Amar’e Stoudemire heard boos at Madison Square Garden as he struggled in the Knicks’ loss to the Bobcats on Tuesday night.
If Charles Barkley is right, there will be plenty more to come.
“You all in trouble with Amar’e,” Barkley said in an interview with ESPN Radio. “I like Amar’e as a person, but I don’t see him doing anything in the NBA, to be honest with you. I think he has lost his skill. He lost his talent.”
Stoudemire and Kenyon Martin are currently platooning as the backup power forward with both players on a minutes limit. Stoudemire has played 34 minutes in three appearances on his surgically-repaired knees, totaling 13 points, four rebounds and 11 turnovers.
“He played the game on talent when he was younger,” Barkley, the Hall of Famer turned outspoken TNT analyst, said of Stoudemire’s All-Star days in Phoenix and first two years in New York.
“He played the game 100 percent on talent. And now he has lost his talent and he is in serious trouble.”
Martin’s minutes limit is expected to increase to 18 with Tyson Chandler out 4-6 weeks with a fractured right leg. Mike Woodson said that Andrea Bargnani will join the starting lineup as the Knicks go back to small ball with Carmelo Anthony at power forward.
“They got no answer for him,” Barkley said of Chandler. “He is the most important player. I mean obviously Carmelo [Anthony] is important, but Tyson Chandler — I am a big Tyson Chandler fan — without him, they are in serious trouble.”