Amar'e Stoudemire was so much more than his highlights
History will not view the newly retired Amar’e Stoudemire as one of the best players of his era, but he is sure to go down as one of the memorable. Few big men have ever dunked with such ferocity, commitment, and constancy. Every time he took the court provided the opportunity for a fantastic highlight, and more often that not he gave us one.
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It’s to Stoudemire’s credit that all those incredible moments seem more like the punctuation to his fantastic NBA career than they do the substance. There’s a reason that many people took to social media to post their favorite Amar’e dunks in the aftermath of his retirement announcement, but it’s not as if anyone thought they would speak for his full career. The videos were just the most readily available evidence of his greatness.
At one time, the knock on Stoudemire was that he would be too inconsistent to make a major pro impact. He transferred high schools six times, attending five different schools in two states in a search for stability during his mother’s troubles with the law. Not surprisingly, that difficult upbringing hurt Stoudemire’s draft stock when he declared in 2002. He fell to the Phoenix Suns at No. 9 — past Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Dajuan Wagner, and Chris Wilcox — in a sign that he was considered a project and risk.
Still, even then, he could do this:
Amar'e Stoudemire gets crossed up, recovers and swats the ball to JJ Redick for an NBA 3 pic.twitter.com/tUzTsMGDfo
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) July 4, 2015
Stoudemire proved pretty much immediately that Phoenix had made one of the best selections of the draft. In addition to becoming a nightly fixture on highlight shows, Amar’e put up strong numbers on his way to claiming the 2003 Rookie of the Year award. Further improvement in his sophomore season set him up for future stardom. This dunk on Michael Olowokandi (with an ace supporting turn from Stephon Marbury) displayed much of his promise:
It is a standard part of the Stoudemire story that he reached stardom when paired with point guard Steve Nash, one of the best pick-and-roll point guards of all time, starting in 2004-05. But Amar’e was just as perfect a match for Nash. His soft hands allowed him to catch alley-oops and bounce passes in tight spaces, his incredible athleticism let him finish over and around countless defenders, and his speed ensured that the Seven Seconds or Less attack would never plod.
Amar’e would still be a highly memorable player if he had just continued in that fashion for several seasons. Imagine a taller version of Shawn Kemp, a player who faded as he grew older but nonetheless stays prominent in the mind of anyone who watched the NBA regularly in the 1990s. However, what makes Stoudemire uniquely fascinating is the way in which he adjusted to several new realities as his knees and other body parts betrayed him.
His 2005 microfracture knee surgery occurred at a time when the procedure was far from common and had led to several severe dowturns for players before and during their comeback attempts. Yet Stoudemire returned in the 2006-07 season as an equally effective, but different, player. Although he still relied on his elite athleticism, Stoudemire no longer had the springiness to run at the basket with abandon and assume he’d succeed. The lost season appeared to provide perspective, and Amar’e came back with an improved jumper and the ability to beat defenses in different ways.
Future seasons with the Suns brought more hazards and challenges. The February 2008 trade of Shawn Marion for Shaquille O’Neal moved Stoudemire to the power forward position for more minutes and appeared to deprive him of crucial space inside. Trade rumors followed for several seasons, and Stoudemire appeared to take them to heart. His numbers stayed strong, but his reputation began to stagnate. If the Cleveland Cavaliers had chosen to trade J.J. Hickson in 2010, Stoudemire may have gone into free agency fresh off a title challenge alongside LeBron James.
Instead, he ended up doing so with Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, and the rest of a Suns squad that exceeded expectations in pushing the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers to six games in the conference finals. Amar’e appeared refreshed after the trade deadline, playing his best ball of the season in March, April, and the playoffs. He picked shots with intelligence, attacked the rim when needed, and even improved his defense enough to hold his own against the Lakers’ league-best frontcourt of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom. Those final months in Phoenix acted as a reminder that Amar’e was still one of the league’s elite players and would be a coveted member of the best free agent class in NBA history.
The Suns were proven right in their decision to let Stoudemire move to the New York Knicks at a five-year max-level salary. But it’s important to remember how quickly and thoroughly he won over Madison Square Garden. A fan base hungry for a functional team warmed to the Amar’e-led squad immediately, grateful for a legitimate All-Star and a roster that seemed to enjoy playing together.
Perhaps Knicks fans just jumped to love Stoudemire because they were desperate following years of neglect at the hands of Isiah Thomas and James Dolan’s dysfunctional front office. That’s at least partially true, but Stoudemire also proved a great fit for the role of quasi-savior because genuinely seemed to love playing in New York. He represented the team with pride, became a fixture in the broader social scene of the city, and appeared set to bring several more stars to the team as it rounded back into a championship contender.
Things obviously didn’t work out as planned. While Carmelo Anthony joined the Knicks later that season, his acquisition came at the expense of too many starters and rotation players and put far too much pressure on Stoudemire at a time when his body began to break down. Amar’e never again played as well as he did during those first few months in New York, and his rapidly deteriorating defense often made him a net-negative no matter his offensive production. The Stoudemire experience reached its nadir when he injured his hand after punching a fire extinguisher during the 2012 postseason, and the next couple years went poorly enough that no one seemed especially upset when he had the last months of his contract bought out in February 2015.
It’s a testament to Amar’e’s character and approach to life that he remained a likable presence through most of his worst moments. Many of the most random stories about Stoudemire — to name three: his unexpected alliance with Israel and Jewish culture, his love of wine baths, and his friendship with Anna Wintour — could have come across as goofy tales about a man in love with publicity. With Amar’e, though, they seemed like an expression of his vitality.
Similarly, Stoudemire maintained a strong self-awareness whenever his career took a difficult turn. His injury comebacks with the Suns will remain his most successful transitions, but Amar’e managed to ease into a late-career life as a role player while holding onto his dignity and a degree of on-court significance. Taken as a whole, his career is the story of a player who initially seemed to be a one-dimensional athletic marvel and proved many times that he held multiple layers and an ability to adapt.
The highlights will always speak loudest and serve as the greatest reminder that Amar’e Stoudemire was a player of great ability. However, he will be remembered fondly — not just remembered at all — because of the way he went about his business. Athletes are rarely so joyful and thoughtful at the same time.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
