Will Amare play before the end of the playoffs?

[jbeecham]

Amare has now had 7 months since the original microfracture surgery (it was done in Oct). It's been 6-7 weeks since the cyst cleanup in the other knee. We've got a great chance to make the finals and teams don't get that opportunity every year. He's supposed to be rehabbing every day (although you don't hear about him since the playoffs started) so he could be in decent shape and a 60-70% Amare could be the difference in a championship. I think he and KT both need to give it a try and see what happens. We can't bank on next year because who knows what's going to happen next year (Nash could be out all season).



Edit: sorry I didn't realize there was a lot of talk about this in the Amare injury thread

 

[HooverDam]

Well KT for sure needs to come back, the Suns would get throttled by either Eastern team w/ out him. I think they should SECRETLY bring Amare into the 5 on 5s (if thats possible- close practice? I dont know how this works), and try to have him ready for the finals. 10 minutes of Amare a game is better than 0.

 

[Nasser22]

He won't play and I hope he doesen't play. He needs the whole summer to get back in shape. Him being at 60% will only hurt us, short and long term. Kurt will be back for Game 1 though probably.

 

[jbeecham]

He won't play and I hope he doesen't play. He needs the whole summer to get back in shape. Him being at 60% will only hurt us, short and long term. Kurt will be back for Game 1 though probably.

I don't see how it'll hurt us, he played well when he came back until his non-surgically repaired knee started bothering him. That should be healed by now and there are no back-to-back games in the playoffs so he'll have rest between games. He could disrupt our offensive flow, but he could also draw double-teams to leave our 3 pt shooters wide open. Amare's supposed to be rehabbing and working out every day so he should be in decent shape to play 15-20 minutes a game.

 

[Nasser22]

Think about it. Having a player at 60% who has knee problems right now, playing in our fast pace with only 1 day of rest between games and taking away playing time from healthy players will hurt us. He had more than 1 day of rest in between those other games and then he sucked after his first one. No reason to bring him in and risk him getting hurt for the future. He will not be able to play with us. When he came back earlier he had trouble rebounding and defending because he had no lift in his legs. Also, after that first game his mid-range shot wasn't that good either because of the same reason. He will not help us. He will hurt us on offense, no one is going to double team him now, his offensive game is as good as Kurt's right now. And he will be even worse on defense than last year because he won't be able to block shots. I say, let him improve his shooting and get stronger over the off-season and bring him back next season. Bringing him back now is a high risk with a very low chance of reward.

Kurt will come back and we will have 8 guys. That's good enough.

 

[jbeecham]

You're assuming his game and lift haven't improved at all since his last attempt at a comback in early April. I think his microfractured knee should be stronger by now and his cyst knee should be healed. There's no way to know which of us is right because there isn't any info about Amare right now. With Amare's desire to be the best, I would assume he's working as hard as possible to get back on the court. I just can't picture him passing on playing in the finals and thinking about next year.

 

[Nasser22]

If this is how good he is: ) so he could be in decent shape and a 60-70% Amare could be the difference in a championship.

then I don't want him to play. I was saying if he's 60% like you think I wouldn't even think about letting him play.

 

[Dan H]

If Amare was planning on playing in the Olympics in July I would hope he's better than 60-70%.

 

[Lefty]

If Amare was planning on playing in the Olympics in July I would hope he's better than 60-70%.

Aren't the Olympics in two years?

 

[outofcontrol]

Playing it safe never got anyone a championship, Barkley played with a messed up Quad, KJ played with groin injuries, Marley played with a bad back and Nash is playing injured all year. Amare should be past the healing stage and well into the rehab and rebuilding stage, all players that have had the surgery say that at this point it’s just play through the pain.

A 60% Amare and I’m not assuming he is only 60% but he’s a handful for anyone and should take away a few fouls from Boris and Shawn. 5 minutes of play from Amare might keep Shawn or Boris on the floor when we need them in the 4th quarter when we usually get tentative because of foul trouble…Suit up Amare if just to scare Dallas.

 

[Nasser22]

Amare is the only one that had a career-threatening injury though. You don't play him now. If you want someone to foul you bring in Grant or Burke. Amare will not help the team.

