Amare: Crash and Burn?

Remember Amare is still trying to earn his max contract (hes still on rookie salary). I think that will motivate him enough to dominate.

All he has to do is use Nene as precedent and he will get his god dam max contract...

But it looks like Nene has recovered from his injury. Hes been posting up some good numbers in the preseason. I think Nene is worth his contract in the long run, he just needs minutes to prove it. Plus Nene isnt the one who is thought to be almost on the brink of retirement. The suns wouldnt want to max out someone who will last one year then retire if you know what i mean.

You guys forget so quickly, the Suns have Steve Nash on their team. Everybody has a good year with Nash on their team.

You seem to forget quickly that Steve Nash is 32, 33 and started to feel the effect of playing 35 minutes a game in the playoffs... I think Nash won't be helping everyone esle getting a good year this year.

I think this is another ala Grant Hill story. I really doubt he'll be the same again, even with lots of gym... it wasn't only a made-in-thegym body, he's strong by nature.

OMG, My English sucks !!

burn....it's unfortunate, but I don't see any other way....as I think cyanide said, it's an Antonio McDyess like situation here....although the difference is McDyess was only going to be an All-Star player, Stoudemire could've potentially developed into a HOF type player....

jump on Dwight Howard's bandwagon, he's the NBA's next great PF....

jump on Dwight Howard's bandwagon, he's the NBA's next great PF....

Maybe others will ditch Howard and go for Darko

But it looks like Nene has recovered from his injury. Hes been posting up some good numbers in the preseason. I think Nene is worth his contract in the long run, he just needs minutes to prove it. Plus Nene isnt the one who is thought to be almost on the brink of retirement. The suns wouldnt want to max out someone who will last one year then retire if you know what i mean.

I agree. I was excited for the Nugs and Nene the season he got his injury, because he was on the rise, despite the injuries that held him back. He's big, strong, quick and agile for a big man. If anyone has watched him play lately you can just see how much bigger his upper body has gotten over the time he has had off, If he thought he couldn't get back, then I doubt he would have done that much work in the off season.

If he can remain healthy and lose the rust, theres nothing to say he wouldn't be the best big in Denver. Martin is often injured and hasn't been his usual self, and Camby is another guy who gets injured alot, he is good when he's there, but doesn't have the offensive talent of Nene. I really don't see why people are bashing the Nuggets for signing a guy with loads of talent and potential to a 6 year, $60 mil contract because he had an injury that kept him out a season earlier. If the Nuggets put that much money into him, he must be feeling ready for the season, after all they see alot more of him than we do.

Injuries aside, if Chris Kaman gets a 5 year, $52 mil contract, then Nene, IMO a player of equal talent and equal (if not more) potential, should get a similar contract. Thats what happened.

Back on topic, I think the Suns and putting Amare out there with low expectations, just so he will force himself to exceed them. I say 18/8 at least if he is still feeling the effects of the knee injury, but if he's completely healthy, something like 25/9 wouldn't be a stretch.

Here's another question about Amare... pretty hypothetical and I admit: maybe jumping to conclusions...

If Amare was never to have gotten injured... did he have all the right tools to become one of the greatest bigs to play the game? And if so, how highly would he have been ranked?

Note: I'm not assuming that he will be crap for the rest of his present career, just asking a question on what if he had never had to get this surgery, how much would he have improved?

I've just suffered a microfracture on my left knee and i can tell you it is a fucking bastard of an injury... and i've had a few bad ones.

Broken my left ankle three times and fractured the in-side of the same ankle once.
Fractured my tailbone... very ouch... as in, not being able to stand up for near on 40 minutes right after the injury ouch.
And now an injury to my left knee - microfracture on the tip of the patella and chipped the top of the outer side of my lower left leg bone.

This new injury has been causing me grief for about 11 months now but i only just found out because i only recently went to the doctors about it.
Unfortunately i dont have private health insurance so the only thing i can do is either get on a waiting list for an operation or exercise to try and wear down the chipped bone while trying NOT to aggrevate the microfracture...

And just walking up the hall in the morning to take a piss literally makes me wince in pain.

So knowing all of this from experience all i have to say to Amare is GOOD LUCK...
I know he is getting physio treatment and he has had his op but i still think it'll be tough.

My call is it'll take him this year to regain form and confidence then he'll be JUST below where he was.

I'm inclined to vote BUST, since both Penny & McDyess have said that they felt pressured to return sooner. Both of course, played for Phx and had micro-fracture surgery.

