NBA Hall of Famer Amar’e Stoudemire retired from basketball in 2016, but he hasn’t left basketball behind. He has been playing basketball overseas until 2020 and now is back by starting a new podcast titled “Amongst Legends” which has promoted in an exclusive interview with DJ Siddiqi for covered.com.

He covered a wide range of topics but dropped some jewels about his former team the Miami Heat who last night got their first win of the season after acquiring mega star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Stoudemire on the difficulty of the Giannis-Bam pairing

As someone who had played in an up-tempo pick and roll offense Amar’e has a unique perspective and expertise on the combination of Giannis and Bam working with one another.

“It's not like Steve (Nash) and I. I got a point guard, and I'm the big dog. You understand? He knows we can play off each other. I'm not taking anything away from him. He's not taking anything away from me. So he's going to pass me the ball. I'm going to play off of him easily, and that's more of an easy connection.” Said Amar’e.

It is true that Bam and Giannis occupy much of the same spots on the floor. That is where head coach Erik Spoelstra made the adjustment last night. He staggered the minutes of between them so they both could get not only their teammates involved but attack the spaces they are both most comfortable.

“With Giannis and Bam, they kind of have a similar position, so they have to figure out how to play with each other. That's a little bit more challenging, but it can happen. It can work. We just got to figure out how to really play with each other. That's a matter of learning each other, watching film with each other, studying each other's game, practicing together. They need a little more time, but it'll work out.” Said Amar’e

That is exactly what the stagger strategy does. It allows the team to play well as a whole to get wins while Bam and Giannis figure one another out. They still will end up closing games together but it lessens the learning curve throughout a full 48 minutes.

Stoudemire on the Heat’s 1-4 start

“I know two things for sure. You have a great general, Pat Riley, and you have a great deputy chief in Coach (Erik) Spoelstra. So those two guys are going to come together and figure out the proper game plan to get the team to play cohesively and figure this thing out. The players are going to lock in because they are tired of hearing all the talk about what they can and can't do. So they're going to go into the gym and lock in also.

“I'm not worried about the Miami Heat. I think they're going to be able to figure this thing out. They have a great team. I feel like they're a team that can be very competitive in the Eastern Conference. So I'm not concerned with the Heat at all, man. With Bam and Giannis, two great players, they'll figure it out. They're great players, they're All-Star caliber players. They're gonna figure it out. Trust me.” Said Amar’e

He was right on the money here. You could already see the adjustments, and they results speak for themselves. Their rebounding was up, assists and scoring. The original game plan of stand and watch Giannis work just isn’t good enough for the team.

Relying on Defense

“If they can grind it out defensively right now while they're struggling offensively, that's the key. You build that, you build that defensive strategy, which the Heat culture has been built on. I played with the Heat. You know what I'm saying? So when you play in that Heat culture and you lock in defensively while you're working out your offensive details, that's going to be the key going forward because offense is easy for us as players.

“We love to score, right? Everyone wants to score, so that's easy for us. The defense is where you need to focus on a little bit more, and that's going to help them get over the hump.” Said Amar’e

This is something that will be necessary for the Heat to play with pace. You can’t play with pace if you are taking the ball out of the net every possession.

Playoff Team?

He knows first-hand the standard this team has inside that building. He played 9 playoff games in 2016 for the Heat. Amar’e spoke about the chances of the Heat making the playoffs when asked by DJ during the interview. “Yes, yes, yes. The Miami Heat will be a playoff team this year. I believe that.”