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Amar'e and his MAX deal

Here's a little history on my relationship with STAT:

I've never really liked Amar'e. I didn't like his me-first attitude, I didn't like that he appeared one dimensional as a player, I didn't like that in the 7SOL book Amar'e came across as just another spoilt superstar who is only out for himself and I borderline hated him for not committing to the Suns but instead, chased the most money available to him. I disliked all these things about him. Hell, I even thought that we made the wrong decision in trading away Marion. I thought it should have been STAT that we traded. After all, I figured that a versatile SF was harder to find than an offensive PF.

Even coming into this season, I was very much in the 'trade Amar'e before he bails on us' camp. I believed he would become a distraction, a negative influence on a group of guys who seemed to gel pretty well. Even when we were on a 14-2 run at the beginning of the year, I wasn't all that impressed with Amar'e. He didn't do anything to me that made me think he warranted a MAX deal. I always remeber Bill Simmons say that Amar'e shouldn't get a MAX deal because he doesn't do anything that helps his team win, and barring the points he got and a few rebounds, I saw Simmons' point.

Then came the Dallas game. 1 rebound. 1.

I wanted rid of him. I would have backed Kerr and Sarver to the hilt on that. I wouldn't have wanted terrible players in return but neither did I want to hitch my wagon to a player for the next 6 years who wants to get only 1 rebound in a big western conference battle.

Allstar weekend hit and I think we all wondered whether the right decision would be made. Should STAT be traded? What could we get in return? What about our future? What about Steve? Won't somebody, PLEASE, think of the children?!?!

Amar'e didn't move. I was quietly pleased with the decision. 'Better the devil you know' I thought.

Except I didn't know Amar'e all that well. The Amar'e that came back after all star break is an Amar'e I didn't know at all. He's been beasting it since then. Tearing teams hearts out, hustling out of bounds to change the course of games, dunking on men and boys to pull us to the win, he's been hitting nearly 60% of his shots - dominating anyone who wants to step to him, he's become unstoppable and now, now I want him to sign a MAX deal. Now, he's doing things which are helping the team. Now, he's become a franchise player in my eyes. Now, he's worthy.

There are, however, two questions which are in the back of my mind constantly, which I'm helping someone can answer to allay my fears and worries....

- How will Amar'e react when we start losing? We've seen how he flourishes in a winning environment but the true test of a player and human being is how they react in the face of adversity. Since AMar'e has been on 'beast' mode since the Allstar break, we've not had a losing streak of note worthiness. My concern is what happens if we hit that streak, what will Amar'e do...

- What happens to STAT when he doesn't have anything to prove to anyone anymore? He's had two years of microfracture, he's had a year of eye surgery and he's had a season or more of proving to people he is worth MAX. What happens if he has a turbulence-free season? Will he carry on playing with this fire or will he get comfortable?