Is Amar’e Stoudemire a Hall of Famer?

After a 13 year career that included a great deal of early success and an expansive highlight reel followed by years rife with injuries and missed time, Amar’e Stoudemire decided it was time to call it quits Wednesday afternoon at the age of 33.

Beyond reminiscing about the good ole days when Amar’e was the best pick-and-roll big man of his generation and one of the most athletic and fleet of foot big men we have ever seen and lamenting the portion of his prime that was robbed by his chronic knee issues, it’s time to take a step back and evaluate his career to see if it was hall of fame caliber.

Before we go into a deeper analysis of his career here is a quick snapshot of his stats and accomplishments as a player:

Career Stats: PPG: 18.9 REB: 7.8 AST: 1.2 BLK: 1.2 FG% 53.7 FT% 76.1 PER: 21.8

Best Five Seasons: PPG: 24 REB: 8.9 AST: 1.5 FG% 54.8 FT% 77.6

Now after reviewing his resume, I will provide you three other player resumes of other great big men of the past 40 years, two of which are in the hall fame. We will call them Mystery Player A, Mystery Player B and Mystery Player C.

Mystery Player A:

Career Stats: PPG: 10.8 REB: 14.0 AST: 3.9 FG% 50.9 FT% 63.3 PER: 16

Best Five Seasons: PPG: 13.9 REB: 17.1 AST: 3.6 FG% 49.6 FT% 64.8

Mystery Player B:

Career Stats: PPG: 21.0 REB: 9.8 BLK: 2.4 AST: 1.9 FG% 50.4 FT% 74 PER: 21.0

Best Five Seasons: PPG: 25.5 REB: 11.3 BLK: 2.8 AST: 2.3 FG% 52 FT% 74.1

Mystery Player C:

Career Stats: PPG: 17.1 REB: 8.0 AST: 2.6 BLK: 2.2 FG% 54.6 FT% 75.5 PER: 19.9

Best Five Seasons: PPG: 19.7 REB: 8.7 AST: 3.0 BLK: 2.3 FG% 54.7 FT% 75.2

Mystery Player A is Wes Unseld and was inducted into the hall of fame in 1989. Mystery Player B is Patrick Ewing and was inducted into hall of fame in 2008. Mystery Player C is Larry Nance and has not been inducted into the hall of fame.

Although Amar’e was a far superior offensive player and talent to Wes Unseld, he doesn’t have a league MVP or NBA Finals MVP to his name which made Unseld a lock. Amar’e’s resume falls somewhere in between Nance and Ewing. At their respective peaks, Amare was every bit the offensive player Ewing was and 90 percent of the rebounder, Ewing was a better rim protector though.

Amar’e Stoudemire’s resume is also eerily similar to Elvin Hayes, who was inducted into the hall of fame in 1990.

Although he was never an NBA champion, Amar’e was a revolutionary at the center position and was a superstar and top two player for one of the most groundbreaking and successful teams in his era.

Once Stoudemire recovered from his first micro-fracture surgery in 2006 and added a silky smooth jump shot from 18 feet in to compliment his elite athleticism and explosiveness, he may have been the most unstoppable force in the game around the rim for a short time. This stat will blow your mind…

Amare Stoudemire scored 1.19 points per possession over 21.1 possessions per game in 07-08. Stephen Curry scored 1.18 over 25.5 last season.

— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) July 26, 2016

There is an aura of negativity surrounding Amar’e with his inability to stay healthy and earn his contract in New York and the Suns failed pursuits of an NBA title, but the reality is Amar’e was a generational talent and is worthy of serious consideration for the hall of fame.

I may be a little biased as a Suns fan who grew up watching and idolizing Amar’e Stoudemire, but even though he is not first ballot hall of fame material I do believe he should be elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame down the line.

What do you think?