Stoudemire Kicks Off Knicks' Rebuilding
Sean Deveney - SportingNews.com
Jul 06, 2010
For the Knicks, it's a heck of a commitment-five years and about $100 million for a 27-year-old player who has suffered a string of knee and eye injuries and has been part of some truly underachieving NBA teams over the last decade or so. That was the price tag for power forward Amare Stoudemire, who is coming off a season in which he averaged 23.1 points and 8.9 rebounds, earning a selection to his fifth All-Star game.
Make no mistake, Stoudemire is not LeBron James. And, if all the Knicks come up with in the coming weeks is Stoudemire and role players, there will be anger and resentment in certain corners of Knick-dom. For two years, team president Donnie Walsh has been dismantling the roster with the goal of arriving at the Summer of 2010 in position to lure LeBron James, Dwyane Wade or Chris Bosh, and as it seems increasingly unlikely that any of the above will land in Gotham, Walsh needed to cover his bases quickly.
"I think to a degree the fact that Amare really wanted to come here, stepped up front, it got to the point where we had to acknowledge that and say that means something to us," Walsh said Monday.
Stoudemire is not going to lead the Knicks to 50 wins, not without more free-agent acquisitions. He's had personality conflicts in Phoenix, and it's no secret that the Suns were looking to deal Stoudemire at each of the last three trading deadlines. His effort and work ethic are frequently called into question, and if you are a Knicks team trying to recast itself, Stoudemire is an odd choice as a cornerstone.
But in no way should the Knicks settling on Stoudemire be seen as a failure of Walsh and the organization. No LeBron means a big disappointment, of course, but simply being in a position to sit down with James and offer a contract is a huge step for the Knicks. Signing Stoudemire is a step, too. Anyone who would bash the Knicks for two years of finagling just to get Stoudemire should be reminded that, when Walsh took the job, the Knicks were in utter disarray, with a nine-digit payroll and an almost impossible rebuilding task ahead.
Most rebuilding projects, remember, at least start with a pared-down payroll and a plethora of youth. But the Knicks were among the highest paid teams in the league, and still won a measly 23 games when Walsh took over in 2008. It would have been easy to continue that indefinitely. Walsh, though, opted for a tear-down. Now, LeBron or no LeBron, there is no arguing that the Knicks are better off with a clear cap situation and Stoudemire than with a league-high payroll and Stephon Marbury.
That's what Walsh has been trying to preach. He created cap space, and he's trying his darnedest to use it. Even if he can't, though, that doesn't mean the Knicks aren't in a better position than they were when Walsh took over the job. "From here on out," Walsh said heading into the offseason, "it is going to be cap management for every team in the league. We have to be part of that."
The Knicks will welcome Stoudemire and, unless they land someone else, sell him as the new face of the team. In a summer in which many thought LeBron James was the Knicks' to lose, that might sound like a disappointment. But it should not be.
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