Amar’e on Phoenix: ‘It Felt Like I Wasn’t Wanted’

I can’t understand why anyone with b-ball common sense would want Amar’e. I know he has had a couple of lucky games this year but who hasn’t? The Knicks will be contenders again when they get a real big man, like Erik Dampier or someone of the sort.

You could have at least named players that touched the wood this season

I’ll be rooting for a Suns victory, but I’ll be wearing my Amare jersey and hoping Amare accidentally dunks the ball so hard, it bounces all the way to the VIP boxes and kills Sarver

I think the name ’2k Champs’ sums him up pretty well.

‘I felt like I wasn’t wanted’. Poor Amare. Apparently he did not have the guts to ask them why?

Lucky or not, fact is he won’t win anything (maybe a series or 2) if he plays in a team he calls his own. He’s gonna be one in a long line of players who do great in the regular season only to come up short in the playoffs time and time again. I don’t think he’s ‘lucky’ but he’s defintely not a winner.

Cantrell
There was actually only one “dumb@ss.”
Jono
Didn’t the Suns come up short in the playoffs time and time again?
At least in New York if comes up short people now respect his game fully, and he gets paid $100 million whether he’s healthy the length of the contract or not.
Sounds like a better deal to me than having people constantly wonder if you’re only good because Steve Nash, but then get all the blame when your team flames out, and have the team tell you that they don’t want to fully guarantee the final two years of your deal.

PHX can spin this any way they want to but they obviously felt comfortable letting him walk and thought he was a replaceable commodity in that system. They were wrong.

Allenp is right, took the words out of my mouth. Amare gets to be the man, lead one of the greatest franchises in sports history to a winning record, get MVP votes, paid 100 million and gets credit for having great games and seasons. In Phx you would think Nash made Marion, Joe Johnson, Amare, Raja Bell, Barbosoa, Grant Hill, Diaw, Gragic and many others. I can’t stand Nash and the Suns organziation is stupid, they kept an old point guard over a young stallion, who have progressed every year since they drafted him. Now Knicks get the benefit of him becoming a man with their organzation for years to come.

Bashmo
My point was that Amare doesn’t join a long list of stars who will come up short because he went to New York.
He was already on that list after failing in Phoenix if you actually think about it.
Get it?

If the Knicks were in the Best coast would they have a winning record? IF the Suns had kept last years core together, would they be as successful as last year?
One thing is clear, STAT was under appreciated in PHO, and they are missing his play this year.

that’s obvious–Phoenix tried to trade him every year, openly. So..

Actually just last year, when they knew they weren’t going to be able to resign him. (if you don’t realize how much amar’e loves attention and the spotlight then this might not make sense, but Phoenix new he was leaving if they didn’t give him the full max – which would have been stupid, to tie your already sketchy future to an often injured 27 year old with huge defensive issues) The year before they weren’t trying to move him, they were trying to move Shaq. And before that, it was Marion, and they thought Stoudemire was a future MVP.

I feel like some people have blamed amare, more blame from what I’ve seen and heard as a resident of Phoenix is placed on Nash and his defensive struggles. People here love still love amare And Sarver is the only human on earth that thought he could replace amare with that crap, we didnt even hVe a GM when he made that decision. Before that the blame was almost all on Marion, and Joe Johnson when he broke his face.

Allen is a common sense troll. ………. … I hope amare puts up 40+ tonight

The fact that Amare thinks 20-14 is a “great success” and that he’s satisfied with that as long as he’s got his “rock star status” tells you all you need to know.

In an eastern conference like today’s…where the big 3 in Miami have signed long term deals and Orlando and Chicago steadily continue to improve, can you really say confidently that the Knicks’ chance of winning a title is higher than that of PHX had Amare stayed? Phoenix proved they can take on the Spurs, and they gave the Lakers a tough series, who were arguably better back then…the Suns with Amare also had one of the best benches in the league, was a really great roster and I believe they’re chances of winning a title are higher with Amare, than him with NY.

Well average intelligent suns fans were just pleasently surprised we had as much success last season and blame losing on a lack of overall talent

I said more fans blame Nash then Amare, if blame is put on any one player. The majority of Phoenix fans realize we aren’t a championship team talent wise and blame (IMO rightly so) it on Robert Sarver – nobody likes that guy here

@ NBK: Right, so Sarver thought he could replace Amare with Josh Childress and Hakeem Warrick. Some fans didn’t. Whose opinion counts? Oh yeah, the guy who made the decision to replace Amare with Josh Childress and Hakeem Warrick. That’s not underappreciative?

Teddy he did not trade Amar’e for Hakim Warrick and Josh Childress (and Hedo Turkoglu). He signed them AFTER, Amar’e TURNED DOWN, the SAME, offer the KNICKS gave him. Except he had to be healthy for SOME of the last 2 years and 48 million dollars of his contract. BOO HOO, underappreciated would be not offering him anywhere near the contract they did, and/or trading him to a doormat in a small market. Offering to pay him, the year before a lockout = appreciation

Why was Love underappreciated?
I thought he wasn’t playing because he didn’t play defense.
I think Amare wanted the final two years of his contract completely guaranteed, and he wanted to get out of Nash’s shadow. We all know that money is the most important thing, then status, then winning. That’s how it works in the NBA for most players.
Anyway, Amare felt like the Suns weren’t giving him a full deal, and people would still feel like Nash made him good. Seriously, that was the common sentiment about Amare by tons of people.
Underappreciated is relative anyway. The bottom line is that New York was the better deal.
Who disagrees?

Love wasn’t even playing 25 minutes a game. And he was averaging something like 25 and 22 per 40 minutes for the first 2 months of the season. And they were talking about trading him. — And I understand completely why Amar’e took the deal to NY, it definitely was better for him. But just because they were willing to give him what he wanted does not mean that is literally what he deserved. Or that because Phoenix didn’t match, that he was underappreciated. Amar’e has said many things that are blatantly not true, the fact that he said this and everyone just jumped aboard his bandwagon is a little concerning. He also said in the playoffs last year he didn’t know his job was to rebound, you know when Lamar Odom went for 20 and 19 on him? Did you believe him then?

@2kchump

What the hell are you talking about regarding Amare and his play?

SMH

I wouldn’t say Amare wanted to get out of Nash’s shadow. That sounds as if Nash was holding him back. You wouldn’t say Pippen wanted to get out of Jordan’s shadow to prove himself.
Amare just wanted to be seen as ‘the man’ in the way he rightfully wanted to. Nash and Amare are still best friends. Amare loved playing with Nash and Amare wanted to get a house close to Nash’s summer house (dunno if that panned out).
But the bottom line was, Amare -WAS- the man on that team last year. And yeah, Nash had a fantastic (and iconic) playoffs last year and was the driving force in many games. But the problem is, when Stoudemire dropped 43 on the Lakers, NO ONE SAID ANYTHING. Stat had carried his team to a win over the championships and he barely got a peep. From the media. From people here. From the blogs. That’s why STAT left. He was tired of Sarver, tired of being overlooked, he was tired of being part of the team and not standing out.
He’s getting his and I 100% support Amare’s decision.