Why Amar’e Stoudemire retired with the Knicks and not the Suns
When Amar’e Stoudemire announced his retirement from the NBA on Tuesday, many fans wondered why the six-time All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection decided to do so after signing a ceremonial one-day contract with the New York Knicks rather than invisible-inking one with the Phoenix Suns. Like, if you’re going to revisit one of our past stops to bid farewell, why choose the one where you spent 4 1/2 up-and-down, injury-plagued seasons over the one where you developed into a nigh-unstoppable offensive terror and had the greatest individual and team success of your 14-year career?
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To hear Stoudemire tell it, his choice might not really have been a choice at all. From STAT’s one-on-one with stalwart Suns beat reporter Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic:
Stoudemire just did not feel the same love back in the past two offseasons, when he hoped to return to the Suns to close his career. That prompted him to reach out to New York this month for a ceremonial contract with a “Once a Knick, Always a Knick” quotation to cap his 14-year career.
“The last two years, we made phone calls to Phoenix but I wasn’t getting any positive response,” Stoudemire told azcentral sports on Thursday. “That would’ve been the perfect way to go out. I didn’t want to beg Phoenix. My heart was in two places – Phoenix and New York. I just went where I was wanted.” […]
“They brought back Jared [Dudley] and Leandro [Barbosa], my boys [and former Suns teammates],” Stoudemire said. “That would’ve been a heck of a way to finish. I wasn’t just going to keep knocking on someone’s door that wasn’t going to answer.
“I love my fans in Phoenix. Most of my high times and highlights were in Phoenix. I put forth the effort to finish my career in Phoenix but it wasn’t well-received.”
Why that effort “wasn’t well-received” isn’t totally clear. If Stoudemire and his reps were reaching out looking for a roster spot so that STAT could close out his career seeing meaningful minutes, you can understand why Suns general manager Ryan McDonough might have been reluctant to pull the trigger.
Phoenix entered last season with big men Tyson Chandler, Markieff Morris, Alex Len, Mirza Teletovic and Jon Leuer, as well as part-time small-ball power forwards P.J. Tucker and T.J. Warren, vying for frontcourt minutes; coming off an underwhelming 2014-15 campaign with the Knicks and Dallas Mavericks, Stoudemire might have struck McDonough as a player whose name recognition outstripped the value he could provide on the court at that stage of his career. And while Stoudemire did well to prove he still had something in the tank last season after injuries opened up an opportunity for him to slide into a starting role for the Miami Heat midway through the year, the Suns spent this offseason reloading up front, drafting young projects Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss as power forwards of the future and importing Dudley to man the position in the here and now alongside the Chandler-Len center combination. (Undrafted four-five Alan Williams, a stud rebounder who starred in China, joined the Suns on a 10-day contract last season, and impressed on Phoenix’s Summer League squad, is also in the mix for Earl Watson’s club.)
Reasonable people might have different opinions as to whether Stoudemire has more to offer right now than any of those players. But given the financial commitments McDonough made to Chandler and Dudley, and the draft capital he spent on lottery picks Len, Bender and Chriss, it seems sensible to head into the coming campaign planning to give the members of that group every opportunity to see the floor and succeed rather than adding a veteran who might push for a larger role than you’d envision giving the fifth or sixth big man on the roster, and grumble if he didn’t get it.
It would also be understandable for a proud athlete like Stoudemire, who ranks in the top six in Suns franchise history in points, rebounds and blocked shots, to respond to feeling unwanted by deciding he’d turn elewhere for the ceremonial ending of his career … especially considering, in spite of the actual on-court results achieved at Madison Square Garden during his tenure, Stoudemire really did seem to view his years in New York as something of a golden era, according to Steve Popper of The (Bergen, N.J.) Record:
[…] he never stopped optimistically maintaining that he would get healthy, that he would be the player he was and that he and [Carmelo] Anthony could do what they always said they would: fit together on a championship contending team.
“We never had a championship,” Stoudemire said after his final game with the Knicks, days before he would complete a buyout to make a futile attempt to find a fountain of youth in Dallas or Miami. “[But] the excitement and the hope is there. Before it was a void of hope and happiness around the New York Knicks. After I signed, the hope became greater, the happiness was there, the excitement came, the Garden was rocking. We did make a few playoff pushes throughout those years. The fans are still very proud to be Knicks fans. Even though this season hasn’t panned out well, I notice that the fans are still very proud to be New York Knick fans.
“I gave it all, man. I gave my heart, my body and my soul. I truly gave it all. I’m still giving. I’m still dedicated to the game of basketball.”
While Amar’e didn’t retire as a Sun, the franchise wished him well as he embarks on the next phase of his life.
“The Phoenix Suns family congratulates Amar’e Stoudemire on a remarkable NBA career,” the Suns said in a statement released Tuesday. “As the 2003 Rookie of the Year and a five-time All-Star during his time in Phoenix, Amar’e’s eight seasons with our franchise provided some of the most exciting Suns basketball this city has ever seen. Off the court, Amar’e represented himself with integrity and class every step of the way, leaving an indelible impression on countless kids in our community. We’re proud to have called Amar’e one of our own and wish him nothing but the best in retirement.”
In the years to come, any lingering unpleasantness could be washed away if the Suns elect to enshrine Stoudemire in their Ring of Honor, joining the likes of his old pick-and-roll partner Steve Nash, Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, and other franchise greats like Alvan Adams, Tom Chambers, Walter Davis and Dan Majerle.
“I’m praying for that, because my glory years are in Phoenix,” Stoudemire told Coro. “My best times are in Phoenix. I bleed purple and orange. My roots are in Phoenix and the tree bloomed from there.”
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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