Tough Love from D'Antoni to Amare

Mods, please merge if I should not have started a new thread.

Some of the comments D'Antoni and Nash made earlier about Amare kind of had me wondering. They weren't negative but neither went out of their way to appease the guy. I think the Suns are ticked off a bit and Amare's guaranteed money could be affecting his dedication.

Suns to Stoudemire: Shape up or sit out
By Craig Morgan, Tribune
October 18, 2006
Two weeks ago in Italy, Mike D’Antoni and Amaré Stoudemire had what amounted to a father-son chat. There was no wine offered. Just a simple message endorsed by owner Robert Sarver: If you don’t dedicate yourself to this team 100 percent, you won’t be playing. Stoudemire had just skipped another workout, complaining of pain in both surgically repaired knees.

“Mike had had enough,” said a source familiar with the situation.

Stoudemire had just skipped another workout, complaining of pain in both surgically repaired knees. “Mike had had enough," said a source familiar with the situation. Two weeks have passed and Stoudemire has not missed a workout or complained of pain in his knees since, although he did minimal work at Tuesday's shootaround due to stiffness. Coincidence? Hardly.

But if you think the star forward is now a model citizen who just needs to hone his conditioning and timing, think again.

Stoudemire’s biggest hurdle in his comeback attempt may have less to do with rust and more to do with the jersey number he is wearing this season — No. 1 — and all the attitude that it embodies. As a matter of coincidence, it is the same number microfracture poster child Penny Hardaway wore in Phoenix.

For those keeping score, Stoudemire played 18 minutes in Tuesday’s exhibition loss to the Clippers, scoring eight points, grabbing six rebounds, missing on all four free throw attempts and a pair of spin moves in the lane.

For those watching closely, there were periods of lack of interest and periods of coasting. Normal fare for a preseason game, maybe, but not for a guy who needs every minute of practice time he can get after sitting out most of the 2005-06 season.

Speaking of practice, some within the organization felt Stoudemire attended Tuesday’s shootaround in body only. The mind was elsewhere.

So where does this leave the Suns as they head into a pivotal season for this incarnation of the franchise?

In one heck of a pickle.

If Stoudemire gets back to 100 percent, it’s easy. Most figure the Suns as championship material and the chemistry will come in time.

But if he’s not 100 percent — physically or mentally — what does D’Antoni do?

Does he use him as sixth man and wait patiently for him to regain his former glory?

Does he bog down a team that established its own identity in his absence in advancing to the Western Conference finals?

Can he afford to do either given the brutal start to the Suns’ schedule, which includes two games against the Clippers and one each against San Antonio, Dallas and Memphis in the first seven?

“It’s a little touchy,” said guard Steve Nash, who made it clear last season that the Amaré-less Suns were an unselfish, fluid and fun bunch to conduct.

Nobody knows if Stoudemire will rewind the clock to 2004, or if he will stay healthy the entire season.

Although the left knee will eventually need more work because microfracture is a temporary fix, not a solution, Suns doctor Tom Carter thinks the right knee will be a greater immediate issue because Stoudemire has chronic arthritis in it.

“He’s going to have to cope with periodic flare-ups,” Carter said.

And when he does, the Suns will have to walk a fine line between babying and bullying him.

“People can say what they want but nobody knows what kind of pain I have in my body but me,” Stoudemire said. “Nobody knows what I can and can’t do but me.”

Time is running out for Stoudemire and the Suns to find the answer to that latter puzzle.

Soon, D’Antoni will have to dust off his best Bono and tell Stoudemire the Suns are ready to move on: “With or without you.”

 

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=76845&source=rss&dest=STY-76845

 

I sure hope not, but after reading that article, my view on Amare has abruptly changed. Something in me is already viewing him in the past tense. In a few years, we will be talking about what he could have been and what promise he had. 10 years from now, young NBA fans won't even know him.

Hope I'm wrong and he gets it together and maximizes what ability he has left.

 

What team will take an injured max player in a trade? You can scream all you want but screaming won't make another teams' GM dumb. At this moment, Amare's trade value couldn't be lower. The only way they can trade him is for him to come back and play well.