Amare has all the tools to be a great defensive player, but he spent the majority of his career straight out of high school under 'antoni.
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/20 ... t-defense/
Stoudemire doesn’t argue that his reputation as a poor defensive player was well deserved and seemed to suggest that D’Antoni was indirectly responsible. ‘It was fair,’ he said. ‘I was never taught defense. I just never was taught it in high school and also in the NBA.’ Stoudemire added that prior to his final season with the Suns ‘I took it upon myself to get better defensively’ and that Phoenix head coach Alvin Gentry was responsible for that new outlook. ‘I’ve got to give it to Alvin Gentry,’ Stoudemire added. ‘He really implemented some strategies that were helpful to me. I took what I learned last year and carried it over to this year.’’
Remember this gem? ...and how Stoudamire came into his first season in NY, fresh from Alvin Gentry's tutelage, with a sharper defensive focus, blocking everything that came in the lane until he reverted back to his old ways the longer he worked under d'antoni, again?
Well, based on the improvement Melo showed defensively under Woody, this is a pretty easy prediction to make. Give Stat a training camp, a full season relatively healthy, and some consistency to work with Woody and Chandler he'll do his best work on D, so you guys can stop hating on him. Mark it, b*tches.
