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yup. It appears that if there's no improvement in the next week or so, he's done for the season.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...0328amare.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...are/index.html
Stoudemire shut down
Knee injury could knock Suns star out for season
Posted: Tuesday March 28, 2006 2:42PM; Updated: Tuesday March 28, 2006 3:43PM
If the Phoenix Suns are going to win an NBA championship this season -- and that is their stated goal -- they will most likely have to do it without star frontcourtman Amaré Stoudemire.
Stoudemire's comeback from surgery on his left knee lasted only three games before the Suns decided to shut him down, "maybe for three days, maybe for 10 days, maybe for the rest of the season," according to coach/general manager Mike D'Antoni.
The best guess? The rest of the season.
D'Antoni made the decision hours after the Suns' most disappointing loss of the season, a 110-72 torching by the New Jersey Nets on Monday night at Continental Airlines Arena. Stoudemire started that game but played only 14 minutes (missing all six of his shots from the floor) and was obviously at no more than 30 percent efficiency. He jogged up and down the court, had very little lift and even winced from time to time when he landed.
"It's mostly stiffness but I have some pain, too," said Stoudemire on Tuesday morning from Milwaukee, where the Suns, 47-22 and still the odds-on favorite to win the Pacific Division, are scheduled to play the Bucks this evening. "I felt like I was improving -- that's why I came back -- but then the knee just started getting tighter and tighter. It felt like I was going to pull something all the time."
Stoudemire had surgery on Oct. 11, during the preseason, to repair a microfracture (about one centimeter wide) on his left knee. That was about a week after he had signed a five-year extension worth about $73 million. Dr. Tom Carter, the Suns' team physician, compared the lesion to a "pothole," which Carter said would get bigger and become harder to treat as time passed. Carter used a surgical awl to poke five shallow holes around the lesion, three millimeters apart, to facilitate bleeding that would harden and form the "fibrocartilage" that would fill in the tiny hole.
The Suns heard no dearth of dire reminders about other players (Chris Webber, Penny Hardaway, Kenyon Martin, to name three) whose careers had been thwarted by similar surgeries. But the plan all along was to get Stoudemire back for this season, provided there were no extenuating cir stances; the initial projection was for Stoudemire to come back "around the All-Star Game" in February. Carter said comparisons with other injuries were meaningless, considering Stoudemire's age (he's just 23) and the fact that his knee was in otherwise ideal condition.
Stoudemire rehabbed with trainer Aaron Nelson and began limited on-court workouts in January. His surgically repaired knee started to come around, but he began to experience stiffness and fluid buildup on his right knee, probably from overcompensation, and his comeback was pushed to "sometime in March." He would have one good practice, then not be able to go the following day. It was a roller-coaster ride that continued into the second week of March. Finally, after three straight days of work without much pain or swelling in either knee, the man the Suns call STAT (for "Stand Tall and Talented," the slogan Stoudemire gave himself as a teenager) declared himself ready for a home game against the Portland Trail Blazers on March 23.
D'Antoni decided to start him but monitored his minutes. Stoudemire had 20 points in 19 minutes as the Suns breezed to a 125-108 victory. Suns fans began licking their chops: We were already the third-best team in the Western Conference, probably the fourth-best team in the NBA, without him. How good are we now?
But coaches, teammates and the Suns' medical staff weren't so confident, seeing the extent to which Stoudemire's mobility was limited. (On many nights, a player of Stoudemire's talent needs only to be about 60 percent to dominate the Trail Blazers.) He started two nights later against Denver in a 107-96 loss and looked stiffer and slower. And the game against New Jersey, the start of a weeklong road trip that ends Sunday in a showdown against the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, convinced D'Antoni, the Suns' medical staff and Stoudemire himself that he wasn't ready.
"As a coach you always want your best players back," says D'Antoni. "But I had to put on my general manager's hat, too. We have a lot invested in Amaré, and we want him around for a long time. He'll be practicing, doing mostly one-on-one stuff. So we'll see. But he won't come back before he's ready."
For his part, Stoudemire concedes that he's disappointed. "I wanted to come back, help us win a championship this year," he says. "And maybe I still will. But I gotta get this thing right."
yup. It appears that if there's no improvement in the next week or so, he's done for the season.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...0328amare.html
management and ownership were ING FOOLS BRINGING HIM BACK EARLY
THEY JUST SENT A LOAD MESSAGE TO THE NBA players not to join the suns because they force you to play when hurt
wasn't D'antony coach of the year last yearhe's a in idiot!!!!
how can the COY let this crap happen on his team
Damn shame.
Even more of a damn shame that this setback might backpeddle his career. Hope managment, coaches, and fans are proud of themselves.