 

[outofcontrol]

I’ve said that for a month that a Grant or Burke could take some fouls but they won’t draw the defense like Amare. Just remember that Amare had microfracture surgery before the season began, most players don’t have the good fortune of that kind of timing to get the whole year to rehab. It’s been since October…surely he can stand to be on the floor for a few minutes here and there.

And Barkley’s quad injury was eventually career ending and Marley’s back was the main reason he was traded. KJ might have gone a lot longer if he hadn’t pushed it so much but I’m sure he thought it was worth it to take a shot at the title.

 

[Nasser22]

With Amare not being totally healthy he will not get double teamed by anyone. He may have 1 decent game but other than that all that he'd be doing is hurting himself. I'd rather have 8 healthy, good players out there than have Amare not even close to 100%. With Kurt coming back, foul trouble won't be as bad as before.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Playing it safe never got anyone a championship, [/FONT]

tell that to the Spurs who were extra cautious with Tim Duncan back in 2000 when they held him out of a first round match-up against us - AND LOST - seems to have gotten them TWO TITLES.

It's absolutely IDIOTIC to bring Amare back at this point - at least with Kurt - you've got a guy who this team has played with - he's a PART OF THE TEAM - sadly, that's not the case with Amare and we just need to accept it - you go with what got you there and Amare will be WAYYYY too much of an adjustment for this team.

A 60% ANYONE out on the court with our team would kill our style of play - period. To think otherwise is pretty naive.

 

[outofcontrol]

Amare surprised everyone including himself in his first game back against Portland 20 points and 9 rebounds off of MF surgery…that knee is not the problem that sidelined him again. I wonder what percentage he was playing at in that game?

I know…let’s play it safe and if we get eliminated this year we’ll put Nash aside for a year and surely that will help his back injury and keep Amare out too so when the 2007-2008 season starts we’ll be untouchable.

Why are you so against trying?..it’s not like a few minutes here or there will cost us any game? Let’s face it we don’t know what he’ll be able to do until he hits the court.

 

[Nasser22]

It could end his career though. We have plenty of good players right now, 8. We don't need another to beat the Mavs. Adding in someone that has barely played the whole year, in the playoffs, not even close to full health is a STUPID MOVE. If it was just a sprained ankle he would play. If it was just a bruised whatever he would play. If it was a broken nose he'd get a mask and play. This is different. He has been out the whole season and it would be stupid to risk his whole career when our team is good enough without a Amare at 90+%

 

[Cheesebeef]

Amare surprised everyone including himself in his first game back against Portland 20 points and 9 rebounds off of MF surgery…that knee is not the problem that sidelined him again. I wonder what percentage he was playing at in that game?

I know…let’s play it safe and if we get eliminated this year we’ll put Nash aside for a year and surely that will help his back injury and keep Amare out too so when the 2007-2008 season starts we’ll be untouchable.

Why are you so against trying?..it’s not like a few minutes here or there will cost us any game? Let’s face it we don’t know what he’ll be able to do until he hits the court.

Yes - YOU PLAY IT SAFE WITH THE CORNERSTONE OF YOUR FRANCHISE - PLAIN AND SIMPLE. A 60% or 70% Amare - or ANYONE for that matter, especially someone coming off TWO knee surgeries in 8 months, shouldn't be thrown to the Wolves when you need EVERYONE firing on all cylinders to win.

As far as your Nash comment - it's really STUPID comments like those that derail these types of discussions and make you look like an idiot who can only exaggerate and distort someone else' (correct POV) on the discussion because you're too much of an nincompoop to discuss the issue on the merits.

And you mention the Portland game as proof of what, exactly? He hit mostly jumpers (Boris can do the same thing), had one nice spin move (again - Boris can do the same) and went to the line - AGAINST THE WORST DEFENSIVE TEAM IN THE LEAGUE AND THE WORST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE PERIOD. That game meant NOTHING - period.

