Amar’e Stoudemire says he wishes he could take back stepping on the court against San Antonio

Amar’e Stoudemire says he wishes he could take back stepping on the court against San Antonio

We got Amari STM on the Arizona sports line right now this is awesome Amari thank you so much for the time let go yeah what’s up guys what’s happening everybody’s good yeah man how you doing Amari I’m feeling good brother feeling good uh let’s start with that man let’s

Not bury the lead here just the emotions you have about being inducted into the sun’s Ring of Honor next about a month and a half from now I mean I feel great about it bro I think I’m I’m extremely excited my family’s excited about it um you know

They they’ve was born and raised in Phoenix and to see their father growing up in the Raptors uh is going to be a great moment for them and also for myself I mean the time I put in the Phoenix and the enjoyment I’ve had there with the fans and the people of of

Arizona um to see this happening is it’s going to be a very very exciting night Amari do you mind if I ask you to get a little personal here H how did you find out that you are going into the Ring of I got a call I got a call for Matt uh

Matt Matt called me and said hey you know I got some good news for you and it’s been long overdue and once he said that I’m like hold on is this is this the call for the Jersey retirement and he was like uh we’re gonna we’re gonna definitely retire Jersey and that was

That was a a great day because that was also my son’s birthday who’s also my namesake so it happened to kind of work you know all together at the right moment so it was definitely a beautiful beautiful day we’re talking to Amari stmy Amari what do you remember most

About that era I mean like you and Steve Nash you the faces of an era of Suns basketball that was really successful yeah you know what I think the the excitement we had the the enjoyment we had playing together was um something that you can’t duplicate right

I mean it happens you’re in the moment and you’re loving it but you’re not understanding how much history you’re actually making because you’re in the mix and I think as we look back on that now from the outside looking in how special that time was because we were

Actually changing the face of basketball we were changing the game of basketball and being a part of that Trend setting moment uh was special so Amari right now I played 10 years in the National Football League myself and I miss the physicality I miss the contact every day

That to me was the best part about it what do you miss the most I miss the competitiveness right I mean it was it was it was like my whole objective and as you guys kind of saw me play was to dominate so every time I

Attack the rim every time I’m around the basket I’m looking to force my will upon the opposing team and that dominant mentality is something that was uh one of my Staples and so not having that type of energy to do that now that I’m retired that’s the part I miss being

Able to dominate and show the fans the people that are watching that stomy is like out there trying to oppose his will and taking force on the rim I think that was my that’s what I miss the most Amari I can tell you I think a lot of suns fans miss

Seeing that too over the last few years from uh from Amari on the Suns what um are there players when you look around the NBA right now that you like watching you know what I like watching I like watching um obviously I like watching Kevin Durant and Devin Booker

Right those guys to me are like the the the Pinnacle of fundamental basketball and excellence in this in the sport right far as being able to to create your own shot and have balance and have a Poise and have sense of IQ of the game

I also like watching Jo lmb Play and I enjoy watching uh jokic out of the joker out of Denver I think he he brings a different style of basketball reminds me of kind of sabonis back in those days when he passed so well and being able to

Use that footwork to get a shot off all those guys are are special in their own way Omari any regrets from your career when you look back after all the years that you played do you have any regrets uh I mean you always have to live with your regrets but there’s

Always regrets right I mean I wish I would have known about this rule that you can’t step on the court if if altercation happens uh it’s out of my control I didn’t know about the rule neither I don’t think Bor it either um and so that was always something that we

Would love to take back um I wish I would have had opportunity to stay in Phoenix and play my entire career there was that was my ultimate goal I had built a home in the builtmore and I was ready to to extend my career there finish my career in Phoenix so those two

Uh even though I enjoy myself in New York but I think those two um moments were situations that I would love to somewhat try to redo I can safely tell you we all regret that that rule even is a rule um we’re talking to Amari STM Amar do you see

Similarities at all between this this new Suns team since they got Kevin Durant just the way it’s built any similarities between that and the teams you played on there are um I think there there there similarity that you have multiple players that can create their own shot

And get baskets uh the team sport where you have guys that can that can really be able to oppose their will on the game of basketball and that it’s hard to scout a team that has that many threats right so I think that’s the similarity I

See now with this team opposed to the team that I played on in Phoenix was that we have so many guys that can that that can be a threat on the basketball court and it’s hard to scout Omari you know everyone’s talking about the Phoenix Suns of course in regard of the

Big three and they have the big three and you know it’s it’s going to take time it everyone needs to be patient with the big three and patient with this team this iteration of the Suns can is it is is it a situation where you can be too

Patient yeah I think there I think there’s a um I mean there’s a suent line is paid on right because you have to want to you know be great right away you want to win right away and so you don’t want to wait too long and being patient is something

That’s obviously a term that’s been thrown around a lot but there is a sense of patience but then there is also a sense of urgency So within that strategy you have to find a way to eliminate the eliminate the the the space in between by practicing hard by by studying film

Together by working you know with the other players and build chemistry like when Steve and I play we had conv Sation about pick and roll and how to how to attack this and what should we do on this particular scheme or Sean and I will have conversations about okay you

Guard Dirk tonight I’m guarding I’m guarding damp here you got you know we had this type of conversation that would allow us to speed up the process and I think that’s what needs to happen is that when those the three guys you know uh Bill Devin and Durant they if they

Have a conversation about okay what do you like the ball what do you want this how do you want to see that and have that conversation that could speed up the process Amari who was uh who was instrumental in in your career and kind of getting you to where you ended

Up um I mean obviously I had the determination to want to be to want to want to be the best player I can be right so that that happened from an internal standpoint but then also had you know great role models in Phoenix whether it was whether it was K Simmons

When I first got there whether it was was was even Connie Hawkins will stop by and give some positive words of advice for me um whether it was Mark West who was who was there as well as Player Development having these conversations um you know so I and I had my teammates

You know when I first got there I had Tom guglia who was a great you know role model for me as far as what it takes to be great as a basketball player and Penny arway uh and so I took all that positive information from everyone and

Applied it to myself Amari speaking of teammates right now who was your favorite teammate to play with do you have one yeah I mean Steve is obviously my favorite teammate to play with because he was the um ego less point guard right and anytime you have a point guard a

True point guard it helps everyone’s game nowadays you don’t have as we see now you don’t see a lot of that right you see a lot of point guards that are scoring a lot and and that are kind of for themselves um so for us having a guy

Like Steve who was the past first egoist point guard allow all of us to to play the game at a high level and be able to dominate other teams because teams didn’t know where the ball was going to go and and that that was great so I enjoyed Steve was my favorite teammate

For sure Mari when you look at this year’s Sons team do you think they’re missing anything like a point guard or anything else um I mean you have what it takes just it’s just a matter of going out and just getting it done I mean you have you

Have you have a solid team everyone on that Squad is is is is pros and legit basketball players and they have opportunity to win the championship it’s just a matter of continue to just work over the work over the king sort out the little Amor details and

Just keep pushing forward Amari I got to ask you this right now man what are you doing right now are you are you making something it sounds like there’s a blender that is actually going yeah yeah I just uh I just left the gym man so I’m

Home I got I got to cook some lunch so I’m cooking like grilled chicken some green some green beans and rice right coconut rice right now nice sounds good Amari thank you so much man congratulations all right thanks a lot guys thank you bro a lot that’s Mari STM

Joining us right there on the Arizona sports line mari’s one of the best that was awesome right there right it was was really cool because he was quiet when he was answering but when you are asking the question tasking man you you got to be able to multitask to get into the the

Ring of Honor thanks for watching wolf and Luke tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports

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