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O'Connor: Blazers Desperate Enough To Gamble On Stoudemire?

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Ian O'Connor of ESPNNY.com writes that the New York Knicks must trade forward Amar'e Stoudemire, which at first seems like an impossible task. But he works things through with a "high-ranking executive of a playoff team" and winds up including the Portland Trail Blazers on a list of teams that might be willing to "gamble" on the NBA's Most Valuable Fire Extinguisher Inspector. ------------------------------- "You'd be taking a tremendous risk with Amare," the executive said, "and the feeling around the league is he's living on borrowed time with his knees. I just don't think anyone would take him." Only then was it repeated that Stoudemire, $100 million man, isn't owed $100 million over five years anymore, but $64.4 million over three. It was mentioned that Stoudemire is only 29, and that Gilbert Arenas and Rashard Lewis were traded for each other, meaning it only requires one sucker, maybe two, to move any player and make any deal. It was stated that the teams scheduled to be way under the salary cap -- the lottery likes of New Orleans, Cleveland, Sacramento, Portland, and Brooklyn, and the winning likes of Boston and Indiana -- might use their flexibility to gamble that Stoudemire will stay relatively healthy and give them some needed starpower and size. ------------------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter