Amare Says He Doesn't Know How To Play Defense Because Nobody Ever Taught Him. Again.

Dude where’s your dick?

“I think just having a defensive coach for the first time in my career is going to help,” he said. “I’ve never been taught defense in my whole career, so to now have a coach that actually teaches defense and teaches strategies, and knows positioning and posture, how to guard different plays, it’s going to be helpful. I’m going to take it as a challenge, and I’m going to accept the challenge and try to improve as a player.”

Not the first time he’s said this

Coaching in the NBA is 100% about making sure the high priced ego maniacs on your team get along. Thats really it. At this level, this day and age, no coach is teaching any NBA player anything about the game of basketball. And on the flip side, defense and rebounding is all about trying. Amare Stoudemire was one of the most gifted forwards to come through this league the past 10 years – there’s nothing on a basketball court he couldn’t do that he wanted to do. Sure, a couple years in college with a guy like Bob Knight or Coach K would have made Amare take pride in defense and play with a little passion on the other side of the court. But thats the only difference. Wanting to play defense, putting in some effort. Didn’t matter if D’Antoni was his coach or Gregg Popovich was on the sidelines, Amare just spent his career wanting to put the ball in the basket and thats about it. Maybe if he said he “accepted the challenge” when he was 25 instead of 30 with bad knees and a bad back he could have salvaged that aspect of his career. But now that ship has sailed. Can’t teach an old Amare new tricks.

Knicks need Iman Shumpert and Rasheed Wallace to get back on the floor. Those are just about the only 2 guys who are gonna change the defensive output on this team. Ronnie Brewer helps but is such an offensive liability its not even worth it.