

It became evident that if this team was to gel and reach the pinnacle of achievement, Carmelo would need to be the dominant force. Coach D’Antoni stated he’d like to see the offense run through Carmelo more and even thinks he’s capable of recording close to a triple-double every time out.

It’s this type of support for Anthony that has people wondering whether Stoudemire will be able to handle playing the role of Robin to Anthony’s Batman.

The vast majority seem to think that Stoudemire will gradually grow frustrated with taking a back seat on a team which he held in the palm of his hand just yesterday.

I beg to differ.

Since his arrival in New York, Stoudemire has demonstrated a maturity well beyond his years—one that not many thought possible based on his unstable upbringing. He has been the consummate professional on and off the court.

We are so quick to forget that Amar'e spent years in Phoenix alongside Steve Nash, who took home two MVP awards in 2005 and 2006. Amar'e can coexist with an elite teammate and generate success; the Suns were playoff-bound five of the six years the two were together (four of which were guided by Mike D’Antoni).

Amar'e does not view this newfound role as a demotion. He sees himself as a complementary piece of a puzzle that when completed, the goal of returning a championship to the Big Apple after four decades will have been realized.