Not since Amare Stoudemires rookie (02-03) season has he came off the bench for a team. And with career averages of 21.4ppg, 8.7rpg and 1.4blkpg it is easy to see why. However an injury plagued career as well as a disrupted 2012/13 season has led Stoudemire in to taking on a ‘sixth man’ role for his beloved Knicks. With Stoudemires recent improved level of play, in a limited amount of minutes the possibility of Amare Stoudemire winning the ‘sixth man’ of the year award is becoming a legitimate one.
“I didn’t really put much thought in to it at all. I had confidence in Coach Woodson to know what it takes for this team to win. These guys (Knicks coaching staff) study the game twice as much as any player does and coach Woodson understands what it takes for us to be successful. Once the coaching staff presented me with the opportunity to better the team, I was totally open to it. ” -Amare Stoudemire on his ‘sixth man’ role for the Knicks
The Knicks ‘big three’ (Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler) have a well documented history of struggles on the offensive end and many believed that the Knicks simply could not function with all three guys on the floor. It has recently became clear that the Knicks can not only function, but succeed with these three guys on the floor together and with Stoudemire embracing a ’sixth man’ role it seems like the Knicks have found the winning formula.
In Amare Stoudemires previous 5 games the Knicks they have gone 4 and 1. Here is a ‘breakdown’ of Stoudemires statistics from these (5) games.
| MPG | PPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | BLKPG |
| 24.2 | 16.8 | .571 | .857 | 6.4 | 1.4 |
When comparing Stoudemires statistics to other ‘sixth man’ of the year award CONTENDERS it is clear that he is a legitimate contender. The only thing that stands in the way of this is the possibility of Stoudemire being moved in to the Knicks starting line up.
It is undeniable that if Stoudemire maintains his current form off the bench he will be placed as a favourite for the ‘sixth man’ of the year award. With Stoudemire currently averaging under 25 minutes per game Knicks fans are hoping he can stay healthy on the road to a possible championship run.
Brent Kitchin
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Another thing that might stand in the way is the fact thats hes only played less than 15 games and everyone else has played about 40
the end of the season is a long way away
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