Blazers left to wonder what if
In 2002, the team tried to make a trade that would have allowed them to get Amare Stoudemire
Sunday, December 12, 2004 JIM BESEDA
M ark Warkentien, the former Trail Blazers assistant general manager, hasn't forgotten the buzz around the front office during the days leading to the 2002 NBA draft.
The Blazers had the No. 21 pick and desperately wanted to make a trade to move up.
"We were in attack mode," Warkentien said.
They wanted Amare Stoudemire.
The Blazers had Stoudemire, then a 6-foot-10, 240-pound high school senior, No. 2 on their draft list behind Yao Ming. They also were convinced that if they were going to grab Stoudemire, they would have to outmaneuver the Phoenix Suns, who had the ninth pick.
"We were trying to cut all sorts of deals to get in front of Phoenix," Warkentien said.
On the morning of the draft, the Blazers were on the verge of landing a top-eight pick, but their deal was contingent on Cleveland completing a trade that would have sent Andre Miller to the Los Angeles Clippers. When the Cavaliers-Clippers deal stalled -- Miller went to Los Angeles three weeks later -- Portland's plans fizzled. The Suns picked Stoudemire with the ninth pick, and the Blazers ended up gambling on Qyntel Woods at No. 21.
Today, when news of suspensions and player misbehavior seems to be the only thing getting airtime and making headlines, when Woods is serving an indefinite suspension because of accusations he was involved in dogfighting, Stoudemire and the Suns (17-3) have emerged as one of the NBA's early-season success stories.
In his third season, Stoudemire is one of the NBA's most dominant big men on a team that not only is averaging a league-best 108.9 points a game, but also leads the Pacific Division by three games over Sacramento.
"Amare wants to be great," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He has a competitive streak in him, and he's not afraid to take on that challenge. A lot of guys would back off, but he's not afraid to do the work and put in the time to be great. That's his goal, and I don't see any reason why he shouldn't reach it."
At 22, Stoudemire acknowledges he only has scratched the surface in what he hopes to achieve as a pro. But he will go so far as to call himself "one of the elite power forwards in the league," ranking himself third behind San Antonio's Tim Duncan and Minnesota's Kevin Garnett.
He might get an argument from Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, Sacramento's Chris Webber, Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, Utah's Andrei Kirilenko and Detroit's Rasheed Wallace, but the only advantage most of those players seem to have over Stoudemire is that they've been in the league longer.
But it's hard to find fault in Stoudemire's self-assessment when he's averaging 26.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots, better statistics than any of those other players -- Duncan and Garnett included -- in their third seasons.
"It's not like what Stoudemire is doing is a fluke," Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "He's not Garnett or Duncan, yet. He's going to be there, but Duncan and Garnett are here -- every night, night in, night out. And this guy, he's going to be like that."
Warkentien, who recently took over as the Cavaliers' player personnel director, said he isn't surprised by Stoudemire's quick progress. Stoudemire was extremely well-developed physically coming out of high school. And early in his NBA career, he worked closely with then-Suns assistant Tim Grgurich, known for helping to develop young players -- a reputation that helped persuade Portland to hire Grgurich in the summer.
Stoudemire has been compared to Moses Malone and Shawn Kemp because he is big, strong, quick and athletic. He doesn't miss many shots around the basket, either, but that's because most of his shots are dunks.
He admired Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal growing up but said there never was anybody he tried to emulate.
"I wanted to kind of mix everything together, so I've got my own style," Stoudemire said. "It's a lot more than just power. I mean, power is probably what most people see on the highlights, but I think my quickness and my court awareness also give me an advantage."
In analyzing tapes of recent Phoenix games, Cheeks said Stoudemire is hard to miss.
"Heck yeah, he jumps out at you," Cheeks said. "He's a unique player, because he can run the floor and put the ball on the floor. He's not putting the ball on the floor from end line to end line like Garnett, but he does more than just dunk the ball hard like he did when he first came into the league."
