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Dirk Nowitzki thinks Mavericks will pursue Amar’e Stoudemire

By Cory Buck

Feb 9, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; New York Knicks center Amar
Feb 9, 2015; Miami, FL, USA; New York Knicks center Amar /
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Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said he thinks the team will pursue Amar’e Stoudemire, who will become available on Wednesday.

It won’t take long for Amar’e Stoudemire to find a new team once his buyout from the New York Knicks is complete. Early reports indicate that the Dallas Mavericks are among the first teams prepared to reach out to Amar’e. The news came as no surprise to Dirk Nowitzki, who believes Mark Cuban will pursue Stoudemire to the fullest extent.

Nowitzki noted the team’s current lack of big men when noting his own confidence that they would pursue Stoudemire. “When we lost Brandon Wright, that was a big part of what we do.”

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Forward Tyson Chandler agreed, saying that Stoudemire would be a natural fit for the Mavericks roster and the man drawing up the game plan.

“He would fit in great because we play a lot of pick-and-roll,” Chandler said per ESPN. “Coach [Rick Carlisle] does an excellent job understanding scorers and how to get them the ball and putting them in a position to succeed. Not only that, we’ve got the best training staff in the league. That also helps.”

Wherever Stoudemire goes, it will be a big leap from the league-low Knicks, who are re-writing the book on awful basketball and will likely only get worse as the oft-injured Amar’e Stoudemire takes his leave of the team via a buyout agreement. If he can stay healthy from the home stretch and a playoff run though, the forward could prove to be a huge boon to any of the teams involved in the tight Western Conference playoff race, in which the Mavericks are currently embroiled.

Stoudemire’s teammate Carmelo Anthony offered some interesting perspective on Stoudemire’s departure, which comes in the final year of a five-year $99 million deal he signed that marked a turn in the franchise’s fate at least for a couple of years.

“One of the main reasons I’m a New York Knick today was because of him,” Anthony told ESPN shortly after the NBA All-Star Game, when he learned that the team had bought him out. “To see him leave, to see the situation where it’s at today, I know what he wants and you have to respect that as an athlete as a competitor.”

It seems that Stoudemire has at least a few folks in Dallas who admire him as a competitor and are prepared to welcome the six-time All-Star with open arms.

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