I didn’t say that Amare can’t score if KG or ‘Sheed is on him- I only said that he can’t score 1-on-1 in an isolation play if he is being defended by them. How many of those 30 points were scored off Nash assists? (I’d bet at LEAST 50%)

Unfortunately there are no statistics that show how many points he scores “by himself”, but as I DID point out, the guy has no go-to move, and if you know of one, please let me know.

BigReese:

The point you make about Chandler and Paul is the exact same point everybody on the planet is making about Amare and Nash. And you’re right- CP3 makes Chandler look like an all-star, just like Stevie makes Amare (and Marion before him) look like an all-star. Take away Nash, and Amare is Tyrus Thomas with a better mid-range game but not a single post move and not as good of a shot-blocker.

All of this begs the question: why the hell couldn’t Amare just learn a post move this past off season? How hard is it to get some position, call for the ball, take one or two crab dribbles, turn and shoot or take a hook-shot? Really? How hard is that? Gary Payton and Marc Jackson could do it, and they were freakin’ guards. Don’t tell me he can’t learn a damn post move- this is laziness IMO.

As for the trade, I’d think we are giving up too much for a guy who is essentially a more mature (playing-wise) Tyrus Thomas. TT is only in his third year and made a pretty big jump this year, especially as of late. If he can get a little bigger, improve his jump shot, and shot selection. Stoudemire is in his 7th year (plus microfracture surgery) and hasn’t really improved over the years. Besides his rookie year, he has been consistently in the 20-26 point/8-9 rebound range but hasn’t improved those numbers over the years. Plus, you have to factor in the inflated #’s in the D’Antoni system as his stats are down this year.

I’d hate to see Tyrus go and then have him average 15/12-ish next year…which I think is possible.

Looking at ESPN’s ’07-’08 splits, Boston held Amare to an average of 30 points, and Detroit held him to an average of 32 points. Maybe there were other factors at work–possibly KG and Rasheed were hurt. I didn’t look any deeper than the splits.

I dont think Phoenix will trade with Chicago, cause the Suns wont get someone to contribute right away and push the team for a ring. Bringing Tyrus and cia. will only be a sad ending to Shaq, Nash and Hill’s careers.

Its more likely a trade with Miami (Marion/Beasley would be great), Detroit (Sheed and somebody else) or no trade at all.

But, more important is to FIRE PORTER whatever ending this story has. The guy is just clueless about coaching…

Amare is a sexy (sadly the best word that fits here) lure after years of Bulls fans watching the team fail to pull the trigger, but like a Vegas stripper he’s only going to leave you unsatisfied and broke.

AK Dave — Obviously I agree with you, and your point is well put. He doesn’t have a go-to move of any kind. Unless you count the pick and roll with Nash.

Adam — While I do agree that the Bulls need a scoring big man, I’m just not sure Amare really fills those needs. I mean, I’m not sure where his points are going to come from in this offense. He does have a fairly strong mid-range game, but minus the setups he gets in Phoenix and sans an actual post move, I think he’d really struggle to get 20 a night. And for that reason, I don’t think he’s worth the price tag.

Ross — I’m not sure Amare makes this team a slam-dunk for the playoffs. Unless he’s got some untapped potential we haven’t seen, particularly on the defensive end.

Robin — I would think the thing that should give you reservations about the trade would be the possibility of Amare opting out after next year and either leaving the Bulls with nothing — other than losing some potentially quality players — or tricking Pax into giving him a max deal he won’t be able to live up to. And in this case, it’s not even the quality of the big man per se that I’m looking for, but rather someone to fill specific needs. Paxson has shown that he’ll spend money, but he’s signed or acquired players who don’t have what the team needs. Right now, their biggest problem, to be honest, is their terrible interior defense. Do you realize that Anderson Varejao, Ben Wallace, Nick Collison, Zaza Pachulia and several other terrible big men have scored season-highs against us? I don’t see Amare stopping that. And frankly, I don’t trust him to suddenly start scoring 26 a game here. Rose isn’t the same kind of creator Steve Nash is.

Fire Porter — Yep. And I’m not saying that Tyrus is better, by any stretch of the imagination, simply that he’s a better value per dollar than Amare.

Just checking.