Given his youth though, he'll probably recover. The only excellent number in his averages was ppg though., and that had a lot to do with the Suns quicker pace.

Grant Hill had an ankle injury, no? But whatever...look, we all know the odds are against him. But he is obviously feeling good more often than he has pain. He still has his explosiveness, that's apparent after watching the preseason games. He just needs to get back into the flow of the game and learn how to play with his new teammates. Remember, the team is much different now than it was in 04-05.

Yeah, forgot they were diffferent injuries dunno what was on my mind. The team may be different, but the offensive and defensive styles are the same. They got a bunch of new guys since Amare actually played, disgarding his come back attempt, but they all basically are there to fill the roles of guys who had left. With Steve Nash still running point I don't see him having trouble getting back into the flow, if his knee lets him which I don't see happening

i think amare has the right tools to make an improvement this year with his attitude and youth.. and he'll be wanting to put critics like us to shame by tryin his best to silence us.. So he'll be workin hard to improve this year.. And the next year.. He'll be trying to bring back his explosiveness.. And then the year after.. He'll be focusing on posterizing olowakandi again and yao and duncan and JO and a lot more.. and then participate in the all star game and then be ranked as one of the best players in the NBA.. And surpass SHAQ.. DUNCAN.. And some other superstars..

It's ironic because I've been reading an article that talks about the lack of aggressiveness and attitude from Amare which was contrary to what he had shown before his injury. It really frustrated d'Antoni.

I think he's also holding back just a little because he's afraid of getting hurt again.

Microfracture surgery means his cartilage was damaged, that's not something that grows back, and all his size & muscle won't help with that.

I think for normal people or amateur athletes it's all fine, but the NBA schedule is a massive torture to the body.

List of microfracture patients:
- Allan Houston
- Penny Hardaway
- Jamal Mashburn
- Kenyon Martin
- Chris Webber
- Jason Kidd
- Zach Randolph

The only people on that list to have come back to play well are Jason Kidd & Chris Webber. Jason Kidd is a PG, and particularly he's a smart, passing PG who has always relied on his eyes & hands more than his speed. Webber is still playing but he's a shade of his former self. The old Webber did 360 dunk in an ASG...the current Webber scores with a set shot.

Well, when Webber returned, there was a huge and extremely noticable drop off in his plkaying ability... so basically, the only successful player to return was Jason Kidd. And as you said, he doesn't rely on hops, quickness, speed, etc.

It will be interesting to see if Amare can adapt his game to what ability he has now and whether that is effective...

What do you guys think of Amare's first game?

I can't remember but I think it's Barkley who's saying it takes a year to recover from a big injury like Amare's...

he didn't do that well, like I thought... he's definitely hurting the Suns right now. They played really well without him last year.

They really need his size though, Odom and Bynum punished the Suns defence without Amare inside... they really need him to play well I guess...

He only played 11 minutes, maybe D'Antoni thought the Suns had a good chance of winning against the Lakers and wanted to rest Amare for the Clippers. Well, we will just need to wait and see what happens tomorrow night.

That dunk he did looked alright, it showed hes not worried about slamming it down.

6pts, 1rbd, 1blk, 1st, 1ast is definately not bad for just 11 minutes of play. I think he will conitnue like this for another few weeks, then his minutes will rise up to is old average throughout the rest of the season. Good Luck

All of his points came really quickly in one small period of time I think... so for the rest of his time on the court, he must not have been himself maybe. I didn't see the game while Amare was on but the commentator did say that Amare didn't look all that good just yet.

So numbers don't tell the whole story.

6pts, 1rbd, 1blk, 1st, 1ast is definately not bad for just 11 minutes of play. I think he will conitnue like this for another few weeks, then his minutes will rise up to is old average throughout the rest of the season. Good Luck

come on, who are you kidding, those numbers are pretty mediocre....Sean Marks could put up that, but with more boards & be more influential in 11 minutes of action

Grant Hill.

I wouldnt say he improved after the injury. He is improving compared to his form during the time of his return but hasnt improved on the Grant of past.

Grant Hill didn't have the same surgery.

Nobody said he did. They just asked for a random guy who returned from a serious injury and that was hipn's response.

I expected him to play more minutes considering his preseason numbers. I guess they're still playing it safe until everyone, from the doctors to the Suns' coaching staff and front office to Amare himself, are certain he's 100% ready to go.