You know you’re desperate when your plan to improve entails nabbing a player off the NBA’s worst team.
But for a lot of reasons, the Mavs’ addition of Knicks’ reject Amar’e Stoudemire makes a lot of sense.
If this was the 2005 Stoudemire, we’d be fitting the Mavs for championship rings. But it’s 2015, and the player they’re getting is only a shadow of the star that dominated long before the ’ showed up in his name.
In the 2005 playoffs Stoudemire running the pick-and-roll with Steve Nash was unstoppable. Able to knock down 18-foot jumpers or leap over defenders for alley-oop dunks at the rim, Stoudemire was a matchup nightmare who helped the Suns beat Dallas in six games by averaging a gaudy 29 points and 13 rebounds in the series.
Ten years later, obviously, the Mavs won’t be getting that player when Stoudemire joins them later this week. But he’s still a serviceable big man and, most importantly, a significant upgrade over the reserves who have flopped behind Tyson Chandler since the trading away of Brandan Wright in the Rajon Rondo deal.
Stoudemire, now 32, negotiated his release from the Knicks and chose the Mavs – despite being offered only a pro-rated, league-minimum contract – because of the chance for quality minutes on a championship-caliber team. Tired of watching backups Greg Smith, Dwight Powell and Bernard James flounder behind Chandler, the Mavs had been courting veteran forward Jermaine O’Neal. But he indicated yesterday on Twitter that he might not be physically ready to return this season.
Desperation + opportunity = Stoudemire.
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At 6-foot-10, Stoudemire can still be a weapon in the pick-and-roll offense. He averaged 12 points and seven rounds on New York’s 10-36 disaster. And defensively he remains an active body and a decent rebounder, a quality the Mavs need if they’re to move up in the West standings over the final two months of the regular season and hope to make a legitimate push deep into the playoffs.
The Mavs will likely play Stoudemire at center as Chandler’s main backup, but could also play him at power forward to spell Dirk Nowitzki.
Yes Stoudemire was a Knick. But he’s about to instantly becomes one of the best backups on the Mavs.
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He currently lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