Cheeks said Stoudemire is "a totally different player" than the one who broke into the league two years ago and beat out Houston's Yao for rookie of the year honors.
"He runs the floor, he can put the ball on the floor, and he's got a little foul-line jump shot," Cheeks said. "And they've got dangerous people around him so somebody has to try to guard him one-on-one.
"Before, you could go and double him right away and try to take the ball out of his hands. Now you have to be more conscious of the guys around him, so you can't double him. If you double him, you leave all those other guys wide open, and you can't win that way."
As do most stars, Stoudemire alternately faces double teams and straight-up defenses.
"Teams are having a tough time figuring out which one they're going to do," D'Antoni said, "because it doesn't work either way sometimes."
Going into Saturday, Stoudemire was tied with Kobe Bryant for second in the league in scoring behind Nowitzki (27.7), and he was among the top 10 in 11 other statistical categories tracked by the NBA. He had scored 20 or more points in 17 of his first 20 games and had topped 30 points six times.
In last Sunday's 121-99 victory over the Blazers at the Rose Garden, Stoudemire had what for him was a subpar game, finishing with 19 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in 39 minutes.
"I think I played pretty good, considering that they tried to drop four guys on me every time I got the ball," Stoudemire said. "I thought I did a great job of passing the ball out of double teams and triple teams, and I got other guys the ball. They didn't want me to come out and have a 30-point night. They wanted somebody else to beat them."
Stoudemire provided one of the night's highlights, though, when he raced down court ahead of the pack, leapt to catch a lob pass that point guard Steve Nash tossed from midcourt and dunked the ball before touching down in front of Blazers owner Paul Allen.
"Unbelievable," Nash said of the play. "Even though he does stuff like that all the time, it's still amazing. I mean, it's incredible.
"Amare is just now starting to figure out who he is as a basketball player and a person. He's got a ways to go, and it's fun to be a part of that development."
And he almost was a Blazer.
In 2002, the team tried to make a trade that would have allowed them to get Amare Stoudemire
Sunday, December 12, 2004 JIM BESEDA
M ark Warkentien, the former Trail Blazers assistant general manager, hasn't forgotten the buzz around the front office during the days leading to the 2002 NBA draft.
The Blazers had the No. 21 pick and desperately wanted to make a trade to move up.
"We were in attack mode," Warkentien said.
They wanted Amare Stoudemire.
The Blazers had Stoudemire, then a 6-foot-10, 240-pound high school senior, No. 2 on their draft list behind Yao Ming. They also were convinced that if they were going to grab Stoudemire, they would have to outmaneuver the Phoenix Suns, who had the ninth pick.
"We were trying to cut all sorts of deals to get in front of Phoenix," Warkentien said.
On the morning of the draft, the Blazers were on the verge of landing a top-eight pick, but their deal was contingent on Cleveland completing a trade that would have sent Andre Miller to the Los Angeles Clippers. When the Cavaliers-Clippers deal stalled -- Miller went to Los Angeles three weeks later -- Portland's plans fizzled. The Suns picked Stoudemire with the ninth pick, and the Blazers ended up gambling on Qyntel Woods at No. 21.
Today, when news of suspensions and player misbehavior seems to be the only thing getting airtime and making headlines, when Woods is serving an indefinite suspension because of accusations he was involved in dogfighting, Stoudemire and the Suns (17-3) have emerged as one of the NBA's early-season success stories.
In his third season, Stoudemire is one of the NBA's most dominant big men on a team that not only is averaging a league-best 108.9 points a game, but also leads the Pacific Division by three games over Sacramento.
"Amare wants to be great," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He has a competitive streak in him, and he's not afraid to take on that challenge. A lot of guys would back off, but he's not afraid to do the work and put in the time to be great. That's his goal, and I don't see any reason why he shouldn't reach it."
