Amar’e Stoudemire Organizing Knicks Minicamp

During the lockout, NBA players are banned from making contact with NBA staffers, meaning their standard training camps are on hold, but that won’t stop the players from meeting up on their own and holding unofficial camps, as the Knicks appear to be planning. Via Newsday: “Carmelo Anthony was joking last Tuesday when he said that he was  ‘trying to find’ Amar’e Stoudemire. Truth is, the two Knicks stars have been in touch all summer. ‘Maybe I’ll see him next week for Fashion Week,’ Carmelo said with a laugh after the Melo-Goodman summer league showdown in Baltimore. ‘But most likely by early October, I’ll make it my duty to get guys together.’ The latter part was a hint to plans that, Newsday has learned, involve a two week workout for locked out Knicks players. If the NBA and NBPA can’t come to an agreement in time to preserve the regularly-scheduled training camp, Stoudemire has organized a minicamp at the IMG Basketball facility in Bradenton, Fla. The camp is scheduled to run from Oct. 19 to Nov. 6. According to several players, the Knicks’ captain sent out emails about the plan to all 10 players under contract for 2011-12, plus draft picks Iman Shumpert (who is already working out at IMG) and Josh Harrellson and a few free agents from the 2010-11 roster. Center Jerome Jordan signed with a team in Slovenia (with an NBA out), so he will likely not be available to attend a workout unless the lockout is resolved. Anthony, looking muscular and well-conditioned, poured in 27 points in the Melo-Goodman game and declared himself ‘back’. He had been dealing with an elbow injury last season. Speaking of back, Stoudemire recently said his feels ‘much better.’ Chauncey Billups, who missed the last three playoff games with a knee injury, was cleared to begin basketball workouts in August and should be ready for camp. The one question mark is Ronny Turiaf, who broke a finger in his left hand last month while playing for France. He should be cleared to play by then, however.”