What the New York Knicks need more of from Amar’e Stoudemire is minutes.
It’s not a matter of adding moves or revamping some part of his game, it’s getting on the court — he only played 29 games last season following knee surgery. Stoudemire is going to be on a minutes limit (20 a game) but the Knicks want those 20 minutes.
Which means this summer, rather than have Stoudemire go work with Hakeem Olajuwon, the Knicks suggested he stay home and just rest, reports Marc Berman at the New York Post.Stoudemire had planned to return to Texas to refine the post moves he learned last summer….
“The main thing with Amar’e is we need him to rest,’’ Woodson said at the Las Vegas summer league. “Last summer, he put in a lot of time. He had some bad luck because he worked his butt off last summer. This summer we’ll rest him and make our push to get him ready for vet camp.”
If Stoudemire could give the Knicks 15-20 minutes a night as the backup four behind Carmelo Anthony that would be a welcome addition to the roster. Stoudemire is not as explosive as he once was, but he was very efficient last season when he did play, shooting 63.7 percent. That kind of play on a consistent basis would be a boost for New York.
We’ll see if Stoudemire can give that much anymore.
