Q&A: Amar'e Stoudemire

Posted by Unknown on Saturday, June 14, 2014 with No comments

Courtesy of Anthony Donahue 


Anthony Donahue: Obviously, there are lots of rumors going around about Carmelo Anthony and Miami and I’m sure you’ve answered many questions about it. When you see those rumors, what are your thoughts? Do you think it’s just talk and people just trying to get retweets and clicks?

Amar’e Stoudemire: I think it’s a lot of talk right now. Until we hear something for certain from Carmelo, I think right now it’s just a lot of talk.

Anthony Donahue: The Knicks hired Derek Fisher the other day. Is it going to be weird playing for Fisher knowing you played against him the last 12, 15 years?

Amar’e Stoudemire: Maybe at first, but I think over time once we buy into the system and understand what he’s bringing to the table and his coaching style, it’ll translate right to the game of basketball.

Anthony Donahue: They say Fisher’s respected so much around the league. Why is that?

Amar’e Stoudemire: The guy won ample amount of championships. That speaks for itself. On top of that, he’s a point guard. You know, because point guards are coaches on the floor. And so for him to win these championships in these great systems, it’ll allow him to be a great coach.

Anthony Donahue: Even though you didn’t make the playoffs, how good did it feel for you personally knowing that you played really well those last 30 games coming off all your injuries?

Amar’e Stoudemire: It felt great. To finally be back healthy is the most important thing. I battled through that and I wanted to make sure I was healthy towards the end of the year and I was successful at that, so now I just go through a summer of getting stronger and gaining the strength on top of what I built throughout last season. And then have a much better season even next year.

Anthony Donahue: It seemed that the last 30 games was the first time you and Carmelo Anthony really played well together…

Amar’e Stoudemire: I think for one, I was healthy. When Carmelo (first) came (here), we only played for about a good two months, maybe. And then the playoffs. And (then) with the back injury, and the next two years I was battling my little hiccups, so I think the key to this year is that I was healthy.

Anthony Donahue: With so many athletes doing so many things off the court, whether it’s trying to be an actor, rapping, this, that, you’re doing a cook book. That’s pretty random for an athlete. What made you do that?

Amar’e Stoudemire: Like I was saying before, with Chef Max and I, when we hooked up we started to talk more about culinary and I started to experiment my taste pallets a little bit more. And it gradually built up to a cookbook.

Anthony Donahue: Obviously, being a professional athlete and a top athlete, you’ve been eating well – probably your whole career I’d imagine. When did you start cooking, though, yourself?

Amar’e Stoudemire: Growing up down south, we always barbecued on the grill, we always had family over and friends, so we’ve always been around the cooking environment. But not on a gourmet level as Chef Max is. So, when I start trying new foods, I start becoming more interested in culinary, and that’s kind of how it grew.

Anthony Donahue: With so many kids eating bad – not just kids, adults actually – was there a moment where you saw maybe somebody eating something bad or you were around bad food and you were like ‘I want to change something, I want to do something about this’?

Amar’e Stoudemire: There’s a lot of young youth in the urban parts of America where we eat terribly, and we don’t have the access to certain foods as far as fresh crops and things like that. So I think this is a platform that would allow them to experience a different way of eating, which would be great for them. Also, another message for them is that even if you’re not a Basketball player or a football player or a rapper, being a chef is not a bad deal. You can have a great career out of being a chef.