Remember when Amar’e Stoudemire joined the New York Knicks and looked like an MVP candidate right out of the gate? That was just two years ago — yeah, it just feels like it’s been longer — and my, how times have changed: Mike D’Antoni is out, Carmelo Anthony is channeling his Summer Olympic beast-mode, J.R. Smith stopped partying, and the Knicks have an Eastern Conference-best 19-6 record. Thus, the Knicks faithful are worried that Stoudemire’s return, which could be sometime next week, will throw an 800-pound monkey wrench into the Garden Party.
As if that’s not damaging enough to Stoudemire’s psyche, Howard Beck of the New York Times reports that the New York Knicks attempted to trade Stoudemire to pretty much any team willing to take on the big man’s baggage, and not just recently:
This past summer, the Knicks offered Stoudemire to nearly every team in the league — “available for free,” as one rival executive put it. But they found no takers because of his diminished production, his health and his contract, which has three years and $65 million remaining (counting this season) and which is uninsured against a career-ending knee injury.
In February, the Knicks wanted to send Stoudemire to Toronto in a deal for Andrea Bargnani, a person briefed on the discussion said. But the proposal was vetoed by James L. Dolan, the Garden chairman, before it ever reached the Raptors (who would not have made the deal anyway, team officials there said).
Before that, the Knicks tried to package Stoudemire and Chandler in a bid to land Dwight Howard.
Ouch! But not nearly as “Ouch!” as Mark Sanchez’s trade value:
NFL scout to me: “Mark Sanchez is toxic right now. The Jets could maybe get a Kanye West CD for him.”>>Cold. Blooded.
— mike freeman (@realfreemancbs) December 21, 2012
