Buying Amare Stoudemire’s Plane Ticket
Amare’s no dummy. A player of his stature knows when his time is short for that team, ’specially a really bright guy. From my perspective, Amare fell out of love with the Suns when they traded Marion for Shaq (though I have no clue if he and Marion were down) and possibly before that when Phoenix couldn’t figure out if they wanted to run.
Ken Berger @ CBS discusses a Stoudemire to Portland scenario that makes a solid case for both teams.
Phoenix gets LaMarcus Aldridge, Jerryd Bayless and Raef LaFrentz’s expiring $12.7M Golden Phoenix Sizzling Wor-Bar Surprise contract.
An NBA trade…that actually makes sense for all parties as it is the rarest of rumors that fulfills my “To whom, for what?” standard.
Phoenix is solid in the center position with the lesser Lopez (though they are equally inconsistent which is endearing and odd) in development and Shaq doing whatever he does every other game. I’d say that by this time next year, Shaq would be entirely more effective off the bench, playing against 2nd team centers and putting up starter’s numbers in more limited action.
Aldridge does present the same problems that Amare does in a mirror image. L.A. likes to keep it on the perimeter and beyond, adding some post moves to his game this year, still suffering from Rasheed Wallace Syndrome. This afflicts players 6′10″ or taller and keeps them from regularly driving to the basket and easily breaking down their man off the dribble. Currently, the only known cure is video of Kevin Garnett presented by Malcolm McDowell.
The Steve Nash Express is about to go local. Dude was exhausted after his 21 dime performance last week and it’s not going to get any better. Remember, Steve’s rookie year was 1996/97 and out of that draft class, not too many guys are looking so fresh right now. Even Kobe is playing through injury and has added a whole lot more old man to his game in recent seasons.
Bayless is a smallish dude that has more Barbosa [||] in him than Nash, but does a whole lot more to solve their pending problems than Dragic or Leandro do. And attacking the basket is contagious, this is an important trait on a team that often settles for jumpers. I genuinely dig the idea of a Shaq and JB 2nd team dominating their scrubby counterparts and an eventual move to starter.
The expiring contract? Who knows. It could be a pure salary cap move since Sarver loves saving that $$ (re: Deng, Rodriguez).
Portland immediately toughens up their front line, but will have to force Amare to be a POWER forward. Bring back the nasty. Dunk on people’s heads. Everything about the change should be a positive for him. Nate McMillan does an exceptional job getting big results out of his players, the rest of the team has a great attitude, he would be one of the oldest and most experienced players on the squad and would not have to be the star, but could ascend back to that position.
I endorse this trade…unless the Magic have a shot at him.