Amare Stoudemire’s trade value is high right now, and it wouldn’t be a complete shock to see the Phoenix Suns trade him this season.
The Numbers
It’s only been about a month since Amare Stoudemire turned 25 years old. He’s an amazing athlete in an amazing body (6′10″, 250).
He’s currently averaging 20.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks a game right now. That’s a lot more than what a lot of teams get from their interior players.
Plus, Amare Stoudemire provides excitement. He throws down plenty of crowd pleasing dunks every game. Those types of plays help to fill up the arenas.
At $13.7 million, he’s well worth the money.
Amare Stoudemire Phoenix Suns White Replica Adidas NBA Jersey |
Why Phoenix Should Trade HimAmare Stoudemire is a good player who can sometime be great. He’s still young, and he might eventually develop himself into a consistently great player.However, the Phoenix Suns are a team that needs greatness now.
It’s no secret that the Phoenix Suns are built around Steve Nash and his incredible skill set. He can do things on a basketball court that most other players can only imagine. The thing, though, is that he’s only got a couple of years left to be able to do those things at a high level. While his scoring is a nice luxury for the team to have, they’d much rather have Amare Stoudemire focus more on the defensive end of the court. They need him to be able to contain the like of Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer a bit better. No one is expecting him to shut them down, but it would be nice if he can contain them better. |
Why Phoenix Should Keep Him
For all of his defensive deficiencies, Amare Stoudemire is still a valuable player.
Plus, his defensive issues are all mental. He’s got the size and athleticism to be a dominant interior defender. He just needs to learn to make defense a higher priority.
If the Phoenix Suns decide to keep him, then they really should try hard to find another big man to complement him defensively. Ironically, the team had a player that was a great fit, but Kurt Thomas was traded to the Seattle Supersonics earlier this year. Management made the trade because of luxury tax purposes, but it ended up affecting the team a lot more than they had planned.
Closing Thoughts
The Phoenix Suns need to mortgage a big piece of the future now so they can bring in their first NBA championship.