The trade that wasnt...

Defensive rankings are almost always evaluated on the basis of points allowed per game. Though seemingly objective, it doesnt account for a number of factors, like strength of schedule or pace of gameplay/number of possessions.

When Amar'e was on the Suns, they were bound to give up more points due to their style of play. The one thing that did happen with Amar'e is that the Suns made the Western conference finals on three separate occasions and were almost always a relevant team when discussing contenders.

As for the knocks on his defense, who is it that owned him so badly? Often times defensive prowess is the result of reputation more than reality. Duncan scored a lot of points on him, but then again, he scored a lot on everyone and was the best PF in the league. You cant blame him for that. And to Amare's credit, he scored a lot on Duncan. Last year in the Western Conference finals he outplayed Pau for much of the series.

When did Bosh become such a great defender? that didnt stop a bus load of fans from driving to Florida to beg him to come to Houston, nor did it stop Morey from making him our top free agent priority. Say what you want about Bosh, but his frail frame makes him ill equipped to go against any of the bulkier power forwards, and opposing power forwards have been having a field day against the heat up till this point in the season

Look at how much the Suns have declined this year, and look at how New York has gone from a perennial laughing stock to a team contending for the playoffs this year. If things continue to go at this rate, they'll have a better record than us.

And in terms of equating it to dollars and cents (Scola's salary vs. Amare's): there's a reason certain players get paid as much as they do. If anything, Scola is probably underpaid and could get more on the open market. But I dont think anyone will confuse his overall game with Amare.