Posts tagged AmareStoudemire at FanHouse

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* Troy Murphy: "I'm going to be an event planner - weddings, bar mitzvahs, everything like that. That's my passion. It is. I've just taken it up the last couple of years." -- South Bend Tribune, via Cornrows.

* "[Bruce] Bowen's style of play does not undermine the quality of the game; in fact, it takes basketball (and basketball fandom) to the peak of its dramatic heights." -- 48 Minutes of Hell.

* "[T]here's a reason that no one goes around quoting any of Christian Bale's lines from [The Dark Knight], a reason that [Heath] Ledger is posthumously up for an Oscar and was spoken of a nomination before his passing, a reason that when you think of that film, you think of the Joker. And it's the same reason kids love to dunk, that we like the fastbreak more than the halfcourt, and why Gilbert Arenas is on the All-Star ballot despite not playing a tick [...]" -- Hardwood Paroxysm.

* Amare Stoudemire: "Refs don't like me as much as the cops didn't like Tupac." -- Arizona Republic (last week).

* This week's NBA on TV announcing schedule, the first Basketball Jones of the New Year, and Getting to Know Robert Swift.

A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Clippers faced the Suns on January 2nd.

Late in the fourth quarter of the Suns' 106-98 victory over the Clippers, Matt Barnes picked up his second technical foul of the night, which of course, is an automatic ejection. He was arguing with the official over a foul call -- just his first of the night -- when he said something disagreeable that caused him to get tossed.

For Barnes, it was his second ejection of the season, and for the Suns, it was the second straight game where one of their players got kicked out for arguing with the refs -- Amare Stoudemire lasted just 11 minutes in Memphis.

Barnes ducked out before the media could talk to him about what happened, but I did see him in the tunnel talking to Baron Davis afterwards. Baron joked that Barnes "needed to keep his mouth shut," and then Barnes went on to tell Baron exactly what he said to the official to pick up that second technical foul.

It has become a trend recently for players to openly campaign for All-Star votes, and to do so using the power of the viral video. Chris Bosh had the most memorable clip from last year, and Amare Stoudemire has kicked off the festivities for the 2009 game with this look at what life is like if you want to hang with STAT.


It would appear that there's a price to pay for living the high life with Amare, and it comes in the form of endlessly complimenting the Tall And Talented NBA superstar. Which doesn't seem so bad, actually.

If you check out vote4amare.com, you'll see that there are many more videos planned to help Amare secure a place in the All-Star lineup, with the next one scheduled to drop on 12/27. Although at the moment, Amare doesn't really need the help: he's currently leading third place Carmelo Anthony by over 43,000 votes for one of the West's starting spots at the forward position.

I've been spending a lot of time in the Suns' locker room this season, and now you can do the same -- virtually speaking.

The team has launched this year's edition of their virtual locker room, and they did an amazing job with details and little video clips that make the whole thing a great experience. Here's a sampling of what to expect, as Steve Nash tells a corny (but still funny) joke about the team's fiercest rival, the San Antonio Spurs.


There's a lot more to see in there, and my favorite part (besides the Nash clip) was reading through Amare Stoudemire's alleged day planner. The activities he has planned for 2PM and 6PM cracked me up.

[HT: BDL]

A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Knicks faced the Suns on December 15th.

In anticipation of Mike D'Antoni's return to Phoenix, local sports talk radio was asking fans whether they should cheer or boo the coach when he was introduced before his Knicks tipped off against the Suns. When told that this was happening D'Antoni himself said before the game that "well, probably they did that last year too, so that's something that's going to go on," which got a big laugh from the assembled media. But it was a valid question, and one that wouldn't be answered until his name was called by the arena's public address announcer minutes before tip-off.

While several callers got on the air by saying the fans should boo (because you know, it was somehow the coach's fault alone that the "seven seconds or less" group never won a championship), the fans that showed up at the arena had different ideas.

When a trade goes down like Wednesday's five-player deal between the Suns and the Bobcats, it has ramifications beyond those of the players involved simply changing zip codes. The teams have to make the adjustment of bringing the new players into their family unit, and the players that remain need to come to grips with the fact that people they trusted on the court and befriended off of it are no longer a part of the family.

