Amaré Stoudemire's a specimen: 6-foot-10, 250 pounds, all muscle and tattoos. A puma in short pants. He can jump out of the gym, gimpy knees or not. As far as sheer athleticism, nobody on the Phoenix Suns can touch him. Few in the NBA. Certainly nobody in Phoenix sports. Stoudemire's a guy who came off microfracture surgeries on both knees to return to All-Star caliber. There's no reason that he can't be the NBA's Most Valuable Player, especially now that Shaquille O'Neal's arrival in Phoenix has allowed Amaré to go back to his natural position of power forward, particularly now that the Suns have moved on to a head coach, Terry Porter, who stresses defense.

It will help immensely that Porter and general manager Steve Kerr have hired Bill Cartwright as an assistant coach. Cartwright's specialty will be handling the team's big men, Shaq and Amaré, principally. He will be able to relate to them, too — been there, done that. Amaré's always been capable of thundering dunks and moves under the goal. He even perfected a long-range shot from the top of the key last season. Scoring has never been his problem (he averaged 23 points in 2006-07). Defense has always been his Achilles' heal. Hey, it's not that he hasn't had his moments; he's been adept at a magical steal under the basket that turns into a fast break basket for one of his teammates. He averaged a respectable nine rebounds in the '07-'08 season. It's just that he's lacked grit as a defender.

All that's about to change. His athletic gift is about to bloom into full-fledged NBA dominance. Something Kerr told us last season comes to mind: "Amaré truly wants be a great player." So he's always had mind and matter; next season, he'll have the coaches to show him the way.