Knicks Better Without Amare Stoudemire? And Should He Be Traded Back To The Suns?

Not only is Amare Stoudemire suffering from a brain fart, he's already being written out of the Knicks future in some circles.

"It's been pretty firmly established this season that Anthony and Stoudemire cannot play well together," Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference.com writes for Insider today. "Offensively, Carmelo shoots much better without Amare because he is given more freedom to create for himself, particularly in areas of the floor where both players' repertoires overlap. Further, Stoudemire's presence on the floor requires an increase in ball movement, which clashes with Anthony's preferred style of play. In short, neither player is equipped to accentuate the other's gifts; instead, they just end up stifling each other. ..."

This rumors article on espn.com goes on to make a trade suggestion. My jaw dropped.

So what teams might be interested in Stoudemire? One that immediately comes to mind is Phoenix, where Stoudemire grew up in the league and became a bright young star next to Steve Nash. It might seem like an unlikely scenario going back to the Valley of the Sun, but Stoudemire has the star power the franchise so desperately needs. Putting Stoudemire in the frontcourt next to emerging center Marcin Gortat could allow both to thrive.

In addition, the Suns have tradeable pieces in Channing Frye, Josh Childress and Hakim Warrick who would save the Knicks just over $15 million over the next three seasons.

I don't know what to say to this. There are so many possible angles to take. It's obvious that Amare's best days were as a Phoenix Sun (7 years in Phoenix vs. 3 good months in NY as well). Amare and Carmelo cannot play winning basketball together. Steve Nash needs his Robin back. Suns with Amare would be a contender again.

But to actually consider this would be, and is, quite mind-boggling.