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“They couldn’t go back to their fans and say, ‘Hey we re-signed David Lee.’ Lee’s a good player, very underrated player. And arguably, for the five years, you’d rather have him over Amar’e based on his health. But if you’re the Knicks, your fans have suffered for two years, you need to sell season tickets, sponsorships, you have to hang your hat on somebody and Amar’e was the best available guy for them.”

“There is a shelf-life with microfracture surgery,” Kerr said. “Amar’e is now five years removed and there’s a lot of wear-and-tear — he’s played big minutes. We looked at the league the last six, seven years and we were very afraid of a Jermaine O’Neal situation, where the Pacers just got hamstrung by a long contract. ... In our situation in Phoenix it didn’t make sense to extend out for five years, but the Knicks situation I understand the gamble and the risk and I think they made a good move.”

“From Amare’s standpoint it was very important for him to get that guaranteed money because he’s more aware of his health than anybody,” Kerr said.

The big question about Amar’e — and with our situation Phoenix last year — was will the knee holdup? Short term, at least, he’s an All-Star.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/backpage/ ... EOW4BBK4xN

He mad...............

Tacky stuff. Kerr has been as bad as Isiah in his minuscule market and he's trying to justify it

He simply says there was serious concern. Nowhere does he say they WON'T last...

Come on, stop spinning

This is what concerned me when the Knicks signed him. Phoenix has probably the medical training staff in the league, and if the Suns wouldn't give him a 5 yr fully guaranteed deal, then you know something's rotten in Denmark.

I understand the issue of his knees but I think Amar'e conditioning is much better then J'O's.

Amar'e is one of the fittest if not the fittest player in the league.

Also, if the knicks get scoring help from gallo, AR, Chandler or even if knicks get Melo, then Amar'e wont need to play HEAVY minutes.

Plus, with Amar'e having a 15,20 foot jumper limits the probability of injuring his knees since he doesn't have to go inside the pain ALL the time. Something Bynum should understand too

Well for the sake of Knick fans I hope he stay's healthy for the duration of his contract. I think it is a good (albeit a bit overrated) thing that NY has a superstar on their team once again.

But what Kerr said was just the truth, but Amare' could be the exception and not the rule.

alphad0gz wrote:He simply says there was serious concern. Nowhere does he say they WON'T last...

Come on, stop spinning

And he follows it up by saying it was a good move for NY.

alphad0gz wrote:He simply says there was serious concern. Nowhere does he say they WON'T last...

Come on, stop spinning

(read below)

Former Suns GM Steve Kerr, who resigned over the summer to return to the TNT broadcast booth, confirmed that Phoenix was reluctant to give Stoudemire a fully guaranteed contract because of his medical history. The Suns' offer was $71 million over five years with incentives.

"He's about six years post micro-fracture (knee) surgery now and generally speaking about eight years after the surgery is when guys start to fade," Kerr said. "We did a lot of research on it. Jermaine O'Neal is a good example of that.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... z13TELjbgl

Steve Kerr = Decent TNT guy and sucky GM LOL....this is the same guy that traded for Shaq

You really had no choice though but to sign him. You just hope that he can give you at least 3-4 great years out of the 5 and if you get 5 then your lucky.

This is kind of one of the reasons that I really hope to hang onto either Gallo or AR in a Melo trade. The last thing I would want to happen is that Melo comes, then something happens to Amar'e, and he is left by himself. Also I don't really have much faith in our medical staff to be honest. At the same time though, if anyone knows best about Jermaine O'Neals situation it is Donnie Walsh as he was there to see the situation.

I don't see how this qualifies as hating on the Knicks. He is very clear about the situation: Phoenix had multiple playoff runs with him but they have an aging team today and therefore it doesn't make sense to take that risk. In contrast to that the Knicks just couldn't come up empty handed after the last two years so for the Knicks it's a worthwhile risk they had to take.

What's more interesting is his remark about David Lee. Although I'm speculating here it seems as if a Lee for Stoudemire swap would have gotten it done over the summer(or even at last year's deadline when Phoenix was searching for appropriate trades). It's a very interesting thing to note because it turns out that if indeed true--we didn't have to have any capspace to come up with 90% of the current team.
Or more correct---the deadline deal looks worse and worse. Even with Jeffries and Hill on the payroll we would have been able to sign Felton and Mozgov as we'd have enough capspace even with a max contract (I believe we had about a max contract and 10mill. left in capspace prior to the deadline deal. ).
So Walsh essentially traded 2 picks and a pick swap for a role playing C and a project SF/PF.

Like someone said.. how can you compare Amar'e the most athletic big man in the league, to Jermaine O'Neal who is clearly not the same athlete as Amar'e? And Jermaine was a decade into his career when he had his major surgery. Amar'e played the entire season a year after his surgery.

I'm really curious about where Kerr is getting his facts from.

Not that its any better, but did JO ever really recover from his surgery? And wasn't it in 2007? Or was there another one before that?

Anyway... Amare had surgery Oct 2005. That is 5 years ago, not 6.

2010 wrote:

alphad0gz wrote:He simply says there was serious concern. Nowhere does he say they WON'T last...

Come on, stop spinning

(read below)

Former Suns GM Steve Kerr, who resigned over the summer to return to the TNT broadcast booth, confirmed that Phoenix was reluctant to give Stoudemire a fully guaranteed contract because of his medical history. The Suns' offer was $71 million over five years with incentives.

