Mike Woodson not worried about the Stoudemire - Carmelo chemistry – NBA Update
The New York Knicks have had an excellent start to the season. They have so far won 8 of the nine games they have played, including wins over defending champions Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. Carmelo Anthony is having a great time playing deeper as a forward, Raymond Felton has found his mojo at the Madison Square Garden again, and the Knicks bench has also been stepping up big time.
There is a feel good atmosphere around the team and the Knicks are no longer an underachieving side, who got knocked out in the first rounds of playoffs in the last two consecutive season. For once, they seem for real.
But, as the time passes, and Amare’ Stoudemire, the other superstar of the team, comes close to regaining full fitness, the question of whether Anthony and Stoudemire can complement each other has started to pop up again. And it’s not that an issue is being forced out of nothing.
Melo and Stoudemire never clicked under ex-coach Mike D’Antoni’s system, and it is quite evident that has never been able to adjust to the tag of the second best players on the team.
However, under Mike Woodson, things have been different. The Knicks were 8-2 last season, after Woodson took over last season and both Anthony and Stoudemire were on the court.
With his side making winning a habit this season, the coach seems confident that Stoudemire can glide into his rotation easily;
“I can’t think about what happened before I took over. As a coach, I feel good about both of them playing together on the floor at the same time. That’s not going to change.”
Stoudemire, who went through a knee surgery in October, is expected to make a return in December. There has been a lot of talk about introducing the power forward off the bench as an impact player, but Woodson was less than committal when asked the question by Newsday.
“I’m going to address that when I get to that point,” Woodson said. “Right now, I’m just taking it a day at a time and working the guys we have in uniform as we speak.”
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