Amare misses another practice

[msdundee]

Whatever the outside time line for a "full recovery" (12 to 18 months), it is urgently clear that the tensions surrounding that recovery, and Amare's attitude about the process, are becoming a major issue for the team (players, coaches, and, one imagines, management). It's all over 910 this morning after a discussion with Paul Coro....

A major major issue. It will be a year October 11th. If the on again, off again thing continues over this next week, it might be time to motivate Amare by just giving him a choice. He can decide: either (1) he works through ALL the practices even if they're tough, gets the on-court conditioning, heads for the ice packs after each workout, or (2) sits it out again at least until after the All Star break, maybe longer. .

 

[Louis]

http://www.woohoo.org/microfracture.htm

 

[haverford]

Sorry to get back on topic, but that whole stream of quotes from Stoudemire sounds exactly like Hardaway. I have a very bad feeling about this.

And (I meant to say) you are exactly correct: I thought the same thing about those quotes. There should be a name for this type of passive-aggressive happy talk from athletes. Maybe there already is, but I can't recall it....

 

[DeAnna]

Amare: "Why am I drawing all the attention here? I'm not the star player."

Oh, boo hoo....he's just feeling a bit sorry for himself lately.

He'll get over it and be fine in the long run; right now it's a roller-coaster.

 

[msdundee]

Amare: "Why am I drawing all the attention here? I'm not the star player."

Oh, boo hoo....he's just feeling a bit sorry for himself lately.

He'll get over it and be fine in the long run; right now it's a roller-coaster.

His saying that was interesting. You can bet it was a surprise to him -- as it was to everyone else -- that they did so well last year without him. NBA egos are fragile.

 

[Nasser22]

Who else saw on Yahoo that Amare may miss 2-3 months on the season? And who heard on the radio that Amare is shutting himself down and not trying hard and teammates are getting annoyed at him. Oh boy...

 

[Lean Mass]

Sorry to get back on topic, but that whole stream of quotes from Stoudemire sounds exactly like Hardaway. I have a very bad feeling about this.

I hate how people compare this situation to the one with penny. It is nothing like it. Look, get this through your head: penny had 3 prior knee surgeries, he was like 31 when he had the microfracture. So this really isn't like Penny's situation at all.

The only difference between me saying, "this isn't like penny" and everybody else here who says, "this isn't like penny" is that I am someone who is starting to wish that amare's situation was like penny's.

I mean, penny first came back in january and played 4 games, while amare first came back in march and only played 3. This situation is nothing like penny's because penny's situation, somehow, actually seems like it was much better!

In july and august the year after his micro, penny was playing full-court games in LA. Remember, he was playing with Bo Outlaw or something? he was also working out for some time with Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley as they were attempting their respective comebacks. to get ready for the season, jordan held an invite-only week-long scrimmaging event where players like Lebron James, paul pierce, jordan, and other nba stars were there, and reports from there were that penny was the best player there. He came into the season and averaged 20, 6 and 5 or something like that for the month of November, but then marbury decided the team was in jeapordy of being successful, so he assumed a bigger role, penny wore down a little bit, and penny never seemed to recover (is he on a team now?)

Anyhoo, the point is, isn't like penny because, despite the fact that Penny's knee was already bone-on-bone, he was past his prime age-wise, and he had a reputation for being "soft" he actually recovered much faster than Amare. So it's time to stop comparing amare to penny hardaway; that's over. I guess maybe we can now commence arguments about whether or not amare stoudemire's situation is "just like allan houston's!"

 

[elindholm]

He's baaaaa-aaaaack...

 

[az1965]

We should forget about Amare and try to win without him... If he comes back, great... otherwise we move on...

 

[pokerface]

Blah blah blah Amare is not Penny...blah blah situation is not the same....AND? What comfort are we supposed to be getting out of this? So he's not Penny...Amare isn't Amare anymore....doesnt matter if he's not Penny.

