Amar'e Stoudemire didn’t need to rehab any injuries over the summer. But the Knicks are still proceeding with caution when it comes to the $100 million forward.
“Amar'e physically looks great. Looks like he’s in fantastic shape,” Derek Fisher said on Friday. “He’s very focused on coming into this season healthy and I think he’s accomplished that goal. ... His knees will be an issue at some point, just manage his minutes in some respects, how we’ll limit him in practice, give him some days to get back up to speed and get some rest. But I think he’s willing to come in and buy in to what we want to teach and he’s ready to go and he’s excited.”
Stoudemire has suffered through several knee ailments over the last two seasons and had microfracture surgery when he was with the Phoenix Suns.
The 31-year-old underwent three separate operations over a ten-month span ending last summer and played on a minutes restriction for portions of 2012-13 and 2013-14.
So it makes sense that the Knicks would want to monitor his minutes this season. Stoudemire is in the final season of a five-year, $100 million contract and the Knicks explored the possibility of trading him in the offseason.
Assuming Stoudemire remains on the roster for the entire season, it will be interesting to see how Fisher uses him. Stoudemire is one of several power forwards on the roster, including Andrea Bargnani, Jason Smith and (at times) Carmelo Anthony.
Stoudemire played extremely well late last season, averaging 16 points on better than 50 percent shooting over the final 20 games.
Fisher says Bargs will be “great”: Speaking of players the Knicks looked into trade over the summer, Fisher believes Andrea Bargnani will be a strong contributor in 2014-15.
“I think Andrea will be great. I think Andrea is a great basketball player,” Fisher said. “The system won’t necessarily make him better. He’s had some unfortunate situations with some injuries. He’s obviously been traded, getting used to a new environment and a new team, but also getting traded to a team that was disjointed and a lot of question marks surrounding the team and inconsistencies.
“So in my conversations with Andrea he’s excited and he’s determined to have a really good season. He’s looking forward to what it is we’re trying to do offensively. A lot of times we’ve spoken it’s been about what we’re going to do on the defensive end. He feels good about understanding where we’re going defensively. He’s looking forward to having a great year.”
Bargnani never developed into the secondary scoring option that the Knicks had been hoping for when they traded for him last summer.
He struggled defensively and was limited to 39 games due to a torn ligament in his injury.
General manager Steve Mills said Bargnani has been one of "13-14" Knicks working out together at the team's training facility in recent days.
Phil hopes Knicks will play “quicker” this season: The Knicks under Mike Woodson played at a plodding pace on offense.
Last season, they ranked 29th in the NBA in pace, due in part to their reliance on isolation sets.
Phil Jackson said on Friday that he hopes the Knicks can play faster this season.
“We have some youth and we have some veteran players that have come in to join us. We’ve got some size. We’ve also got some young guards and hopefully a little bit of a quicker team in the process,” he said.
Phil on West Point: The Knicks will spend five days practicing at the military academy at West Point next week. The idea to practice at West Point was Jackson’s.
“We’re going there with the hopes that we’ll give the players an idea of the discipline and the character that makes up some of the best of our country that come to this academy to get educated,” Jackson said.
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