Amar’e Stoudemire: -14 in 22 minutes, scoring 14 points.
Bernard James +23 in 25 minutes, scoring 0 points.
Yes, I understand the folly of using plus-minus for analyzing a single game. But it still illustrates a point: Stoudemire probably doesn’t make any team better at this point in his career. He can still dunk, in a way tenuously resembling his old style, and he can still rebound. His defense, a weakness throughout his whole career, is so bad that his diminishing talents on the other side cannot justify his presence on the court, except off the bench in spurts.
His body likely can’t handle anything but the feeblest of spurts, so it works out for all parties involved. He remains a fan favorite, and I’m sure he’s a great teammate, things which are underrated parts of being a good player. We’ll see how he holds up without those red wine baths.