http://knicks.lohudblogs.com/2012/02/21/grandma-mare/ Once upon a time there was a freakishly gifted NBA forward who lit up arenas on a night basis. His violent, thunderous dunks made opposing defenders appear as if they were moving in slow motion. His sculpted body was a scout’s dream. Showered with accolades, record-breaking contracts and lucrative endorsement deals, he was Hall of Fame-bound. Nothing and no one was going to get in his way. And then, suddenly, he was irreversibly broken.
Grandma-Ma, meet STAT. STAT, meet your Ghost of Christmas Future.
We sports fans live to compare. We compare players, we compare teams and we compare eras. We argue over the G.O.A.T. and why our guy is better than your guy. But drawing parallels—like Drew Paff did—occasionally leads us to conclusions we’d rather avoid.
During last night’s MSG telecast of the New Jersey Nets (10-24) vs. the New York Knicks (16-17), the esteemed Alan Hahn wondered publicly what many in the blogosphere have suspected all season about Amar’e Stoudemire: that either he’s playing hurt or last season’s back injury has forever robbed him of the explosion that was once feared across the league. Either way, STAT is simply no longer the player who was legitimately mentioned as an MVP-candidate just one year ago.
Per 82games.com, Stoudemire’s inside shots (24% of his total shot-attempts can be characterized as close, dunks and tips) are being blocked a mind-blowing 11% of the time. For comparisons sake, 47% of Blake Griffin’s shots are inside, yet just 4% are blocked. Chris Bosh takes 36% of his shots inside, but is only blocked 6% of the time.
The Larry Johnson who was acquired by the Knicks in 1996—despite having his moments and playing an intergral role in the ‘99 NBA finals run—was a shell of himself in New York. After spraining his back in December of 1993, the former No. 1 overall pick progressively lost his ability to elevate, and as such, he was forced to rely on a bevy of low-post spin moves and an inconsistent mid-range jumper.
Unfortunately for for Amar’e—whether due to disinterest or inability—he doesn’t have a post-up game to fall back on, and when his jump shot isn’t falling (his 34.1 eFG% this season outside the paint is absolutely dreadful), he doesn’t bring much to the table.
Might the tragic and untimely death Stoudemire’s brother be a factor here? Is it possible that he simply needs more time to be confident that his back is healed? Is there reason to be optimistic that the explosion and lift will return? Anything is possible, but anyone watching these games would be hard-pressed to place a bet on STAT’s vertical increasing anytime soon.
Maybe Stoudemire is destined to “star” on Broadway as the Knicks’ new version of the old Larry Johnson. And for the untradeable bargain price of just $83,251,385.00 (the remainder of STAT’s contract), at that. Well, JD and The Straight Shot can always go back on tour in order to offset the gloomy return-on-Stoudemire-investment forecast.
