Actually, I wouldn't say "no way". They have Steve Nash, whose team hasn't missed playoff for a long time. It's going to be difficult. They lost: Stoudamire (#1 offensive option) for a season; Joe Johnson (#3) for good; Q Richardson (#5) for good in the same summer. This will be very very tough for the Suns fans.
That sucks. Granted, I want to beat the Suns, and I'd like Yao to outplay Amare, but let's face it: Amare's highlight reels are something else. He's so young to need such (drastic?) surgery, but I hope all goes well for him.
wow Good thing Amare did let on about this before he signed, otherwise the Suns would have wanted to look at his knee first before doing the extension. Then they might have tried to negotiate off a max deal. Sounds like the Suns got screwed
Deja vu? Didn't the Suns promise Danny Manning a big deal, only to have his knee give out? As I recall, they still made good on the deal, but he was never the same.
But I am worried that his 73 million $ won't be enough to feed his family, let alone live a lavish life!
All I gotta say is that Amare better start working on that jump shot...its the only thing that will keep him competitive. He should start from 2 feet out and try to make it to 6 feet by next summer.
I think that now it makes PERFECT sense why Amare spent so much time shooting 3 pointers in the summber. In hindsight, he knew that this was coming.
A jump shot won't help him. There are lots of big guys in the league who can shoot jumpers. What makes Amare special is speed + power + some nice post moves, but speed above all. It's the speed that causes matchup problems when the Suns use him at center. If the surgery takes some of that speed away, he'll still be a good player, but no longer an all-star. Think Antonio McDyess.
Here's an object lesson for why players would be fools to delay going to the NBA to play college ball. Amare barely got his long-term deal in time. If he went to college for a year and then had microfracture surgery a year before he was eligible for an extension on his rookie contract, he'd have been completely screwed. Likewise, if he decided to wait on the extension (as some have suggested) to get a somewhat bigger deal next summer, he'd have been screwed. If you can get into the NBA, you need to get in and get a guaranteed contract asap before it's too late.
Amare was 20 when he entered the league out of high school. If he would have graduated at 18, he could have at least had 1 year of college before he entered the league.
Not the smartest move to double-team the best passer in the game. Nash could get me layups out there.
A shame, one of the bright stars of the NBA and arguably the best player of the 2002 draft. I loved watching the guy. Even if he comes back 100% his game is going to have to change if he wants to play 10 years in the league, less practices, fewer spectacular dunks, better get a post game like TD now and hope that his perimeter game was getting as good as was rumored.
I don't know about McDyess. He had his knees scoped in college and after his first two years in the pros. That's three surgeries by the time he's Amare's current age. Then, Antonio basically ran the gamut of potential knee injuries. Torn patella, torn ACL, broken kneecap. If there was such a thing as knee cancer, Antonio would have gotten it.
But with no other ball handlers or guys that can get their own shot, you just need to send two guys at Nash once he reaches halfcourt. I figured the Suns would take a step back after losing Joe Johnson, but without Amare, they are going to be a bad team.
I hope the surgery goes well and that he fully recovers. He's an incredible talent and it's always tragic when someone loses an extraordinary gift. I feel for the Suns fans. They had so much reason to be optimistic after last season and then Q and JJ get shipped out and now Amare has a major injury. It's not looking good for them. I agree. Keeping his mother out of prison isn't cheap.
