Suns TV (I'd bet my eye teeth that's the voice of former HOOP colleague, and current Suns media bigwig, Jeramie McPeek asking the questions) caught up with Amare Stoudemire for a video interview.
The video starts with some fun footage of Suns players -- Steve Nash, Robin Lopez, Amare Stoudemire, Alando Tucker, Grant Hill, Louis Amundson, and others -- during a closed off-season practice session. Stoudemire says that Shaquille O'Neal had been there, and Boris Diaw and Matt Barnes would be coming soon.
Once the interview starts, Stoudemire announces a story that promises to get some major run in the blogosphere as the season unfolds. He has been taking piano lessons. "Strictly for the ladies," he explains. " Just to kind of serenade the ladies a little bit with the piano. See how that goes."
Then he kind of winks at the camera.
We are going to need progress reports, and some home video of Stoudemire tickling the ivories, as the season unfolds.
Now, remember, Stoudemire is seen as, essentially, an MVP-type player who is sub-par on defense. I can remember screaming at my TV now and then during last year's playoffs, hoping that Stoudemire might, you know, lift his arms from his sides from time to time on D.
Stoudemire seems more than happy to pass off some or all of the blame for his team's mediocre defense, however, to the departed coaching staff of Mike D'Antoni.
He was asked about his new coach.
"I love Terry Porter," Stoudemire says to the camera. "His method. His way of coaching is going to be great for us. You know, he's extremely focused on the defensive end, something that we haven't practiced at all in the previous three years, and now we're definitely practicing and improving on the defensive end."
Haven't practiced defense at all in three years? Wow. That's a bold claim.
