Fuente: © FIBA (Federación Internacional de Basket)
http://www.fiba.org/

FIBA: USA - Team USA's Stoudemire to miss four months after knee surgery

/noticias.info/ PHOENIX (FIBA World Championship) - The FIBA World Championship 2006 is still a year away but Team USA have already been dealt a blow with knee surgery sidelining Amare Stoudemire for four months and casting doubt over his availability for Japan.

Stoudemire is one of the most exciting talents in the international game and on many occasions in Athens showed it as a part of the Americans' bronze-medal winning side.

He followed that up with a terrific season in Phoenix with the Suns, a campaign which paved the way for him to sign a five-year extension worth $73million last week.

But the All-Star forward-center underwent microfracture surgery to repair a joint surface defect in his left knee on Tuesday morning and will be out for approximately four months. Several months later he will know if World Championship participation is possible.

Stoudemire underwent a diagnostic arthroscopic procedure to determine the extent of cartilage damage to the knee. More damage than expected was found and the procedure evolved into microfracture surgery.

Suns team physician Tom Carter repaired the joint surface defect, roughly one centimeter in diameter, on the inside of the knee.

"Other than the defect we treated today, Amare's knee is remarkably and structurally healthy," Carter said. "Given Amare's age and the nominal size and location of the defect, I am confident that the microfracture procedure performed will allow a healthy and normal return to action."

However, that anticipated return to competitive basketball is approximately four months.

The 22-year-old Stoudemire, who is coming off the best season of his career, missed the final two days of training camp last week after experiencing soreness in the knee.

The defect was noted on an MRI scan several weeks prior to surgery and, at that time, Stoudemire was treated symptomatically. As symptoms elevated, the decision was made to operate and treat more aggressively, rather than have a potentially lingering problem.

In just his third season with the Suns, the 6ft 10in Stoudemire spearheaded the top-scoring offence in the league in 2004-05 by averaging 26 points per game - fifth-best in the NBA - while shooting nearly 56% from the field, second best in the league. He also averaged 8.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks.

The Suns signed Stoudemire to a contract extension on October 3.

Stoudemire was often forced to play center last season due to the Suns' lack of size. In the offseason, the Suns acquired forward-center Kurt Thomas from New York and signed forward Brian Grant to help Stoudemire inside.

Now both of those players will be asked to do more scoring in Stoudemire's absence.

The ninth overall pick in the 2002 draft, Stoudemire won NBA Rookie of the Year honours, averaging 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds. He improved those numbers to 20.6 points and 9.0 rebounds in 2003-04.

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