A bright forecast for this Sun
By Peter May, Globe Staff | August 2, 2006
LAS VEGAS -- You watch him and you are immediately guilty, guilty of expecting something that still cannot be. You wait for the explosive lift, the thunderous dunk, and, well, you continue to wait. And wait. You know it's there. But where is it?
Amare Stoudemire is out here in the desert, practicing with the US national basketball team for this month's World Championships in Japan. He still isn't close to being the destructive force that terrorized the NBA in 2004-05, when he threatened to supplant Shaquille O'Neal as the single most menacing, frightening force in the league.
Right now, he's more like amare stoudemire as he continues a rehabilitation from two surgeries, which forced him to miss all but three games of the 2005-06 season. He's handling the competition. He's handling the daily wear and tear. But no one can say when he will return to the Stoudemire of old. Everyone, however, uses the word ``when" in discussing such a return, which sounds a lot better than "if."
Stoudemire made the list of 15 players who will practice here this week, then head to China, Korea, and Japan. He has to be considered a long shot to be among the final 12 for the actual World Championship roster for two reasons: His health issues and the fact that he is soon to become a father and he wants to miss no part of that.
"It's going to be tough for him," said USA Basketball boss Jerry Colangelo, who also is the Phoenix Suns CEO and thus has more than just a casual interest in Stoudemire's situation.
Colangelo selected Stoudemire for the team last season, when the 23-year-old one-man wrecking crew was recovering from left knee microfracture surgery. A three-game return in March ended when he felt pain in his right knee. A second operation April 5 removed what's known as a Baker's cyst, a pocket of joint fluid that forms a lump behind the knee and causes swelling and discomfort. He had to start the rehab process anew.
Stoudemire has been given a clean bill of health by all the doctors who've checked him out. Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, an assistant on the US team, said, "He just needs to get the rust off his game and get in shape. It's an uphill climb for him now. It's understandable.
"But we're really happy he's here. You need this kind of competition to spur you on a little bit and show you where you've got to go. It's a long road back. He still gets stiff because he's not in the greatest shape and he still has a lot of work to do. Hopefully, by training camp, he'll be that much further ahead. But, it might be a half a year, it might be a while."
Or, as Colangelo said, "The real question is, 'How long it will take?' And no one really knows."
The Yanks won't get to see the Stoudemire that averaged 37 points a game in the 2005 Western Conference finals against the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs, a pretty strong defensive team. After that series, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said, "We had no answers for him. And he knew it."
By Peter May, Globe Staff | August 2, 2006
LAS VEGAS -- You watch him and you are immediately guilty, guilty of expecting something that still cannot be. You wait for the explosive lift, the thunderous dunk, and, well, you continue to wait. And wait. You know it's there. But where is it?
Amare Stoudemire is out here in the desert, practicing with the US national basketball team for this month's World Championships in Japan. He still isn't close to being the destructive force that terrorized the NBA in 2004-05, when he threatened to supplant Shaquille O'Neal as the single most menacing, frightening force in the league.
Right now, he's more like amare stoudemire as he continues a rehabilitation from two surgeries, which forced him to miss all but three games of the 2005-06 season. He's handling the competition. He's handling the daily wear and tear. But no one can say when he will return to the Stoudemire of old. Everyone, however, uses the word ``when" in discussing such a return, which sounds a lot better than "if."
Stoudemire made the list of 15 players who will practice here this week, then head to China, Korea, and Japan. He has to be considered a long shot to be among the final 12 for the actual World Championship roster for two reasons: His health issues and the fact that he is soon to become a father and he wants to miss no part of that.
"It's going to be tough for him," said USA Basketball boss Jerry Colangelo, who also is the Phoenix Suns CEO and thus has more than just a casual interest in Stoudemire's situation.
Colangelo selected Stoudemire for the team last season, when the 23-year-old one-man wrecking crew was recovering from left knee microfracture surgery. A three-game return in March ended when he felt pain in his right knee. A second operation April 5 removed what's known as a Baker's cyst, a pocket of joint fluid that forms a lump behind the knee and causes swelling and discomfort. He had to start the rehab process anew.
Stoudemire has been given a clean bill of health by all the doctors who've checked him out. Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, an assistant on the US team, said, "He just needs to get the rust off his game and get in shape. It's an uphill climb for him now. It's understandable.
"But we're really happy he's here. You need this kind of competition to spur you on a little bit and show you where you've got to go. It's a long road back. He still gets stiff because he's not in the greatest shape and he still has a lot of work to do. Hopefully, by training camp, he'll be that much further ahead. But, it might be a half a year, it might be a while."
Or, as Colangelo said, "The real question is, 'How long it will take?' And no one really knows."
The Yanks won't get to see the Stoudemire that averaged 37 points a game in the 2005 Western Conference finals against the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs, a pretty strong defensive team. After that series, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said, "We had no answers for him. And he knew it."
