Stoudemire waiting for decision

[Frank Lee]

It seems Amar'Me and his agent are being little b*tches. Their stance could easily be, ' I'm going to play hard this year, take care of business, and work on the contract in due course'. MF-er ended up on the IRL. Teams are shy to buy him. AND he wants a max-max deal and commitment ?

Sure he is being shopped... but didn't the prima damn donna go on an ' I'd like to play here ' tour ?

The Hostage taking has begun.

If we sign him, no way do we give him ANY leverage to veto a trade. Cause the fickle phenom isn't done with his grumblin.

[Frank Lee]

I think the comments here are meant to be conciliatory so Stoudemire can protect his name. He is always very concerened about how people perceive him and his reputation. These conciliatory remarks are always a good sign. The truth will come out in how that translates into dollars. What if he accepted a flat $18million/ year over 6 years. 6 years $108 million. That is a heck of a lot of money. He would be 32 when his contract was ending. The team would always have at least $40 mil to spend on other guys and free agents for the team, and you give him incentive to perform. The other option is to set up an incentives based contract that gives him $18 million guaranteed with performance incentives that add up to another $2-$5 mil depending on what year. Make those incentives based on scoring, rebounding, blocked shots; possibly some other measure of defensive improvement. I think all of us would agree that an Amare that scored the way he does, but also averaged 10-11 boards, while getting 2 blocks is definitely worth paying max money to. Something like 25, 11, 2 He may never be the best defender, but you can definitely build around a guy averaging 25, 11 and 2. That dog will hunt.

My fear is that there may be a "it's me or him" problem going on between Nash and Amare at this point. Nash will win, hands down, I think.

Our team would be extremely competitive with Stat and Nash back and surrounded with Chandler and a few of the young guys. It would still be very fun to watch. I don't know that it will be enough of an improvement to win a championship, but it would be a great ride. Maybe we do that and aim for 2012 as our year for a complete rebuild. I think the guys we have right now can take us until the summer of 2012. All of our players would be under contract at least through 2011. Nash (extended), Jrich, Barbosa, Stat, Clark, Chandler....

They would be fun to watch and we could give Nash the oppotunity to compete and have a good time for the next three years.

jeezus..... did SDU give you some of his 'Sane and Reasonable' pills ?

[Magilla_Gorilla]

I think this might be an indication that Amare is worried about what offers might be out there if he makes it to UFA. No one doubts his supreme talent, but I think there might be serious concerns about his health that would prevent most teams from committing 100 million dollars to him.

Maybe Amare thinks his best option right now is to sign that 6 year contract with the Suns - knowing it will be his last.

[lilfishi22]

I think this might be an indication that Amare is worried about what offers might be out there if he makes it to UFA. No one doubts his supreme talent, but I think there might be serious concerns about his health that would prevent most teams from committing 100 million dollars to him.

Maybe Amare thinks his best option right now is to sign that 6 year contract with the Suns - knowing it will be his last.

That's obvious. Even though he hasn't had any trouble with his knees since the surgery, they are still of concern in the long term. It's in his best interest to ink a long term deal so he won't need to worry about them. Even the Suns, who he's played for his entire career, are uneasy with giving him a max extension, it'll be worse in the open market.

[Mr. Sun]

Did the Suns have concerns with Grant's ankle history? Players who have no history of injury can suddenly become injury prone at a moments notice. So health risks is going to be a risk with anyone.

[wdrummel]

Did the Suns have concerns with Grant's ankle history? Players who have no history of injury can suddenly become injury prone at a moments notice. So health risks is going to be a risk with anyone.

Did the Suns make a 6 year 100+ million dollar contract to Grant?

[Mr. Sun]

Did the Suns have concerns with Grant's ankle history? Players who have no history of injury can suddenly become injury prone at a moments notice. So health risks is going to be a risk with anyone.

Did the Suns make a 6 year 100+ million dollar contract to Grant?

That's not the point. The point is you take risks with anyone no matter what they costs.

[Magilla_Gorilla]

Did the Suns have concerns with Grant's ankle history? Players who have no history of injury can suddenly become injury prone at a moments notice. So health risks is going to be a risk with anyone.

Did the Suns make a 6 year 100+ million dollar contract to Grant?

That's not the point. The point is you take risks with anyone no matter what they costs.

Yeah - but its a hell of alot easier to take a 2 million dollar risk than it is to take a 100million dollar risk.

[Benjammin]

Give STAT a max contract.

