Amar’e Stoudemire: Can He Bounce Back In 2014?

By Evan Massey | Sep 30, 2014

Mar 21, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Knicks forward Amar /

The New York Knicks are heading into a completely new era of basketball with Phil Jackson running the team and Derek Fisher taking over the head coaching responsibilities. Carmelo Anthony chose to re-sign with the Knicks rather than take off for greener pastures, and they completely changed the landscape of the rotation with a big trade.

They acquired Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert and Shane Larkin from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton.

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Trading Chandler and Felton away was a great move for New York, as both of those players had bad attitudes and contributed to the Knicks’ downfall last season. Adding Calderon and Dalembert won’t be a huge upgrade, but they will play hard and leave the locker room distractions behind. Both players are savvy veterans, and they will help New York as they look to change the culture.

Amar’e Stoudemire is one of the keys for the Knicks this season, and they desperately need him to come through as a No. 2 scoring option behind Anthony. J.R. Smith will likely have a bit of a rebound season as well, but there is no one as important as Stoudemire for the 2014-15 season. Can he have a bounce back year and return to form?

Last season with the Knicks, Stoudemire played in 65 regular season games and started in 21 of those appearances. He showed flashes of being the player that he used to be, but wasn’t consistent enough. His averages weren’t too bad, as he put up 11.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in 22.6 minutes per game. As far as field goal percentage goes he was extremely solid as well, shooting 55.7 percent overall from the floor.

At 31 years of age, he is still more than capable of having a big season and getting his career back on track. Just three years ago he was one of the most dominant scorers in the NBA, but injuries and the addition of Anthony derailed his career quickly. He simply wasn’t able to play the type of game that he needed to in order to stay successful, but he has begun to figure out how to play alongside of Anthony the last couple of years.

New York needs to work on getting him back in the post and mid-range area, and allowing him to face up and go to work. Anthony needs to clear out when plays are called for Stoudemire, and the exact same goes without saying the other way around. Both players are more than capable of putting up big numbers when given the keys to the offense, and the Knicks need to capitalize on that ability.

It’s very likely that Stoudemire is going to have to step back into the starting lineup, and that will give him an increase in playing time. Even if he ends up coming off of the bench once again, he is going to be the No. 1 scorer with the second team, and will still see more than 22 minutes per game. He may not average 20 or more points per game, but he is capable of going off for 25 on any given night.

Needless to say, Fisher is going to figure out ways to utilize Stoudemire in the offense. He doesn’t have a lot to work with as far as veteran players, but he is a very smart basketball mind and will put his players in positions to succeed. Expect to see a much improved version of Stoudemire this season, and for him to prove that he is not washed up.

Stoudemire has been a player that steps up to the plate when his number is called, and assuming he can stay out of injury trouble he will do so once again. The Knicks are going to be a completely different basketball team this year, and the offense is going to be much more suitable for Stoudemire’s style of play. Anthony will obviously still be the number one option, but he realized last season that he can’t do it by himself.

This is going to be exactly the opportunity that Stoudemire has been needing in order to get his career back on track. Injuries have made him look old and washed up over the last couple of years, but he still has the same offensive game that made him one of the most dominant scorers in the league.

It will be a very intriguing season to keep an eye on him, and Knicks fans will be very happy with the Stoudemire that they see out on the court.

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