"A couple minutes here or there won't hurt" - are you kidding me? Do you watch this team? The Suns are a team that THRIVES on rythym, and we've seen against the Clippers that big teams, who can actually score and rebound will BURY us if given a lead - which against us, can happen in the blink of an eye.

Again - we are in the big dance - and we'll go with who brought us here - it ain't really that hard to understand. DA knows it - that's why he said there was no way KT was going in a game as big as last night's even though most of the same people here thought he should definitely get in - even if "just for a few minutes, after all what could it hurt?" I'll stand by DA and let the arm-chair Coaches continue to call for things that no coach or franchise in their right mind would even consider.

 

[pokerface]

Well golly gee...Amares doctors in the beginning of the season were insisting Amare would be ready to go in 4+ months. Suns management then said they wouldn't bring Amare back until he's 100%....then proceeded to bring him back almost 5 months after surgery living up to their word(?). THEN we have progress reports on how Amare is ahead of schedule and not only that but we have Mr. Jerry Colangelo himself stepping up to the plate and telling Amare he should play this season.

So in light of this wealth of information given to us by all the credible highstanding sources how can we even dare to question that Amare isnt ready to go SEVEN MONTHS after surgery. We are not in the know like they are so we have to take their word on this. SO WHAT that Amare is now tucked away like some secluded Howard Hughes in a luxury high-rise with Suns personal guarding his every move and word....that in no way shape or form means Amare isnt ready to go. We MUST trust the people in the know that told us what to believe. So again we must buy our season tickets in good faith that next season as it has been told to us by father D'Antoni that Amare will indeed be ready to go next season at ONE HUNDRED PERCENT.


Suit him up and put him in there!


PEACE

 

[Nasser22]

Saying that he was ready to go was just a guess. If you saw him play when he came back you could see that he wasn't even close to 100%, even in that first game.

 

[George O'Brien]

From what I can tell, the problem for Amare wasn't the microfacture knee but the other one - which is why the original estimates were off.

In any case, it is very hard to work an offensive player into the rotation without scrimage time. Right now, I think Amare's focus is going to be on rooting for the team and getting ready for next season.

 

[outofcontrol]

But saying he is not ready to go is also a guess, and saying that it's stupid to put him in is also a guess. When the Suns played the Bulls in the finals Cedric went out with a foot injury and Richard Dumas came in "stoned most of the time" and many felt that was the difference in us winning the whole thing. My point is that it's rare that a team is in any kind of position to go all the way and who knows what might happen to one of our key players next year.

If 7 plus months is not enough to even see what Amare can do, I say that's playing it too safe. Amare is just afraid of having a Penny Hardaway career after listening to Charles Barkley pound the play it safe rant. (Like Chuck really has the Suns best interest in mind) All the docs are saying a 4 to 5 month recovery for the MF surgery and here we are well past that.

The Suns haven't had a "Rythm" since KT went out and many of the games we won in the play-offs were fortuitous. So applying the logic mentioned before, we can't infuse KT because he will disrupt the "Rythm"

 

[Forrestham]

If Amare is healthy enough to play and contribute he should play. But only if he is ready and healthy to play. IF we get close to a chmpionship you don't leave any bullets in the holdster. There is no guarntees for next year. I think of a 38 year old Randy Johnson coming in out of the bullpen for game 7 after pitching 7 innings the night before. Remember Schilling and the bloody sock. Yes it caused him to be ineffective for all of 2005 but the Sox got a title. If Amare is at 75 percent he is a hell of a lot better thatn Burke or Grant or anyone else. I am not saying he will play buts lets not automaticly discount him

 

[SirStefan32]

Absolutely NOT!

You don't risk anything at this point. Let Amare rest, support the team, and for God's sake, please hire somebody to make sure he doesn't dress like Craig Freaking Sager ever again.

 

[elindholm]

Risk is relative. How much longer does he have to stay under wraps? Another whole year? Five years? Maybe he should just retire right now, to minimize his chance of another serious knee injury.

If he's ready, he's ready.

And by the way, for an athlete of Stoudemire's desire, going your whole career without ever winning a title is a risk too. Pick your poison.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Aren't the Olympics in two years?

Yes...the World Championships are this summer, though, I think.