What's the general feeling on his season? The poll on suns.com as to who is the suns mvp was landslide in favor of him. He talks big. Said he'll be better than KG someday, but from what I've seen he's very predictable in the paint and has no perimeter game or assist skills. He is awesome at getting to the line, but he tries for the highlight dunk when a geniune shot would be more effective. Seen the closeups how the ball kinda falls out of his flat hand when he loses the grip on a dunk? It's kinda lame. His defence is "improving" with Dice on the floor (according to a suns.com radio transcript of D'antoni) so where is it at now? I don't get to see many games, but those I have seen had Amare being fairly blockheaded in offense (the sac game recently where he was getting turned away from the right side dunk again and again was hard to watch, though I can remember one game where I was happy to see him make the same driving floater again and again from the same spot) and the stats have guys like Brand posting 30 against him. Where is he great (besides getting to the line)? Where does he need to improve? Will he ever play as fundamentally sound as KG or Duncan or Malone? Will he pan out as a team leader or is he good for only his 30 points on a good night? I'm not looking to piss anyone off I'm just wondering what people think of his skills. What is the consensus on his potential and how long do people think he'll take to reach it? I guess if he weren't such a freak (in the best possible sense) expectations wouldn't be high enough to lead to disappointment.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting panfolk:</div><div class="quote_post">What's the general feeling on his season? The poll on suns.com as to who is the suns mvp was landslide in favor of him. He talks big. Said he'll be better than KG someday, but from what I've seen he's very predictable in the paint and has no perimeter game or assist skills. He is awesome at getting to the line, but he tries for the highlight dunk when a geniune shot would be more effective. Seen the closeups how the ball kinda falls out of his flat hand when he loses the grip on a dunk? It's kinda lame. His defence is "improving" with Dice on the floor (according to a suns.com radio transcript of D'antoni) so where is it at now? I don't get to see many games, but those I have seen had Amare being fairly blockheaded in offense (the sac game recently where he was getting turned away from the right side dunk again and again was hard to watch, though I can remember one game where I was happy to see him make the same driving floater again and again from the same spot) and the stats have guys like Brand posting 30 against him. Where is he great (besides getting to the line)? Where does he need to improve? Will he ever play as fundamentally sound as KG or Duncan or Malone? Will he pan out as a team leader or is he good for only his 30 points on a good night? I'm not looking to piss anyone off I'm just wondering what people think of his skills. What is the consensus on his potential and how long do people think he'll take to reach it? I guess if he weren't such a freak (in the best possible sense) expectations wouldn't be high enough to lead to disappointment.</div> He needs to work on his 15ft. Jumper to make it more consistent if he ever wants to be as good, or better than KG. I love his play because he brings enthusiasm..he Loves to dunk and it brings tha fans to life..His career will be succesful, I do not think he will be better than KG or Duncan.
He can be better than Duncan or KG, but he still has some things to learn. Yeah he only has a couple of moves, but they work. He's really fast for his size, and even stronger. He also has hops better than other bigs like Big Ben or Brand. He's not afraid to take it strong which is why he gets to the line so much. If he could continue to improve his outside jumper, and learn to pass outta the double team, he'd be one of the greats.
This question kind of bothers me... you're calling out Amare (and although it's true you forget one thing) the problem is he's 21!! He is 5 months YOUNGER THAN ME!! He's got another 12-13 years at least in the NBA, so don't expect him to be a KG or other big name PFs who've been in the league for years and worked to develop their game... let's compare stats (you knew it was coming...) Amare's 1st year stats : <font color="Orange">13.5 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 1.1 BPG, 0.8 SPG.472 FG%, 5.9 FTA(PG)</font> Amare's 2nd year stats : <font color="Orange">20.6 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 1.76 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 475 FG%, 7.9 FTA(PG)</font> As you can see he's bettered his numbers from last year, now take a look at KG's... KG's 1st year stats : <font color="RoyalBlue">10.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.6 BPG, 1.1 SPG, .491 FG%, 1.9 FTA(PG)</font> KG's 2nd year stats : <font color="RoyalBlue">17.0 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 2.1 BPG, 1.4 SPG, .499 FG%, 3.5 FTA(PG)</font> So as you can see Amare stacks up quite favorable against KG during the same periods in their life (first 2 years out of high school). So although I agree his game needs work, let's not forget Amare COULDN'T work on his game last offseason due to surgery, so this offseason will technically be the first one he gets to truly work on his game. It's kind of like saying "Oh you're baby won't ever be a lawyer, it can't even say the Alphabet at 3 months old!!" -- he's still way too young to begin saying "Oh he won't be good" or to even claim he will be as good as KG, I can only say the future appears bright, only Amare can determine how good he can become.
Did I not say I wasn't trying to piss anyone off? I just think he has a big mouth about his own talent and wondered if everyone else agreed. His ability to make stats is never the question anyways. It's whether he'll be a rounded player, like the others mentioned or Brad Miller or Chris Webber of last few years, or if he will continue to be a monster dunker with few moves. Will he be able to be a leader or will his ego trample a team like Shaq's does? I'm just a little tired of the hype he gets relative to JJ or Marion. JJ has a much more polished game in one year more. It doesn't take 7 years to learn to pass out of a double team. Luke Walton is a pasing machine at forward and he was a rookie.
Luke Walton is 2 years older than Amare, he's had plenty of more training (3-4 years at the Univ. of Arizona under Lute Olsen, plus his dad was an NBA player) -- this is the problem with players jumping from H.S. to the NBA, they haven't worked on the basics (pass out of double teams, when setting a screen don't move, don't put the ball on the ground after getting an offensive rebound, etc). I'm not debating Amare is perfect or that his game is great, I'm just saying he's a baby compared to most of the NBA players... he has plenty of time to work on his game before I start questioning him. His attitude has gotten somewhat louder, especially with his injury this season ("I'll come back when I feel I'm ready" comment) but honestly Jordan got all kinds of hype I didn't think he deserved, and he had a bad attitude towards his team... it's just that SuperStar mentality.
Suns.com: You were always one the last guys to leave practice. What is your motivation to continue working hard at improving your game? Stoudemire: I want to be great. For every great player, you?ve got to put forth the effort. That?s what I?m doing. Suns.com: What aspects of your game will you be working on this summer? Stoudemire: I?m working on everything. What I?ll probably work on most is my jump shot. Even though it?s coming around right now, I want to perfect my jump shot, and also my ball handling skills. I can go on and on. My offensive awareness, my IQ of the game has got to get a lot better ? understand the game, understand how different players play. There?s a lot of things I?ve got learn and I?m ready to learn. Suns.com: In what ways do you feel you improved this year? Stoudemire: My free throws have improved. My basketball IQ, my offensive and defensive awareness, has improved. My game is 40 percent of what it?s going to be. That lets you know right there that I?ve got so much to learn and I?ve got so much upside to get better, so that?s what I?m working on. from suns.com well... not exactly humble but it's good to know he's a hard worker
At least he's not BSing anyone saying "What you see is what you get", he's outright saying he knows he needs to get better, and that he's working hard to get better. Even the coaches say that he's the hardest working guy in practice. Nobody can criticize him until a few years down the road, if he doesn't become a great player.