It seems that no one realizes this more than Steve Nash.

Nash will tell you himself that he was pretty stunned by the news of the trade, as Raja Bell was his best friend on the team, and left town without a proper goodbye. (Bell texted Nash from the airport, as he didn't want to wake him from his pregame nap.) Nash admitted after Wednesday night's game against the Lakers that he was "emotionally drained," and his 2-of-12 shooting backed up that assertion.

The surprise of the loss of a close friend being shipped out of town without warning likely makes one think about what else might be in the pipeline as far as changes are concerned.

The demise of the Phoenix Suns has been greatly exaggerated. After a week of doom and gloom in which the team was accused of not competing, they came out with fire and energy and got a quality two-point win over the Utah Jazz.

Terry Porter made a change in the starting lineup, reinstating Grant Hill and choosing to bring Matt Barnes off the bench. This wasn't a reflection of Barnes' play at all; he's been mostly stellar in his role as a starter. It was more of a case of Hill never getting comfortable in a bench role, one that he hadn't tried since, by his own estimation, he was "six years old."

"I kind of wanted to try to ride it out and get better at it, and hopefully be better by the end of the season," Hill said. "I really tried, I would come in the back and do sprints in the hallways to try to get loose."

Porter said afterwards that the Hill experiment was unsuccessful, and he made it seem like it's over for good.

Teams rarely make the transition from one coach to another without a few hiccups, and the Suns are no exception. After swapping Mike D'Antoni for Terry Porter, the Suns have struggled to find their rhythm. Despite a 11-7 record, they've won just three games in their last seven, with two of their wins coming at home against patsies like Oklaoma City and Minnesota.

Amare Stoudemire complained about Porter's offense in an interview published last week, and yesterday Porter voiced his frustration with the entire team after a lackluster practice. From Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic:

"In the locker room!" coach Terry Porter bellowed. "Everybody!"

Off they went, silently and obediently, bracing for the conversation ahead.

It was an impressive show of authority from the new man in charge. It was prompted by a shoddy practice before the team left for New Orleans but could've been directed at any number of nuisances, from the dissenting voices in the locker room to the recent and reckless comments by Amaré Stoudemire.

In advance of the Suns' nationally televised game against the Heat, an article appeared on the four-letter's website that basically said that Amare Stoudemire wanted to be the featured player on his team, and that he would explore every opportunity when he too becomes a free agent in the magical summer of 2010.

Despite the weak attempt at over-sensationalizing the obvious (of course every free agent will explore his options), the takeaway was that Amare feels he's ready to make the leap to being a franchise player who can put the team on his back when necessary and carry them to victory. After a couple of performances from him that were just average, Amare finally showed that franchise quality last night against the Nets. At least until his emotional play -- along with a quick whistle from an official -- resulted in two technical fouls, and an automatic ejection.

Amare picked up his first technical three and a half minutes into the fourth, after a stoppage in play where he felt there was some extracurricular activity from the Nets' Devin Harris and Trenton Hassell. It resulted in double technicals, actually (Hassell picked up one as well), but Amare felt that based on how things unfolded, he shouldn't have picked one up at all.

Rook Check takes a look at the progress of NBA Rookies throughout the season.

Heat rookie Michael Beasley was the second overall pick in this year's draft, and with that lofty pick comes some lofty expectations. Beasley was in the starting lineup for the first 15 games of his NBA career, averaging around 14 points and five rebounds per game at the power forward spot.

With the Heat facing the tandem of Shaquille O'Neal and Amare Stoudemire, coach Erik Spoelstra felt a lineup change was in order, and started Joel Anthony at center while moving Udonis Haslem to the power forward spot. This left Beasley to come off the bench for the first time in his career, the expectation being that he would still find a way to contribute. Unfortunately, he did not.

Beasley played just 13 minutes, and was held scoreless, going 0-for-5 from the field. Afterwards, he admitted that coming off the bench was a difficult adjustment, saying he was "lost" and "confused" about what his role was. Beasley's move to the bench appeared to be motivated by the game's matchups, but something Spoelstra said after the game made it seem like there was something Beasley could be doing to earn more minutes.