Knicks trying hard to keep Stoudemire healthy

GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Amar'e Stoudemire's presence is so critical to the Knicks that they are going through great lengths to protect him - and themselves - from enduring an Antonio McDyess-type nightmare in the preseason.

Stoudemire has yet to play more than 28 minutes in any of the three preseason games, and Mike D'Antoni said Thursday that he likely will sit out tomorrow's game against the Celtics in Hartford.

Why so cautious? "Because," D'Antoni said, "we're paying him a lot of money and he's had injuries."

Consider it precautionary Bubble Wrap, similar to the reason behind the decision to not allow him to play for USA Basketball at the World Championships this summer. Stoudemire is playing on a left knee that twice was surgically repaired, and the Knicks - who are paying him $100 million over the next five years - don't want it to become an issue again.

Especially when they're still trying to procure the necessary insurance. And especially with enough people still around who recall Oct. 12, 2002, when McDyess fractured his kneecap on a putback dunk in the late stages of a preseason game in his first season with the Knicks.

"This is a five-year commitment, this isn't a one-year thing," D'Antoni said. "We want to be smart about it and keep him in his rhythm but understand who he is and what he is and, with our trainers, try to figure out the best schedule for him."

Stoudemire has looked physically dominant when he has played. He's always been an amazing physical specimen, but this season his body looks sleeker and he has been explosive. After playing in all 82 regular-season games, plus 16 playoff games, for the Suns last season, this was the first offseason in several years that Stoudemire has been able to focus strictly on training and not rehabilitating an injury. In three preseason games he's averaging 24.3 points in 25.3 minutes and shooting 62.2 percent. He had 30 points in 27 minutes against the Celtics Wednesday.

"I feel the best ever, to be honest with you. I feel great, top shape," he said after a workout at MSG Training Center Thursday. "My physicality is at an all-time high. I'm in the best shape of my life right now."

With the Knicks relying on him to be a primary scorer and in a system that best fits his skill set, there is reason to believe Stoudemire could post his best statistical season. In 2004-05, he averaged a career-high 26.0 points in 36.1 minutes.

It's not a stretch to suggest he could be among the NBA's top scorers, especially with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James on the same team and sharing the ball. Could Stoudemire see himself competing with last year's scoring champ, Kevin Durant, and others?

"I think the main goal is to put up the W's, that's most important," he said. "If I need to put up career numbers to make that happen, then that's what I'm going to try to do. But again, it's about winning, so I want to make sure it's a team effort out there and everybody has a career year."

Notes & quotes: When Stoudemire sits, D'Antoni is expected to move Wilson Chandler to power forward and might start rookie Landry Fields at shooting guard. "We want to keep exploring what he can do," D'Antoni said of Fields, the team's 39th overall pick from Stanford. Fields emerged from relative obscurity despite leading the Pac-10 in scoring last season. He was overlooked by most draft experts but believes he belongs in the NBA. "Yeah, I worked hard to get to where I'm at now, so it's definitely a mentality that I have to have," he said, "that I know I belong." . . . Anthony Randolph, whom D'Antoni said is "a project," was not an option to replace Stoudemire. D''Antoni wants to see the 21-year-old forward become "a stat magnet. He should go on the floor and have three blocks, five rebounds, get to the line three times, have two dunks, and when he comes out, he only played five minutes and you go, 'Whoa, look at that.' Then he goes to seven minutes and then to 10 minutes. He has to have so much energy that he''s changing the game." . . . Bill Walker, who suffered a sprained left ankle in the second half of Wednesday''s game, will be re-evaluated Friday. The team did not practice Thursday but had a film session and did some shooting drills. Walker did not participate.

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