So whats his deal then? If his "lesion" was so microscopic tiny and so nothing why is he acting like such a cripple? MAYBE its because there is no such thing as a minor microfracture operation. When the procedure is done its the procedure that needs recouping from...not the itsy bitsy lesion involved.


Food for thought kids...digest it.

 

[boisesuns]

The size of the hole in his knee is smaller than other in the past, but he is still going on "Fake cartilage" that drained into the hole they drilled into his knee. I imagine there's some pain in trying to play with something that is only partially what it once was.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

We should forget about Amare and try to win without him... If he comes back, great... otherwise we move on...

They don't really have any other choice.

 

[Chaplin]

Amaré benched
Amaré Stoudemire dressed for the Suns' preseason opener Friday but never got off the end of the bench.

It's a familiar spot for Stoudemire, who missed 79 games last season, but he may have to get used to it this season, too, if his practice commitment does not change.

"I'm just not going to play him until he shows a certain level of play," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "It's not fair to him and it's not fair to the team.

"It's just not fair to the other players. He's got to get himself practicing. If he does come back 100 percent, we're going to be a lot stronger. I'm pretty happy where we are, what we do and how we play."

Stoudemire had little to say Friday but said his playing status was not his decision. He also said he felt no stiffness in his knees Friday, just a day after leaving practice for the second time in four days.

I won't say "I told you so."

 

[Folster]

The Suns missed their chance to trade him. I don't blame management though. It would be hard to trade talent like his even if your better judgement tells you to.

What's done is done. The Suns should let Amare take as much time as he needs to get healthy so he can return and showcase his talent to the league. Hopefully his play will allow the Suns to trade him in the off-season for some decent compensation. I don't think his knees are going to hold up, and his contract will strangle the Suns

Thank God we did not trade Marion! Now lets pray for the 4th pick.

 

[msdundee]

A major major issue. It will be a year October 11th. If the on again, off again thing continues over this next week, it might be time to motivate Amare by just giving him a choice. He can decide: either (1) he works through ALL the practices even if they're tough, gets the on-court conditioning, heads for the ice packs after each workout, or (2) sits it out again at least until after the All Star break, maybe longer. .

Apologies for quoting myself (first time ever) but it looks like that's what D'Antoni's doing.

"It's just not fair to the other players. He's got to get himself practicing."

This is about the only stance Mike really can take under the circumstances. Anything else would make training camp a waste of time if not downright disruptive to team chemistry, and that may already have taken a hit. We'll have to see what happens now.

 

[jbeecham]

http://www.nba.com/suns/news/tribune_notebook_061007.html

AMARÉ UPDATE

A day after complaining of pain and stiffness in both knees that forced him to miss a second practice, Stoudemire said he felt much better Friday and wanted to play in the game. But D’Antoni denied the request and said Stoudemire won’t play until he sees more consistency on the practice court.

D’Antoni said even when Stoudemire has practiced on the trip; he is struggling to keep up with the conditioning level of his teammates.

“We need him to practice every day and he’s not able to do that yet. And we’re not going to play him until he shows a certain level of improvement and a certain level of play,” he said. “It’s not fair to him and not fair to the team.

“If he has strong practices on Sunday and Monday, yeah, he could play Tuesday (in Cologne, Germany against Philadelphia). But if he doesn’t, he won’t. We’re going forward, and our goal is to get him to the point where he’s past all this and he can help get us where we want to go.”

 

[Amare32]

People are overreating a little bit, it is only pre-season. Amare still clearly needs time to get into the swing of things. It is not easy to comeback from surgery and train hard heading into the new summer..hopfully by the time the season starts he will be ready to go.

keep the faith

it's a long ass season and if he is not ready yet then fine...he has a while to help us win the title. as miami showed it's how you finish.

 

[msdundee]

People are overreating a little bit, it is only pre-season. Amare still clearly needs time to get into the swing of things. It is not easy to comeback from surgery and train hard heading into the new summer..hopfully by the time the season starts he will be ready to go.

keep the faith

it's a long ass season and if he is not ready yet then fine...he has a while to help us win the title. as miami showed it's how you finish.