This was Amare's decision to play. He was cleared medically a while ago. After 3 straight good days of 5-on-5 Amare felt he was ready to go. There's no way to tell if you're in game shape unless you play the game. He tried and D'Ant even said after the Portland game that Amare was playing on adrenaline and the would be bad days.
Saying it the Suns or D'Ant's fault is stooopid when it was Amare's choice.
No it was definitely not's Amare's decision to play. Amare is not a doctor, he is a kid who obviously wants to play. Suns should have been smarter than that, especially since half the media was skeptical and cautious. Suns are a crappy organization because of this now.
they will be held responsible if additional damage was done to Amare these games.
He was cleared by the Dr's a while ago. He just had to get in game shape.
Had you followed his rehab more you'd know this. And it's confirmed by the first section in this story: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...amare0323.html
"I'm feeling like suiting up tomorrow," he told Suns head athletic trainer Aaron Nelson.
Three consecutive days of work without problems in his surgically repaired left knee or recently troublesome right knee had made an impact.
Stoudemire found coach Mike D'Antoni and said, "I don't know why I don't play tomorrow."
D'Antoni agreed, as long as everything went well in practice. Once it did, Stoudemire approached D'Antoni again. "I want to play," he said.
"Guess what?" the coach responded. "You're playing.
How so? Is he going to sue them?
Mcdyess part II.
amare ment with jerry next day in unifrom
it was not amare decision
Suns finally get smart.
The guy needs to rest and rehab throughout the whole summer. The Suns area very good team without him, but I don't think they can win the championship w/out him. Its just not their season to win it. Call it a season and comeback next year ready.
A conspiracy of dunces.
I wouldn't say the Suns organization made a mistake on this one. If anything, Amare thought he was prepared to play and was wrong. If Amare says he feels great, then the organization should believe him. Additionally, it doesn't sound like Amare's going to have lasting problems because of his return. The stiffness in his knees indicates that he just isn't ready to begin playing again.
Shut him down for the rest of the season, and pray that Kurt Thomas comes back in the 2nd round ready to hustle. The Suns still might be able to contend for a le with KT in the lineup (he'll help solve some of the rebounding and interior defense deficiencies), even though their chances are greater with a healthy Amare.
Stoudemire's my favorite basketball player. It would kill me to see him come back too early and screw something up. The Suns need to shut him down for the season and focus on winning the rest of this season and into the postseason.
i guess they figured the damage he was doing to the team chemistry when they were so deep into the season...
it's not really their fault, but they really should have been a little more cautious. and he should have known better, seeing what this injury/surgery has done to other players. err on the side of caution in this situation for sure. glad they realized that sooner than later though
Well hopefully he didn't suffer any damage from trying to come back. He's a terrific player and I'd hate to see his future be in jeopardy.
Good luck to him.
Stupid?
If I was an owner, spent millions on my franchise player over the long haul, I SURE AS don't want Amare playing on knees that weren't 2000% healed. There's too much invested, too much to risk, and there are too many uncertainties coming back too soon. IMO, there was hardly anything to gain by bringing him back too early this season.
Amare might have wanted to return, but I, as an owner, would prevent him if playing if there's even one sliver of doubt he can return and play like 2005.
Now, Amare is battling both knees--probably from overcompensating. It's going to take even longer to get it "right".
He is one of the most athletic big men I have ever seen. It would be a shame to see his career end. I doubt it will. He is young.
And if a player says they're ready to play - from any injury - how do you really know they're ready??!?
Let them suit up and play in the game. Whether it was this year or training camp he was going to have to play. Now the know he's not ready and will likely be shut down.
My only concern is that he does not play for the olympic team this summer and spends time rehabbing.
And that's why you're a fan. Had his comeback been successful everyone would have marveled at him, the Suns, etc.
It's real easy to second guess after the fact.
The Suns and Amare did the right thing based on the info presented to them.
i thought they should have immediately wary when he did a 180 after his meeting with colangelo. the only reason i think it is a mistake is because no one has come back close to 100% after this injury. i know he is young and it may be different but holding him out probably would have been best. you can't change the past though, and all they can do is learn from the error.
He's young, but may never be the same, most players are not. You could compile a very long list of players who had injuries and never returned to where they were. Could still be a very good player, but by the end of last year he was headed for the stratosphere.....a shame.
Perhaps some good will come out of last night's loss afterall!
Get better, Amare.
"There's always next year..."
- Some random Cubs fan
Suns management NOT pulling him for the rest of the season right now is being foolish and short sighted. You just do not want to mess around with something like this, if in fact something hasn't already happened. Shut him down now, focus on the players you have and wait till next year to make your championship run.
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