Amar’e Stoudemire’s view on the upcoming Knicks season is clear: It’s championship or bust.
In a television interview during the Knicks summer league team’s 94-92 loss to Toronto yesterday in Las Vegas, Stoudemire praised the defending champion Miami Heat for their mental approach to the season, and said the Knicks must look at the upcoming season the same way.
“They take the game very serious, and also they believe that anything less than a championship is a wasted season,” Stoudemire said. “We have to take that same mentality going into next year … anything less than a championship is a wasted season.”
The Knicks won’t be chasing that championship with Jeremy Lin, after the team failed to match Lin’s offer sheet from the Rockets.
“Last year was a great year for Jeremy,” Stoudemire said. “He did a phenomenal job for us when I was injured and Carmelo [Anthony] was injured. He pretty much revitalized the team … he got us back to where we needed to be and we took that momentum on to the postseason.
“But with those great games he played, I think he deserved his contract he got with Houston … [it was] too bad we couldn’t keep him, but he’s going to do a great job with Houston.”
Stoudemire and the Knicks’ other high-scoring forward, Anthony, have struggled to co-exist since the ex-Nuggets star arrived. But Stoudemire attributed much of those struggles to limited playing time together.
“Well, first of all, we have to have a full season together, and a full training camp,” Stoudemire said. “That’s the first part is having that full training camp, so Coach Woodson can implement his full strategy on both ends of the court, and we can continue to practice together and work as a unit, and then we can go from there.”