Stoudemire eyeing life in LA?

[Neo]

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cheapseats/articles/0914p2main0914.html

Stoudemire eyeing life in LA?


Bob Young
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 14, 2005 12:00 AM

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That shudder some die-hard Suns fans felt creeping down their spine wasn't from any change of weather.

Trust us, that's a long way off yet.[/font]
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[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]However, it might be the chilling effect of some comments that Amaré Stoudemire made to a reporter from SI.com that found its way to The Heat Index Operations Center.

The story is all about Stoudemire going to the West Coast to work with some video game programmers, but goes into some detail about Stoudemire's affection for Los Angeles and implies that the Lakers might want to make a run at him.

"I'm a businessman," Stoudemire told SI.com. "I'm going to listen, but I already know what they got to say, 'Amaré, we want to give you the max.' "

Stoudemire also was asked about the possibility of making more cash from endorsements in Los Angeles, and agreed that he could, but insisted he's happy in Phoenix.

So, what to make of it?

We don't doubt the Lakers and others would love to make a run at the young Suns star, but we're not losing much sleep about all of this right now.

The SI.com story points out that the Lakers are clearing cap space for the 2007 off-season. Unless we're getting bad information, that isn't going to help them with Stoudemire.

All indications are that Stoudemire will sign a contract extension any day now. There may be some haggling over fine print, but the bottom line is, he cannot afford the risk in not signing it.

The new deal would kick in after next season, so Stoudemire isn't going to be available in 2007.

Now, that doesn't mean he won't have some sort of an early termination clause in his deal, but that's at least three years into it.

If there is such a clause, then there's something to get nervous about if the Suns don't have some talent around Stoudemire when that day comes.

Meanwhile, if you want something to wring your hands about, consider that the team's veteran players were supposed to start taking part in informal workouts after the Labor Day weekend.

Only Steve Nash showed up.

As of Tuesday, those workouts still hadn't begun for the veteran players.
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[Arizona's Finest]

Cant you just see Bob Young, "Phoenix Suns Insider", cruising around ASFN looking for something to put in the Heat Index and coming across the "Amare enjoying his fame thread" and thinking.... 'I did'nt know that. I'll use that for tomorrows paper'....

Its almost as if his opinion on the subject was conjured up by reading our posts as well.....

 

[George O'Brien]

Young's conclusions are the same as mine. Amare will sign a contract because he can't afford to risk a career ending injury waiting two years. Also, the "out" clause cannot be until the third year in his contract, which is four years from now.

If four years from now the Suns lack adequate support for him on the Suns, they will lose him the way Orlando would have lost McGrady if they hadn't traded him. But why SI decided that commenting on Amare leaving at the end of the decade seems more strange than journalism.

 

[Neo]

The title of the article is far more ominous than the content. It scared the pee out of me when I saw the headline. It turns out that the article is just a rehash of the SI.com article. That is pretty pathetic. If my a teenager turned in an article for the school newspaper that only summarized an online article, and gave no original insight, he would get a C grade at best.

The only thing about the article that really bothers me is the fact that Nash is the only veteran showing up for the voluntary work-outs. Does this year's team not have the drive and work ethic that last year's had?

 

[elindholm]

If four years from now the Suns lack adequate support for him on the Suns, they will lose him the way Orlando would have lost McGrady if they hadn't traded him.

Might, not will. Even if the Suns are mediocre, Stoudemire might stick around for the longer, slightly larger contract. The stakes are high, but not that high. And besides, if Stoudemire becomes the superstar we all expect, just how bad can the Suns be while he's on the team?

 

[boisesuns]

If four years from now the Suns lack adequate support for him on the Suns, they will lose him the way Orlando would have lost McGrady if they hadn't traded him.

Might, not will. Even if the Suns are mediocre, Stoudemire might stick around for the longer, slightly larger contract. The stakes are high, but not that high. And besides, if Stoudemire becomes the superstar we all expect, just how bad can the Suns be while he's on the team?

I agree. If amare can take control of a game and change outcomes by himself, the suns will be fine. He's getting closer to being that type of player. That's why losing JJ is not that big of a deal. Amare will take over games this year, and there won't be much anyone can do about it. If he turns into a superstar (again he's almost there) endorsments will come no matter what city he's in. Maybe they won't be the same as LA, but i don't think it will be all that much less.

 

[arthurracoon]

Meanwhile, if you want something to wring your hands about, consider that the team's veteran players were supposed to start taking part in informal workouts after the Labor Day weekend.

Only Steve Nash showed up.

As of Tuesday, those workouts still hadn't begun for the veteran players.

 

[JS22]

That worries me more than anything.

 

[elindholm]

That worries me more than anything.

LOL

 

[JS22]

That worries me more than anything.

LOL

Looks like it only quoted the "thumbs down"

 

[Gaddabout]

For the record, I don't know of anyone in this town with better Suns contacts than Bob Young. Maybe Norm, and maybe Norm can do some Suns games again with Jerry Colangelo enjoying retirement.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Stoudemire might stick around for the longer, slightly larger contract.

It would be a pretty big difference in money. Assuming he opts out in 3 years and the salary cap grows to 54 million the difference will be total of 26.73 million dollars. The average salary per year would be about 1.3 million higher.


Now obviously Amare could just sign a new deal at the end of the 5 years if he went to LA to make up the money.

Of course you have to consider that when that contract would end Amare would be 32 years old (he will be 24 when his max kicks in, and add 8 more years for the 2 contracts).

The would put him at Shaq's age this year (and he got 100 million more). Of course Shaq doesn't rely on speed and athleticism like Amare does, so who knows what his value would be at that age (he would still get a very large contract, but you never know).

