Amare Stoudemire Rises Like This Blog

"I'm like the Phoenix bird," Amare Stoudemire states as this writer takes that as an endorsement of his blog. Face it people, Amare Stoudemire is a Rising Sun. Unless this is the only website that you go to, which seems impossible to me, you would have heard the latest skinny on Amare Stoudemire's knee rehab. It's pretty much the same as the news reports that came out earlier this summer except this one seems more solid. This one has that feeling of an impending resolution to the saga. The season is nearing and this report is an indication of what we can expect for the first stretch. What I take from this is that he is regaining his explosiveness but is still having some swelling after the days of real high-level dunking and practicing. Stoudemire states:

I'm back to a windmill dunk off one leg. I'm taking off outside the paint. My creativity in the air is coming back. I think I'm going to gradually improve throughout the season. I'm not quite sure if I'm going to be 100 percent by the regular season. But wherever I start the season, I'll gradually improve and next year will even be better

This tells me that he has finished rehab on his fundamental game. He is capable of playing at a high NBA level, doing the regular things like shooting, passing, running, and such. Now he feels comfortable enough to enter the dunk contest. He is working on regaining the facet of his game that made him a man-child. Explosiveness.

Amare otherwise is a 20ppg 8rpg Rookie of the Year who commands double teams. I expect to see this Amare for the first month or two of the season. He will definitely be able to come back to his original dominance over time. The question that remains then, is when? The first time he came back during the 05-06 season I saw the original Amare's competitive intensity emerge during flashes of that game. That is the Amare that will come through once he is acclimated back into competition. I'm guessing that it will be sooner than later.

Considering that structurely, his knee is fine, the weak competition and practice atmosphere of the matches he played in the summer were not enough to witness the man play like the soldier he is. He doesn't have it in him to sit idly while his team needs him. The competitive intensity consumes him. That's why I feel that the final obstacle, which is mental, will be overcome.

You have been warned, Amare Is Losing Furniture