Knicks may limit F/C Amar’e Stoudemire to 20 minutes per game

In 2012-2013, the New York Knicks seemed to be reasonably effective in limiting the minutes of one of their star players, Amar’e Stoudemire. However, if reports from ESPN New York’s Ian Begley are accurate, the amount of court time from Stoudemire could be even more limited for the upcoming season.

Begley quoted Knicks head coach Mike Woodson as saying the following about Amar’e and his minutes:

"“We’ve just got to figure out if it’s going to be 10 minutes, 15, 20. We won’t know at this point until he’s back on the floor and seeing how things are going.”"

The fact that he led with “10 minutes” in that quote may be a knock on its accuracy, as I can’t foresee a scenario where that would be the actual number, but the point on limiting his minutes is a key one. The big man was famously limited to 30 minutes per game last season, but if that number lowers to 20, it could have positive ramifications for his career, and potentially, positive returns for the Knicks.

Stoudemire has a documented history of knee trouble, dating back to the fact that his contract isn’t insured as a result of those same knees, and his play has visibly slipped in recent years. In fact, the Knicks were markedly better in the standings when he was absent last year despite a nice bump in per-minute production from the now 30-year-old.

He was remarkably efficient last season, posting a 22.16 PER and a true shooting of 63.7%, but that doesn’t solve the Knicks chemistry issues, especially on the defensive end. It would be a tough argument to make that New York is better without Amar’e at all, but there is real evidence to suggest that he may be simply a “designated hitter” on the offensive end at this stage in his career.

At any rate, we may be seeing significantly less of Amar’e Stoudemire on the floor this season.