As Amar’e Stoudemire attempts to reinvent himself as a finesse player in the low post after 10 years as an explosive power player, his teacher is of the belief that the Knicks power forward can be very effective in this new role.
Of course Stoudemire’s teacher is going to say those things, but it also doesn’t hurt that the teacher just happens to be one of the best finesse big men in NBA history.
A two-time NBA champion in 1994 and 1995, Olajuwon has made a career after basketball out of helping many of today’s players with their post moves. Among his pupils since retiring in 2002 have been Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez.
Olajuwon began working Stoudemire on his private ranch outside Houston last week and the teacher says his latest pupil is a quick study.
“It’s night and day,” former Rockets star and Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon told Howard Beck of the New York Times. “What’s so nice is he wants it, he likes the post. He’s always wanted to play there, but he doesn’t have the moves that would give him that option.”
Statistically, Stoudemire is coming off the worst season of his career. With the exception of the 2005-06 season in which he played only three games after undergoing microfracture surgery, his 2011-12 averages of 17.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game were both career lows. He played in only 47 of 66 regular season games and was sidelined for most of the regular season’s stretch run with a bulging disk in his lower back.
His forgettable season all but ended when he lacerated his left hand by punching the glass encasement holding a fire extinguisher after the Knicks’ Game 2 loss to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. He sat out the Game 3 loss, but did return to help the Knicks win Game 4, the franchise’s first playoff victory since 2001.
With his reputation and maybe even his dignity taking a hit after the fire extinguisher incident, now might be the perfect time for a reinvention.
“To now develop a post game is going to be remarkable for me,” Stoudemire told Houston’s Fox 26. “It’s going to catch a lot of my opponents off guard, and it’s going to be a great year for me.”
Photo: HoopsFix.com