"He's about six years post micro-fracture (knee) surgery now and generally speaking about eight years after the surgery is when guys start to fade," Kerr said. "We did a lot of research on it. Jermaine O'Neal is a good example of that.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... z13TELjbgl

Zach Randoplh has the same surgery in 05.....been 5 years and he hasn't skipped a beat
Kidd had it in 04 and he is still playing fine having reduced some only due to age. Kidd is a special case as he has always kept himself fit to put less pressure on the knees too.
It doesn't take into account how well maintained stoudamire keeps his body which puts MUCH less pressure on the knee. It is counting the season he took off due to the surgery which you are not suppose to do. He has played 4 seasons afterwards....and if you count the eye thing, its 3 and half seasons........

So he has played 3and half seasons meaning if it really is a 8 year shelf, he has a solid 4&half years left which is the length of his contract......DUH......AND his 5th season can be a expiring contract that can be used, so the risk is the first 4 years which according to the math given by the suns medical staff of 8 years, gives him 4 and half good years when we need 4 to be safe.

Also you wouldn't compare him to O'neal or K-Mart because both showed SIGNIFICANT issues immediately, same with other players like penny, houston. You compare him to the successful cases like kid and randolph because he is on PAR with them in not reducing at all. Everyone's body works differently.

TruKnicksfan wrote:

2010 wrote:

alphad0gz wrote:He simply says there was serious concern. Nowhere does he say they WON'T last...

Come on, stop spinning

(read below)

Former Suns GM Steve Kerr, who resigned over the summer to return to the TNT broadcast booth, confirmed that Phoenix was reluctant to give Stoudemire a fully guaranteed contract because of his medical history. The Suns' offer was $71 million over five years with incentives.

"He's about six years post micro-fracture (knee) surgery now and generally speaking about eight years after the surgery is when guys start to fade," Kerr said. "We did a lot of research on it. Jermaine O'Neal is a good example of that.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... z13TELjbgl

Zach Randoplh has the same surgery in 05.....been 5 years and he hasn't skipped a beat
Kidd had it in 04 and he is still playing fine having reduced some only due to age. Kidd is a special case as he has always kept himself fit to put less pressure on the knees too.
It doesn't take into account how well maintained stoudamire keeps his body which puts MUCH less pressure on the knee. It is counting the season he took off due to the surgery which you are not suppose to do. He has played 4 seasons afterwards....and if you count the eye thing, its 3 and half seasons........

So he has played 3and half seasons meaning if it really is a 8 year shelf, he has a solid 4&half years left which is the length of his contract......DUH......AND his 5th season can be a expiring contract that can be used, so the risk is the first 4 years which according to the math given by the suns medical staff of 8 years, gives him 4 and half good years when we need 4 to be safe.

Also you wouldn't compare him to O'neal or K-Mart because both showed SIGNIFICANT issues immediately, same with other players like penny, houston. You compare him to the successful cases like kid and randolph because he is on PAR with them in not reducing at all. Everyone's body works differently.

Great post to clear some of the facts. I knew it didn’t sound right.

Kerr was a terrible GM and is now spewing incorrect facts in order to try to make himself look better since Amare left for nothing. He turned a contender into an avg team.

Add Kerr to the list of haters. He at least needs to get his facts right. What a joke.

Of course its always a concern, but that mofo is trying to give Knick fans a heart attack. FU Kerr

TruKnicksfan wrote:

2010 wrote:

alphad0gz wrote:He simply says there was serious concern. Nowhere does he say they WON'T last...

Come on, stop spinning

(read below)

Former Suns GM Steve Kerr, who resigned over the summer to return to the TNT broadcast booth, confirmed that Phoenix was reluctant to give Stoudemire a fully guaranteed contract because of his medical history. The Suns' offer was $71 million over five years with incentives.

"He's about six years post micro-fracture (knee) surgery now and generally speaking about eight years after the surgery is when guys start to fade," Kerr said. "We did a lot of research on it. Jermaine O'Neal is a good example of that.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... z13TELjbgl

Zach Randoplh has the same surgery in 05.....been 5 years and he hasn't skipped a beat
Kidd had it in 04 and he is still playing fine having reduced some only due to age. Kidd is a special case as he has always kept himself fit to put less pressure on the knees too.
It doesn't take into account how well maintained stoudamire keeps his body which puts MUCH less pressure on the knee. It is counting the season he took off due to the surgery which you are not suppose to do. He has played 4 seasons afterwards....and if you count the eye thing, its 3 and half seasons........

So he has played 3and half seasons meaning if it really is a 8 year shelf, he has a solid 4&half years left which is the length of his contract......DUH......AND his 5th season can be a expiring contract that can be used, so the risk is the first 4 years which according to the math given by the suns medical staff of 8 years, gives him 4 and half good years when we need 4 to be safe.

Also you wouldn't compare him to O'neal or K-Mart because both showed SIGNIFICANT issues immediately, same with other players like penny, houston. You compare him to the successful cases like kid and randolph because he is on PAR with them in not reducing at all. Everyone's body works differently.

Good points! I personally just want him to make it past year 3, if by some chance he broke down in year 4 then we would have to bite the bullet, but then year 5 he would become an expiring deal.