NBA: Why Amare Stoudemire's Unmovable Contract Signed the New York Knicks Out of Championship Contention

Amare Stoudmire and New York Knicks. Photo credit NBA 

by Mattman

There are almost 100 million reasons why the New York Knicks signed themselves out of a foreseeable NBA Championship when they picked up Amare' Stoudemire in the 2010 NBA offseason, and it all starts with his famously "unmovable" contract.

Although the Knicks' 5-year, 99.7 million dollar (uninsured) investment in Amare' Stoudemire sounded like a great start for an NBA franchise that was looking to streamline their squad into an NBA
Championship via free agency, Donnie Walsh's (Knicks President in 2010) "unmovable investment" in 2010 crippled the Knicks' ability to make significant personnel changes in their immediate future.  Sure, they traded for Carmelo Anthony in 2011 and made the playoffs that year behind Stoudemire's 25 points and 8 rebounds per game, but were embarrassingly swept in the first round, losing by double-digits at home in the final two games of the series.

They would go on to make the playoffs each year since then, but continue to underachieve based on their roster and payroll, getting out of the first round only one time in three seasons.

To be honest, we all got duped three years ago.  Amare' was coming off a great 2009-2010 NBA campaign and rejoining a familiar coaching figure in Mike D'Antoni seemed like a perfect fit.  Also, like I mentioned before, the first season of the Carmelo Anthony and Amare' Stoudemire experiment was not really a failure.  

The beginning of the end came in 2011 when Stoudemire rolled his ankle against the Golden State Warriors, effectively sidelining him for 33 games that season, not to mention his production dropped to 17.5 ppg and 7.8 rpg.  Then a coaching change ensued, sending D'Antoni out the door and bringing in Mike Woodson, followed by additional distractions surrounding Carmelo and Amare's ability to play effectively together and of course, the birth of Linsanity.  In a nutshell, his production deteriorated by 10 ppg. over three years due to injuries and age, and the Knicks keep trying to move on from their failed investment, who's scheduled to make over 15 million dollars this season despite health concerns following his third knee surgery over the past year.

For perspective's sake, Tyson Chandler is only expecting a smidgen over 14 million dollars this season. Yikes.

Anyways, according to Howard Beck of NYtimes.com, the Knicks aggressively shopped Amare' around the league in 2012, but "no takers" emerged due to "his diminished production, his health and his contract, which has three years and $65 million remaining (counting this season) and which is uninsured against a career-ending knee injury."

The bottom line is that the Knicks can't free up any much-needed cap room with Amare' still on the roster. 

Minus Carmelo and Tyson Chandler, the Knicks barely attracted any additional significant offensive talent since 2011 which is why they got desperate and went after another underachieving power forward in Andrea Bargnani this offseason.  Unfortunately, they gave up a first round draft pick and two additional second round picks to get him (aka inexpensive, future franchise building blocks), thus adding to the payroll while further retarding their sustainability as an NBA Championship contender.

What do you know?  The Knicks are up to old tricks.  Can we even expect them to contend in the East this year?