The New York Knicks have many new pieces in the nucleus this season, but their biggest question mark is likely Amar'e Stoudemire, a Knicks veteran. Stoudemire underwent a "secret" knee surgery this summer and his availability for the start of the season is unknown.
The procedure was the third knee operation for Stoudemire in one year, and fellow teammate Carmelo Anthony is feeling for the oft-injured forward.
"As a friend, it's hard for me to sit back and act like it doesn't bother me because I know how hard of a worker he is [and] I know the time that he puts in the gym to train and rehab," Anthony said Tuesday. "To see him go forward and then take some steps back every time, it's just sad."
Stoudemire doesn't know if he'll miss any regular season games, but he's being held out of preseason action. "I'm still getting stronger, still getting the legs strong enough to withstand the pressure of playing, but progress has been great so far," Stoudemire said.
Questions about whether Anthony and Stoudemire could co-exist in the same offense as ball dominant stars have dogged the Knicks since the pair came together, but Carmelo just wants to know what the duo could be if Stat got to 100 percent health.
"Yeah, I think about it. I think about [it] sometimes," Anthony said. "He was one of the reasons why I wanted to come to New York. So for me not to have that chance, the opportunity to get a full season in and get a rhythm going with him -- it's not something I thought would happen."
Regardless of the injury history, Stoudemire insists he's proud of his time in New York, and doesn't doubt that he and Melo can play well together.
"Since I've been in New York, we've made great progress for the organization. We are a team to watch. We have more TV games now than we had before. But on top of that, we've been to the postseason every single year," Stoudemire said. "And that was a part of my goal of coming here: to build something that will allow us to improve. Unfortunately injuries played a factor after I was here that first year. But I do envision myself getting healthy and being able to dominate as I once did before."
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