The wait continues for the Knicks. Or maybe it doesn’t, considering New York is 7-4 in this 11-game stretch that Stoudemire has missed since March 24.
Stoudemire’s absence has freed up Carmelo Anthony to dominate the ball and allowed Mike Woodson to install the offensive isolation sets and defensive schemes he favored in Atlanta. Whatever he has done for the Knicks has worked brilliantly. There is not much need to change it.
That is except for the fact that New York’s $18 million man and a player the team is committed to for the next three years in all likelihood. This is not the kind of player that you can just discard or leave on your bench during this Playoff push. Questions about his future might be resolved in the summer.
But, rest assured, Stoudemire will play and change the dynamic of this suddenly hot Knicks team. With time running out before the Playoffs, the Knicks must hurry to get him back into the lineup and re-integrated with this team.
Stoudemire, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post on Friday, is eyeing Wednesday’s game against New Jersey for his return as he is slowly stepping up his workload in practice, shootarounds and pregame workouts — sometimes even doing exercises on one of those big inflatable crunch-balls us mortals fail to use to its fullest potential to stretch and work on his ailing back.
The question remains for Stoudemire — what role does he take on this team?
The Knicks certainly cannot afford to move Tyson Chandler to the bench. Chandler is in line to win Defensive Player of the Year and has helped the Knicks become one of the top defensive teams in the league, at least staticistically. Chandler is central to a lot of the things the Knicks do and could actually become their most important player once the Playoffs begin.
Similarly, Carmelo Anthony has found a home as a sort of stretch-4 in Mike Woodson’s offense. Anthony is so good offensively, both in the post and on the perimeter, that he has become a nightmare for defenses playing as the power forward position. Making this (and really all stretch-4s work) is his commitment to playing defense and actually using the same skills that make him so good on offense — his strength, size and athleticisim.
With Anthony starting at power forward, New York is 7-5 when Anthony starts at power forward and 7-4 when he does so without Stoudemire in the lineup. The lineup has simply and clearly worked for New York as the team is playing much better than it did during the doldrums of the season — or any time that was not Jeremy Lin’s two-week debut. The Knicks have solidified their position in the Playoffs and are, at least, within striking distance to threaten the Magic at the sixth seed and avoid having to play Chicago or Miami in the first round.
You cannot blame New York for getting a little greedy.
So the question becomes in their final six games, how do the Knicks bring Amar’e Stoudemire back into the fold and still keep on this hot streak? New York certainly needs Stoudemire for the Playoffs and Mike Woodson has made no secret that Stoudemire will be starting at power forward upon his return. But the Knicks also do not want to interrupt this good vibe they have going on along with the matchup problems Anthony creates as a power forward with Tyson Chandler running the pick and roll and shooters all around the floor.
An idea, voiced during recent Knicks national telecasts, is starting to take hold. Maybe it would be better if Stoudemire came off the bench.
Stoudemire has started in 620 of his 637 games in his career. He has not come off the bench in a game since 2007, when the Suns went 1-3 in four games he did not start to begin the season. It was a long time ago, but it might be worth noting that Stoudemire scored in double figures just once in those four games, but then went for at least 10 points in every remaining game that year except for two.
Safe to say, Stoudemire’s place in the starting lineup was cemented at that point.
In 17 games as a reserve, Stoudemire averages 8.4 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game. Per 36 minutes, those averages climb to just 13.8 points per 36 minutes and 9.0 rebounds per 36 minutes. For his career, Stoudemire has posted 22.5 points per 36 minutes and 9.2 rebounds per 36 minutes. Again, Stoudemire has not come off the bench in a long, long time, and, if the Knicks brought him off the bench now, he would likely still play starters’ minutes and close games.
It might be moot with Woodson saying Stoudemire will start when he returns from injury. But would easing him back into the lineup while keeping the rotation that has clearly worked be such a bad experiment in the last week of the season? If it works, isn’t the Playoffs all about having an effective combination and being able to bring in Stoudemire off the bench to be the primary scorer like he was before the Anthony trade something worth exploring?
It has worked for the Celtics. Ray Allen has come off the bench the last four games and is posting 13.0 points per game on 43.2 percent shooting as he works his way back from injury. Allen had come off the bench in only one game in his entire career before this season. Allen’s individual stats might be down, but Boston keeps on winning. So far, Doc Rivers gamble has worked and Allen has accepted his role after initial trepidation.
This honestly might be the best way to effectively use both Stoudemire and Anthony. Give them both long stretches of playing separately to take advantage of each’s unique offensive skills. Then you can bring them together for that final push.