Agreed, the current talk about past/future trade-Amare scenarios is pretty alarmist. Somebody has to prove to all the Chicken Littles that the sky isn't falling just yet -- and that somebody is Amare. It doesn't look like he's ready just yet, either physically or mentally, but he'll be back. We know he worked hard at rehab and stayed in good shape over this past year, still gym time and NBA game time are worlds apart. He'll have to gear it up even more right now if he wants to come back and be effective. If that can't happen until later on in the season, then it is what it is.

The Suns aren't the only team with knee woes. After sitting out last year and signing that mega-contract Nene's having some more trouble too (uh, maybe we don't want to talk about that).

Also, has anyone else noticed that almost every post-game interview or photo shows Marion icing down both knees? Not a whole lot said about it but he's commented that they're sore after every game. I guess it goes with the territory but to me that's almost as worrisome as the situation with Amare.

 

[Chaplin]

Also, has anyone else noticed that almost every post-game interview or photo shows Marion icing down both knees? Not a whole lot said about it but he's commented that they're sore after every game. I guess it goes with the territory but to me that's almost as worrisome as the situation with Amare.

I've mentioned that several times, but Marion has been icing his knees for years. I don't think it's as worrisome as you make it out to be.

 

[msdundee]

I've mentioned that several times, but Marion has been icing his knees for years. I don't think it's as worrisome as you make it out to be.

I know, and I'm sure some or many others do the same, that's why I said "it goes with the territory." Hard to even imagine the punishment those knees, ankles, etc. take on the basketball court. We just don't need him to be next on the list or that might be one too many straws.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns aren't the only team with knee woes. After sitting out last year and signing that mega-contract Nene's having some more trouble too (uh, maybe we don't want to talk about that).

I wouldn't mind. I haven't heard much about Nene. Didn't he have a torn ACL. Actually Nene got this huge max type contract after his injury whereas it was unclear if Amare had any serious knee problems when he signed his extension. Also, Nene has never proven he can be an impact player but Amare already had proven his worth and more.

Is Nene having any serious issues? If you have a link, I would like to read about it. In the draft Amare came out, I had Wilcox and Nene rated ahead of him. Of course, I had never seen Amare play.

 

[msdundee]

I wouldn't mind. I haven't heard much about Nene. Didn't he have a torn ACL. Actually Nene got this huge max type contract after his injury whereas it was unclear if Amare had any serious knee problems when he signed his extension. Also, Nene has never proven he can be an impact player but Amare already had proven his worth and more.

Is Nene having any serious issues? If you have a link, I would like to read about it. In the draft Amare came out, I had Wilcox and Nene rated ahead of him. Of course, I had never seen Amare play.

Can't remember offhand where I read it, but it didn't sound like anything major. They pulled him from a practice last week because the knee was sore, not surprising -- he didn't play last year either. It mentioned they almost expect similar problems for quite a while but are still confident he was a good investment. The original injury was an ACL tear, MCL sprain, and a torn meniscus so there was a lot to patch up.

 

[Superbone]

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http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/9729/amarecoaster1cr5.gif

 

[boisesuns]

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http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/9729/amarecoaster1cr5.gif

 

[Lean Mass]

The Suns ARE the only team with knee troubles. I don't want to sound like a wuss, but it's just not fair!

I mean, Googs' career ends when a teamate (who played like 9 minutes a game) fell into his leg, causing one of the worst knee injury in the history of the league. Penny's career basically ended when Samaki Walker feel into his knee. Somehow, Shawn Marion has actually recovered from his rookie-year knee surgery, but if this team ever actually has a shot of winning a championship, you have to know that'll probably start acting up in some way. And now Amare Stoudemire? Here's a guy who said, "I want to be the best NBA player ever," and actually began proving that he wasn't exaggerating in the least.

Any time your healthiest player is the guy with the broken back, you have to start to think that somebody upstairs doesn't like us.