NBA

Stoudemire’s recruiting skills biggest asset for Knicks

James Dolan walked out of Madison Square Garden wearing an unfamiliar expression when it comes to the Knicks. It was a smile.

A few minutes earlier, Amar’e Stoudemire stood in front of microphones and cameras and announced “The Knicks are back!”

Wearing a gray suit and a blue Knicks cap, Stoudemire confirmed his verbal agreement to a five-year contract worth close to $100 million, ensuring Dolan and the Knicks had something to show for two years of awful basketball.

“It happens,” Dolan said when someone congratulated him on landing the five-time All-Star from Phoenix. Dolan was followed out the building by John Starks, Allan Houston and Walt “Clyde” Frazier, representatives of the Knicks’ best years.

Whether better days are ahead will be largely up to Stoudemire, whose on-court skills at the moment are secondary to his powers of persuasion. If Stoudemire wants to immediately endear himself to Knicks fans, he’ll find some way to convince LeBron James to follow him to New York.

“I gotta make some phone calls and send some text messages and see how it goes,” Stoudemire said while standing against a wall that had his picture in a Knicks uniform. “I definitely intend to recruit and see what [James] is thinking. If you want to build a great team, you have to surround yourself with great players.”

Getting LeBron to take the Knicks’ remaining max contract is still no better than 50-50 with Chicago, Cleveland and the Nets in play. But committing to Stoudemire is the right move by the Knicks. When it was clear Stoudemire was ready to accept their offer, there was no real reason to delay the announcement.

It might be their only way to get James, even at the expense of alienating Chris Bosh, who probably never wanted to come here in the first place. If the Knicks had waited for James to make a decision before committing to Stoudemire, they might have been shut out, something that was unthinkable considering all the emphasis placed on this signing period. Now they at least have one player to build a marketing campaign around.

Stoudemire, with or without LeBron, brings an instant toughness to the Knicks that has been absent since Larry Johnson retired in 2001. But if a championship is going to be a possibility, then Stoudemire will need help. That’s why he’ll be working the phones almost has hard as coach Mike D’Antoni and team president Donnie Walsh — with the first call going to James.

“He’s totally open right now,” Stoudemire said. “He hasn’t made a decision yet. I’m the first to make a decision. Hopefully, I can get him to choose us.”

At least Stoudemire wanted to be here. It helped that this is where he could make the most money, though it wasn’t all about the cash. He said he has thought about being a Knick since the 2002 draft, when he was selected by Phoenix and played under D’Antoni.

“I wanted to be here,” he said. “I got picked by Phoenix Suns and had a great, great career in Phoenix. Now it’s time to take it a step further. The opportunities here are uncanny.”

These next few days will show whether the Knicks end up with a much better team than expected. Stoudemire and James; Stoudemire and Chris Paul or Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony this year or next, any of that would make the Knicks instantly better than the horror we’ve seen in recent years.

But if Stoudemire can get James, he will be a legend in the city before he makes his first basket.

george.willis@nypost.com