Amaré Carsares Stoudemire

Born November 16, 1982 in Lake Wales, Florida. An American professional basketball player for the NBA's Phoenix Suns. He is a 6 ft 10 in (2.09 m) and 249 lb (113 kg) power forward/center.

he attended six different high schools before graduating from Cypress Creek High School in Orlando, Florida. He told Isaac Perry in an article for Dime Magazine that what kept him going in that time period was God and the words of rapper Tupac Shakur. Stoudemire only played two years of high school-level basketball, but in those two years he was the MVP of the Nike summer league. He had committed to play collegiately at the University of Memphis but never attended the school, instead, he declared for the NBA draft due to his desire to quickly help out his family's problems. The Phoenix Suns decided on him with their ninth pick in the 2002 NBA Draft due to a need for inside strength at the time. Phoenix was the only team that year to select a high school player in the first round.In his rookie season, Stoudemire averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, with a high of 38 points, against the Minnesota Timberwolves on December 30, 2002, the highest score by a prep-to-pro player until broken a year later by LeBron James.Stoudemire won the NBA's Rookie of the Year award, beating out Houston Rockets center Yao Ming and Miami Heat forward Caron Butler and becoming the first player ever drafted out of high school to win the award.

The following season, Stoudemire improved statistically, but his team stumbled to a 29-53 record, and point guard Stephon Marbury was traded to the New York Knicks. During the summer of 2004, Stoudemire was selected to play for the United States national team in the 2004 Summer Olympics. However, head coach Larry Brown declined to give him significant playing time

During the 2004-05 NBA season, Stoudemire teamed up with point guard Steve Nash to lead the Suns to a 62-20 record. Averaging 26 points per game that year and achieving a new career high of 50 points against the Portland Trail Blazers on January 2, 2005, he was selected to his first National Basketball Association All-Star Game as a reserve forward. In the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Stoudemire performed magnificently, averaging 37 points per game, but the Suns lost in 5 games.

Before the 2006-07 season, Stoudemire changed his jersey number from 32 to 1. Dijon Thompson, last wore #1 the previous season.

Stoudemire joined the United States national team once and began practicing with the international team in July, but was dropped from the squad for its trip to Asia because coach Mike Krzyzewski believed he needed a proper chance to fully recover from his knee injuries.

On February 18, 2007, Stoudemire appeared in the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, his second NBA All-Star Game appearance on He scored 29 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, and came in second in MVP voting to winner Kobe Bryant. He had previously announced that he would make the All Star Game in his first season back after his knee recovered.

During the 2007 NBA Playoffs, in a series against the San Antonio Spurs, Stoudemire accused Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen of being "dirty" players. Stoudemire was suspended for Game 5 for leaving the bench area after an altercation between guard Steve Nash and Robert Horry. The Suns lost to the Spurs in six games.

 Bio courtesy of Wikipedia.com