STAT wasn’t even joking when he made comment…
New York Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire has revealed his belief that “on paper we might be the best team in the league”.
The 31-year-old was discussing an overall disappointing season for the Knicks which resulted in no playoff basketball for the first time in four years.
Despite a recent improvement in form, the Knicks left themselves too much to do after making a slow start to the season as the Atlanta Hawks eventually secured the eighth and final playoff spot.
However, Stoudemire believes expectations were perhaps too low this season and that the organisation arguably has one of the best roster’s in the NBA.
“They should have been a little bit higher if you ask me,” Stoudemire said on Sunday, as reported by ESPN.
“On paper we might be the best team in the league. We’ve got great players on this team who accomplished so much. We just couldn’t put it together.”
The ten-year veteran has performed well on an individual level after seemingly overcoming his injury woes, but that doesn’t prevent his comments from raising a few eyebrows around the NBA.
While the Knicks were expected to make the playoffs at the very least, a mixture of poor defense, bad decision making and general individual failure across the court ensured that their season ends this week.
It is unclear at this stage as to whether Stoudemire will remain in New York with team president Phil Jackson likely to consider the prospect of using him in a trade deal this summer, but with his contract not expiring until 2015 he will hope to have another run with his current team-mates.
There is also the decision over Carmelo Anthony’s future for Jackson to consider, and it remains to be seen whether or not the Knicks can immediately bounce back from the disappointment of this year and become a contender next season.
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