The Good and Bad of the Amar'e Stoudemire Deal

Meet the newest member of the 2010 NY Knicks. Standing Tall And Talented. STAT.

The Knicks kicked off their long awaited free agency signing binge by locking up 27 year old power forward Amar'e Stoudemire. As one of the many fans who have had faith during the last tumultuous decade, I am thrilled to see the Knicks secure a player of Amar'e's caliber. But at the same token, there are some indications that suggest the Knicks may not actualize a great return on their investment.

The Good: Plain and simple - Amar'e can ball. He can throw down with the best of them and is a constant force to be reckoned with around the paint. He was the 2nd best player on the 3rd best team in the NBA this past season. I tweeted his 2010 stats, 23 points, 9 boards, and 1 block. Quite impressive. But the most impressive stat that STAT accumulates is his Field Goal Percentage. A most under looked and under appreciated category. No need to overcomplicate things - Making more of the shots you take helps your team win more games.YES, I KNOW CRAZY RIGHT?

Any fancy advanced stat used the measure a players effectiveness will be heavily influenced by FG%. Of course, landing Amar'e helps legitimize the Knicks as a team that now is putting the right building blocks in place. This move is a splash that will hopefully lend itself to attracting other free agents in 2010 and 2011.

The Bad: Even though Amar'e is only 27, he has more wear and tear on his tires than the normal NBA 27 year old. Since he entered the league right out of high school, he's played in more games compared to the average NBA player who played in college first. A perfect example of this is Tracy McGrady, who plays like he is one of those old timers in the Sunday morning 40+ YMCA leagues wearing multiple knee braces, even though he is only 29. Tracy came right out of high school.

A site that takes stats to another level, Wages of Wins, contends that according to the numbers, the STAT signing may not work out in the long run. I won't get into the nitty gritty of it, but their analysis suggests that "Yes, Stoudemire is good. But his production of 10.1 wins produced in 2009-10 only ranks 29th in the league." Wins Produced is a new way to determine player effectiveness explained here. They also talk about how it's typical for NBA Players to only generally improve up until their mid-twenties (Amare’s best season was at age 25) until that player inevitably regresses according to the mountains of data they've used in their calculations.

My overall conclusion is that I like the signing for the pure fact that the Knicks only have 5 players under contract right now and they need a power forward regardless of what direction the Knicks go in from this point forward. Amar'e is an impact player who can be an integral piece of the puzzle. Donnie Walsh just needs to continue to find what other pieces fit.