It’s probably not what you had in mind when you thought about the first mega-signing of the summer. Amare Stoudamire was not supposed to be first step in the great re-build of the Knickerbockers, but that’s exactly how it’s played out in New York after Stoudamire signed a 5-year, 100 million dollar deal to leave Phoenix and head to the Big Apple.
Quite frankly, I think everyone is shocked that Stoudamire was the first big-name free agent to commit to a new team this summer. The talk was that everything would revolve around Lebron James. King James had to decide where he was going first before the other peasants could make a decision to benefit themselves. But give credit to the Knicks and Stoudamire for being proactive instead of reactive.
But that’s the only thing I’ll give the Knicks credit for. Simply put, they forced the fans to suffer through two years of terrible basketball with the promise that they were going to re-invent the team and make the championship contender again starting in 2010-2011. Well, that doesn’t seem to have taken place at all. Instead, they’ve chosen to put their eggs in the basket of a guy that was considered second-tier in an unbelievable list of free agents.
Clearly the Knicks found out in the last few days that Lebron James wasn’t going to go there, Dwayne Wade never considered going there and that Chris Bosh has probably resigned to the fact that he’s better off being a complimentary player to either James or Wade and thus, won’t go to the Knicks either. It’s got to be a big slap to the face of any Knick fan that had this week circled in their calendar as the start of something great.
Look, Amare Stoudamire is a great player and would have been the most coveted free-agent in most years, but timing is everything and it has to be considered a disappointment that the Knicks had to settle for Stoudamire.
The biggest problem that Stoudamire has compared to the Big 3 free agents is the risk of permanent injury somewhere within the 5 years that Stoudamire suits up for the Knicks. A huge red flag has to fly when it’s been determined that his contract cannot be insured because of the risk factor involved with the condition of his knees or his right eye.
Also, Stoudamire has been exposed in the past as being a one-dimensional player. He brings a ton of ability to put up points on a consistent basis, but he’s truly lacking the physicality to get rebounds and an ability to use his own threat as a weapon to get others involved in the offense. I know that if I was an owner, I would want to use my 100 million on someone that could offer more than just one-dimension.
Ultimately, the saving grace for the Knicks in this signing could be Stoudamire’s ability to bring in others to play with the organization. However, if the Knicks are counting that, we might be able to count on a power struggle between coach, player and even GM. And the Knicks could find themselves right where they started when they decided a couple of years ago to go for the big splash in the first place.