Does Amar'e Stoudemire belong in Suns' Ring of Honor? – azcentral.com
Former Suns great Amar’e Stoudemire retired from the NBA on Tuesday … as a member of the New York Knicks.
We started thinking back on Stoudemire and his glory days with Phoenix soon after the news broke.
One question came to mind (besides why are you retiring with the Knicks, Amar’e?).
Does Stoudemire belong in the Suns’ Ring of Honor?
FACEBOOK: Reaction to Stoudemire’s retirement
Paul Coro, from azcentral sports, wrote about it on Tuesday night:
“Stoudemire put together a Suns Ring of Honor-worthy career in Phoenix, where he mixed power and finesse in his game like few big men ever have in the NBA. The 2002 draft’s No. 9 overall pick started by beating out Yao Ming for Rookie of the Year and then teamed with Nash in 2004 to form a lasting, dynamic pick-and-roll, fast-breaking duo. With All-Star teammate Shawn Marion, the Suns had their winningest era and won over basketball fans in every NBA city for restoring a high tempo and an open-spaced, ball-moving style.”
In 2014, Coro also wrote on the subject in a story headlined “Who’s next to join Suns’ Ring of Honor?“
He called Stoudemire a lock for the Ring of Honor and wrote this: “Stoudemire was a running mate for two of (Steve) Nash’s three conference-finals teams and finished fifth in the NBA for scoring twice while with the Suns. He even made the All-NBA team more often (one first-team honor and three second-team honors) than he gave himself nicknames (STAT, Sun Tzu, Punisher).”
REACTION: Fans not happy with Stoudemire’s retirement choice
Stoudemire averaged 21.3 points and 8.9 rebounds during his years with the Suns. He was part of some of the best teams in franchise history.
As Coro wrote Tuesday, “Amar’e Stoudemire can sign a trivial, ceremonial one-day contract with the New York Knicks, retire with an “Always a Knick” statement and spend his final six NBA seasons in New York, Dallas and Miami. None of it changes the fact that Stoudemire will forever be considered a Phoenix Sun.”
Does it rub some fans (and possibly the organization) the wrong way that Stoudemire didn’t retire as a Sun? Probably.
(By the way, why did he have to retire as a member of any team? Couldn’t he have just retired, like Shawn Marion did?)
But does that mean Stoudemire doesn’t deserve a spot in the Suns’ Ring of Honor? Probably not.
MORE: Ranking Suns’ Top 10 first-round NBA draft picks
What do you think? Does Amar’e Stoudemire belong in the Suns’ Ring of Honor? Tell us your thoughts in the comments of this story and vote in our Twitter poll.
azcentral sports’ Paul Coro contributed to this story.
For more from The Heat Index, go to heatindex.azcentral.com.
Follow Jeremy Cluff on Twitter.
