New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire looking to return before the end of the season - NBA Update
On Thursday night in a video release, Amare Stoudemire stated that he would be returning to playing action before the end of the season.
Amare, who has been out with back problems since March 24, looks to be all set to make his return against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the video, Stoudemire talked about his injury and has contemplated on the matter that he will
be returning to court 100% fit and ready to play.
"It was a bulging disk, so whenever that happens your back goes into a (spasm)," he said. "So you want to take care of that as soon as possible and that's what we're doing now."
Even though the New York coaching staffs has said they would assess the player’s situation on a day to day basis and will look to help him return healthy. Interim coach, Mike Woodson has labelled Stoudemire`s a return a possibility
as he is not sure whether the player in question would be ready to return.
Stoudemire has only recently returned to practice with his team mates and will be part of the shoot-around drill before the start of the game against the Cavaliers. He still needs to undergo a few formality procedures before his
return is made official.
However, the player himself (Stoudemire) is pretty adamant on the fact that he has done enough exercises on his back and is in healthy condition to play.
With his return, He will be returning to his original position in the line up which is ‘power forward’. This gives rise to another problem for the Knicks as in Stoudemire`s absence, Anthony was playing that role to perfection and
is in spectacular form of late.
Mike Woodson has said that with Amare returning to the starting line up, Melo would go back to his position of small forward. Considering the fact that in recent game, Anthony has had to carry a lot of scoring burden but with Amare
on the floor, it would bring the much required diversity to their line up.
Many observers believe that the two stars cannot work properly at the same time and Stoudemire needs to come off the bench to improve the second unit scoring for the Knicks. The stats themselves speak their case as Stoudemire and
Anthony, seem to produce less when they share court time together.
However Woodson remains adamant on the matter by playing down the critics and has contemplated on the matter by saying that it is his job to turn things around and he will be able to get the best out of the two.
"I've got to make it work," Woodson said
When Anthony was asked to have a say on the matter, He addressed Amare`s return as a plus point for the Knicks and he is very happy to have his team mate back as come playoff time, New York will need all their gun functioning properly.
"That's another body that we're missing that we definitely can use," Anthony said. "Another rebounder, another guy we can go to; we don't have to rely on me every night. So I'm looking forward to having Amare back."
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