Knicks Negotiating With Amar'e Stoudemire

Although free agents can’t officially sign with teams until the league’s seven-day moratorium period is lifted on Thursday, the Knicks and Amar'e Stoudemire announced Monday that they are conducting negotiations on a multi-year contract.

The 6-foot-10 Stoudemire emerged from a backdoor at the presentation room at Madison Square Garden wearing a brand new blue Knicks hat and stood in front of a banner that read “STAT City” with the player pictured in a No. 1 Knicks jersey. "STAT" is short for "Standing Tall and Talented".

The Knicks and Amar’e are on the verge of making the first major splash in the Summer of 2010, which is a moment the Knicks have been waiting for since team president Donnie Walsh and head coach Mike D’Antoni joined the franchise two years ago. They came up with a plan to clear significant salary-cap room for the opportunity to sign marquee free agencts such as Stoudemire.

Since the beginning of free agency on July 1, Walsh has confirmed additional meetings with unrestricted free agents LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Mike Miller and Joe Johnson.

“This could help get the dominos falling,” D’Antoni said. “(Stoudemire) could be a great teammate for somebody.”

If anyone knows how good of a teammate and player Stoudemire is, it’s D’Antoni, who coached the star power forward for five seasons in Phoenix. Under D’Antoni, Stoudemire emerged as one of the premier scoring big men in the NBA as he led the Suns to back-to-back Western Finals appearances in 2005 and 2006.

Stoudemire, who has career averages of 21.4 points and 8.9 rebounds, is now a five-time All-Star.

“He’s a dominate offensive player for sure, in a variety of ways,” D’Antoni said. “He’s really improved his shooting. He’s probably one of, if not the best penetrators in the league. There’s just a lot of things offensively you can do with him. He had great years in Phoenix and they had great teams.”

D’Antoni is confident Stoudemire could have similar success in New York.

“The best thing about Amar’e is he will accept the challenge and he will not shy away from it,” D’Antoni said. “Whether it’s been his knees, his eyes or coming to New York City, he will find a way with hard work and find a way to overcome it. That’s the biggest thing.”

While putting themselves in position to sign great players like Stoudemire, the Knicks needed to make several in-season trades, which often threw the team off track over the past two seasons. Although the Knicks remained competitive, they did not make the playoffs in either of D’Antoni’s first two seasons in New York.

But D’Antoni once turned a franchise around -- with Stoudemire in his frontcourt. In 2003-04, the Suns won just 29 games. The next season, they won 62 and reached the conference finals.

“We got the same kind of challenge, and hopefully we can meet that challenge,” D’Antoni said.

The Knicks are certainly headed in the right direction.


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