Yesterday I posted a poll that got people talking. To me, Amar’e has always been focused on improving his game and needs to polish up on his mid range and make some strides in his post game in order to become a better player. Sort of like Karl Malone did when he reached the midpoint of his career. Our friend Taylor from MOTR agrees and believes Stat may be ready for a big year next year.

First off, Stoudemire seemingly forgot how to shoot a mid-range jump shot, one of the staples of his offensive game. According to Hoopdata, Stoudemire’s percentage on jump shots 10-15 feet away from the rim dropped from 38.3% in 2010 to 30.9% in 2011. His field goal percentage on shots 16-23 feet dropped from 44% to 35%. In layman’s terms, the guy couldn’t shoot last season. Without his jump shot, life was very difficult for Stoudemire with Tyson Chandler in the fold. Stoudemire is best at the center position where he has the room to roam around the paint area without much interference. With Chandler on the team playing center, Stoudemire was forced to play the power forward spot. It isn’t that Stoudemire is a bad power forward, but with Chandler in the mix Stoudemire had to rely more on his mid-range game. Chandler is not a shooter and therefore does not space the floor all that well, leaving Stoudemire less operating room to get to the rim. With many of his driving lanes taken away, Stoudemire had to shoot jump shots. Obviously that did not work out well for him and the Knicks offense struggled. So how can this be changed?

It can be changed with reps and communication. And a sound offensive system and game plan.

Article source: http://allnyk.com/?p=3359