At 22, Stoudemire acknowledges he only has scratched the surface in what he hopes to achieve as a pro. But he will go so far as to call himself "one of the elite power forwards in the league," ranking himself third behind San Antonio's Tim Duncan and Minnesota's Kevin Garnett.
He might get an argument from Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, Sacramento's Chris Webber, Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, Utah's Andrei Kirilenko and Detroit's Rasheed Wallace, but the only advantage most of those players seem to have over Stoudemire is that they've been in the league longer.
But it's hard to find fault in Stoudemire's self-assessment when he's averaging 26.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots, better statistics than any of those other players -- Duncan and Garnett included -- in their third seasons.
"It's not like what Stoudemire is doing is a fluke," Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks said. "He's not Garnett or Duncan, yet. He's going to be there, but Duncan and Garnett are here -- every night, night in, night out. And this guy, he's going to be like that."
Warkentien, who recently took over as the Cavaliers' player personnel director, said he isn't surprised by Stoudemire's quick progress. Stoudemire was extremely well-developed physically coming out of high school. And early in his NBA career, he worked closely with then-Suns assistant Tim Grgurich, known for helping to develop young players -- a reputation that helped persuade Portland to hire Grgurich in the summer.
Stoudemire has been compared to Moses Malone and Shawn Kemp because he is big, strong, quick and athletic. He doesn't miss many shots around the basket, either, but that's because most of his shots are dunks.
He admired Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal growing up but said there never was anybody he tried to emulate.
"I wanted to kind of mix everything together, so I've got my own style," Stoudemire said. "It's a lot more than just power. I mean, power is probably what most people see on the highlights, but I think my quickness and my court awareness also give me an advantage."
In analyzing tapes of recent Phoenix games, Cheeks said Stoudemire is hard to miss.
"Heck yeah, he jumps out at you," Cheeks said. "He's a unique player, because he can run the floor and put the ball on the floor. He's not putting the ball on the floor from end line to end line like Garnett, but he does more than just dunk the ball hard like he did when he first came into the league."
Cheeks said Stoudemire is "a totally different player" than the one who broke into the league two years ago and beat out Houston's Yao for rookie of the year honors.
"He runs the floor, he can put the ball on the floor, and he's got a little foul-line jump shot," Cheeks said. "And they've got dangerous people around him so somebody has to try to guard him one-on-one.
"Before, you could go and double him right away and try to take the ball out of his hands. Now you have to be more conscious of the guys around him, so you can't double him. If you double him, you leave all those other guys wide open, and you can't win that way."
As do most stars, Stoudemire alternately faces double teams and straight-up defenses.
"Teams are having a tough time figuring out which one they're going to do," D'Antoni said, "because it doesn't work either way sometimes."
Going into Saturday, Stoudemire was tied with Kobe Bryant for second in the league in scoring behind Nowitzki (27.7), and he was among the top 10 in 11 other statistical categories tracked by the NBA. He had scored 20 or more points in 17 of his first 20 games and had topped 30 points six times.
In last Sunday's 121-99 victory over the Blazers at the Rose Garden, Stoudemire had what for him was a subpar game, finishing with 19 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in 39 minutes.
"I think I played pretty good, considering that they tried to drop four guys on me every time I got the ball," Stoudemire said. "I thought I did a great job of passing the ball out of double teams and triple teams, and I got other guys the ball. They didn't want me to come out and have a 30-point night. They wanted somebody else to beat them."
Stoudemire provided one of the night's highlights, though, when he raced down court ahead of the pack, leapt to catch a lob pass that point guard Steve Nash tossed from midcourt and dunked the ball before touching down in front of Blazers owner Paul Allen.
"Unbelievable," Nash said of the play. "Even though he does stuff like that all the time, it's still amazing. I mean, it's incredible.
"Amare is just now starting to figure out who he is as a basketball player and a person. He's got a ways to go, and it's fun to be a part of that development."
And he almost was a Blazer.
