Hollinger's take on Stoudamire

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/players/hollinger?statsId=3009

2006-07 season:
In his first year back after a devastating knee injury, Stoudamire didn't show inordinate slippage. That might sound like a backhanded compliment, but for a 33-year-old, 5-10 guard, it's actually quite impressive. Stoudamire's numbers were down, but not glaringly so, while his 8.0 assists per 40 minutes was easily the best mark of his career. In fact, for a guy who's been considered a shoot-first point guard his whole career it was a splendid performance -- he had the 10th-best assist ratio in the league.

Scouting report:
Stoudamire's overall numbers were solid, but look at the fine print and you'll see the impacts of the knee injury. Check the shot chart, for instance, and you'll see the percent of his shots that were non-layup 2-pointers went from 67.1 percent to 80.2 percent -- in other words, he got all the way to the rim a whole lot less. His free-throw numbers took a dip too, averaging only .189 free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt.

But it was most noticeable at the defensive end. Stoudamire seemed limited every time I saw him, with his already problematic size issues compounded by a newfound lack of quickness -- presumably because of the knee. On the other hand, players often fare better in their second year after a knee surgery, so Stoudamire could gain back more ground this year.

2007-08 outlook:
The Grizzlies have taken point guards in the first round in each of the past two drafts, so the handwriting is on the wall for Stoudamire. He'll serve as a mentor to Mike Conley and Kyle Lowry this year and might see spot duty when one or the other is taking his lumps, but nobody will be surprised if he's in a different uniform by February.

While his salary is generous for his production, Stoudamire has decent trade value if he can show he still has some of his trademark quickness left. By the trade deadline there would only be a year and a half left on the deal, so some team might become desperate enough to take it on.

Most similar at age: Dana Barros