Trade JRICH to 76ers for Damelbert, Speights or Young, And Holiday

Trade Nash to NY for Lee(resigned), W.Chandler, T.Douglas(#29), Cash

Trade Lopez and Tucker to OKC for Sefolosha and our 2010 Pick back. OKCdid call about Lopez, but dont know what they Offered.

Sign FA Dahntay Jones to a 2yr. 2mill deal

The only things on your laundry list of moves that have a legitimate chance of happening are the first and the last move.

JRICH is not MJ or even Joe Johnson. If you get anything more than Dalembert (certainly not Speights or Young and Holiday), you'd be doing reasonably well.

If you had Brook Lopez rather than Robin Lopez you'd have a chance at getting your pick back, but otherwise I'm sure OKC would like to see how your season plays out.

As for the Nash deal, I don't see NYK trading three young players for a 35 year old point guard, but I could be wrong about that.

[ruiner]

This is predictable. We all knew Amare would take the money if offered by us despite everything. But like said, the relationship is still salvageable and shows we don't have to take the lowball trade offers. It also could show other teams, he's open to the money elsewhere too like I knew. For us, maybe we can try to find a medium money wise, if we find there's nothing substantial out there.

[aIvin adams]

This is predictable. We all knew Amare would take the money if offered by us despite everything. But like said, the relationship is still salvageable and shows we don't have to take the lowball trade offers. It also could show other teams, he's open to the money elsewhere too like I knew. For us, maybe we can try to find a medium money wise, if we find there's nothing substantial out there.

i agree w this, meaning this are positive statemenst from amare from the suns' perspective

[dantian]

For the talent that's Amare Stoudemire, if the team he goes were willing to give him the desired max extension, they'd sure be willing to pay the price of the original GS package. Only if they weren't prepared to do that, would they not be willing to pay that for fear that they were just renting Amare for a year. So, GS reneging is an indication that they were having second thought about giving Amare the extension. Thrown back to reality, Amare might be more willing to take either a lower than max extension or just wait one more year while not holding it against the Suns' mgmt. So, the fallout of the deal with GS might turn positive in case we keep Amare, indeed.

[realfung]

Can't wait for him to be traded.

[JohnVancouver]

Hmmm...a good read, nice find

Hope there's a quick solution to this. I have no problem giving him $100m over 5 years...any more meh...

tough situation to be in for Kerr. he doesn't want to lose Nash and Amare AND the fans...

--- I suppose it really just comes down to, "What could we buy for $100 million" and is it better than Amar'e?

[JohnVancouver]

Can anyone honestly say they know what Amar'e is worth on the market. On the one hand, while there's no denying his beastliness, he's still a step down the ladder from Timmy D, much less Lebron/Kobe. I mean in terms of changing games. If he weren't such a screen door defensively he could be up there with Duncan.
So on one hand you can argue persuasively he's not a max player. On the other hand you can argue that if Rashard Lewis gets umpty-million then Stat is cerrtinaly a max guy.
I have no idea what the market would really pay him, in a recovering economy.

[grumpysaddle]

i say keep him. he will most likely have to play the rest of his career in the goggles. remember how ridiculously good he was the first few games of the season with the goggles on last year? he took them off and started playing mediocre... partially due to porter's misuse of an amare/shaq combo, but most likely because he was timid. now that he'll be forced to wear the goggles, hopefully he'll pick up where he left off last year with them on.

[CALPURNIA]

It is always the agent's fault in the attitude of a star. Well, sometimes they do not need any help in being as cocky as they are, but I believe this is not the case.
I think Amaré would not have a problem earning more or less money, but it is his agent who could be greatly affected by that. 2/3 % of 3/4/5 mill $ is a lot of money for a person who lives FROM him.
Also it is this kind of people who inserts in the stars' brains all this bull about being important, getting all the shots and all that nonsense.
Would you really feel entitled to demand a max contract after the performance of you and your team during the last years, injuries included?
I would be ashamed.
That is why agents are paid for: to show the face a normal person cannot even dare to imgine...

[Austin]

i say keep him. he will most likely have to play the rest of his career in the goggles. remember how ridiculously good he was the first few games of the season with the goggles on last year? he took them off and started playing mediocre... partially due to porter's misuse of an amare/shaq combo, but most likely because he was timid. now that he'll be forced to wear the goggles, hopefully he'll pick up where he left off last year with them on.

Moar 50 point games Plz? KThnx!!! haha! Seriously, Amare with Goggles FTW

[eastsidecrossover]

I say keep him and make the neccessary moves to make it work. Sign him to a 3 year deal around 57 mil.