Sure thing: teams weren't lining up to take a gamble on Amare Stoudemire three years ago. Now, the only bet is on just how good the Suns' big man is going to be

Sporting News, The, Feb 25, 2005 by Sean Deveney

That focus impresses everyone who works with Stoudemire. It stems from the loss of his father, Hazell, who died of a heart attack at age 41. Stoudemire was just 12, and it was then that the man-child became more man than child. Amare remembers the last thing his father told him: "The sky's the limit." It's as if Amare Stoudemire has spent his days since then trying to live up to that limit.

From the perspective of NBA teams, which have to be cold and calculating when it comes to draft choices, the day Stoudemire lost his father is the day the first red flag went up. Brokenhome. Then there was the rap sheet of Stoudemire's mother, Carrie, which included arrests for passing bad checks, fraud and theft. His brother, Hazell Jr., had been sentenced to three to nine years in a New York prison. Troubled family. There were also problems with Stoudemire's commitment to an Adidas-sponsored AAU team, which he ditched to join Nike in the summer of 2001. Then there was his trouble in finding a high school--he attended Cypress Creek and West Orange in Florida, as well as Mt. Zion and Emmanuel Christian. Attracts controversy.

But what most teams could not see was that Stoudemire's past had made his focus laser-sharp. The trouble going on around him did not entice Stoudemire to get into trouble himself--it did just the opposite. It made him more determined to avoid it.

"He's driven," says West, a former player who has been a mentor to Stoudemire. "That was obvious from the beginning. He was only 19 years old, but he was very focused on basketball. He has a single-mindedness when it comes to the game. He is able to shut out all the things going on around him.

"People were saying things about his character, pointing out where he was from and his background. But that has nothing to do with Amare. Everything that goes on around him, it just makes him focus on basketball more, and part of that flows right into his game. He's tough and strong, and he does not get into a lot of showboating stuff. You can see that in the way he plays."

You can also see it in the way he lives. Stoudemire has become an active part of the Suns organization and helped recruit Nash and swingman Quentin Richardson last summer. He has started his own car detailing business and has his mother and younger brother, Marwan, living nearby. There have been some agent problems--Stoudemire was sued by his first agent, John Wolf, for money Wolf alleges he gave Stoudemire in high school, and Stoudemire was dropped by his second agent, Bill Dully, because of business differences. That could have an impact on negotiations for a contract extension with the Suns this summer. But switching agents hardly qualifies as major trouble for an NBA star.

"I had to grow up fast," Stoudemire says. "1 know what hard is, and coming to the league was not hard. Working to make yourself a better player, that's not hard, and that's all I want to do."

A gamble? Sounds like a sure thing.

By the numbers

Entering the week, an inside look at Amare Stoudemire's impressive stats.