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

For the record, I don't know of anyone in this town with better Suns contacts than Bob Young.

I thought Young had a falling out with the upper management (which is why he was removed as the beat writer).

Could be wrong though.

 

[fordronken]

Grrrr. I hate having so many Laker fans as friends. Getting "Amare is coming to L.A." taunting phone calls does not make my day any better. Of course, they also think Kwame is a really good player and they're gonna make the playoffs.

 

[elindholm]

Getting "Amare is coming to L.A." taunting phone calls does not make my day any better.

Just say, "Maybe, but he's in Phoenix now."

 

[fordronken]

Just say, "Maybe, but he's in Phoenix now."

Logic doesn't work with Laker fans. They're like 12 year olds. They aren't trying to debate topics, they just want to yell things at you and not listen to your response.

 

[George O'Brien]

Grrrr. I hate having so many Laker fans as friends. Getting "Amare is coming to L.A." taunting phone calls does not make my day any better.

Ask them how they plan to spend the next four years waiting for Amare's contract out to come up. Will they continue watching the Lakers s**k because they will have no one other than Kobe under contract while waiting?

 

[Arizona's Finest]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


This story is taking on a life of its own.....look at the front page of espn.com and notice how rumor central cites the LAKERS history of big man and how Amare might want to be part of that. Someone with insider please post that so i can read this speculation.

Im so pissed....this is getting way out of hand and the bigger this gets nationally, the less likley Amare will just signthe extension, and rather "explore his options".....

 

[SweetD]

I agree I need Amare to be signed to a long term deal ASAP. So just don't have to read all this BS. It is not bad enough there is nothing going on.

 

[F-Dog]

This whole business was started by that Laker-fan-turned-CNNSI-beat-reporter from the other thread.


I still don't believe Amare would play well with Kobe (too many alpha males), and the idea that Amare could/would take the QO and try to make that money back ($9m?) making local commercials in L.A. is ludicrous. This is more of a pipe dream than Kobe-to-Phoenix last year.

What worries me here is the potential for an out clause in Amare's contract. I'm still annoyed that the Suns can't sign Amare to a six-year extension.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Young's conclusions are the same as mine. Amare will sign a contract because he can't afford to risk a career ending injury waiting two years. Also, the "out" clause cannot be until the third year in his contract, which is four years from now.

If four years from now the Suns lack adequate support for him on the Suns, they will lose him the way Orlando would have lost McGrady if they hadn't traded him. But why SI decided that commenting on Amare leaving at the end of the decade seems more strange than journalism.

Sorry George, but wasn't it you that kept declaring that Johnson wasn't going anywhere and it was a 100% certainty that the Suns retained him? If the Suns keep featuring Steve Nash as the premiere player and pimp him for things such as MVP, All Star team, etc. then I'd say it's an absolute certainly that Amare goes elsewhere.

 

[George O'Brien]

Sorry George, but wasn't it you that kept declaring that Johnson wasn't going anywhere and it was a 100% certainty that the Suns retained him? If the Suns keep featuring Steve Nash as the premiere player and pimp him for things such as MVP, All Star team, etc. then I'd say it's an absolute certainly that Amare goes elsewhere.

The usual notion was that the Suns would let JJ go without compensation based entirely on the price. I was far from certain that a sign and trade deal was out of the question, although I questioned whether the Hawks had enough to make any such deal worthwhile.

With the way Diaw in playing in Europe this summer, I have to admit I may have been wrong about what the Hawks had to offer. This deal is looking more promising every day.

 

[Errntknght]

It's good to see Diaw performing so well in Europe but there is some downside risk involved. For one thing Boris may be worn out when he comes to training camp so he doesn't get off to a good start - that could ruin his whole year. Another possibility is that it's going to be like a big demotion for him because he's been a leader and here he's starting out at the bottom. Poof, back to the old Boris.

Barbs could suffer somewhat the same way but, at least, he has some tenure with the team.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

The usual notion was that the Suns would let JJ go without compensation based entirely on the price. I was far from certain that a sign and trade deal was out of the question, although I questioned whether the Hawks had enough to make any such deal worthwhile.

With the way Diaw in playing in Europe this summer, I have to admit I may have been wrong about what the Hawks had to offer. This deal is looking more promising every day.

Fair is fair though George. Many Many people on this board would scoff when i began to fret about JJ's possible departure early in the off season, as if it was a certainty that he would return. We all know how that story turned out. You can say now that "well this happened and this happened" but its denail to pretend like the common perception of everyone (sarver included) was that JJ was going to be a Sun prior to this whole fiasco. Things change, or more important, their is information (relationships, money, personnel issues) that we just dont get through the media and can be a big contibuter to any possible defections.

All reports are that an extension will be done by camp, but i dont blame people for being skeptical. You can bring out all the logical, salary implicated evidence you want but the fact is this: This is the NBA and if things turn sour, players (esp. of amares stature) can force their way out.

SO until their is a report on amares signing, we should consider the worst case scenario (this is a message board after all), and not just dismiss the idea of him leaving as pie-in-the-sky. As everyone already knows, Amare is likely the most important Sun ever and losing him would be a death blow. Lets just say i will sleep easier once the deal is in place........

BTW George this was in no way directed at just you, it was more just a public service announcement on perception and reality.....

 

[coloradosun]

I think the Joe Johnson syndrome (be the player a team builds around) will work to our advantage in keeping Amare. The Lakers have Kobe as their franchise player, he had to unseat Shaq. If Amare is as wise as we think that episode will work against the Lakers, this will be Amare franchise for as long as he wants. Amare and Nash have done the recruiting, Kobe has not had any success because I don't think there are a lot of guys that want to play along side him.