It was never supposed to be this way.  Success came early and often for Amar'e Stoudemire, from a team and an individual point of view.  The former prep to pro hoopster won the Rookie of the Year award after averaging over 13 points and nearly nine rebounds per game and his Phoenix Suns have advanced to the playoffs five times in the first seven years of Stoudemire's career while averaging over 50 wins per season.  A perennial contender to the Western Conference crown, suddenly in 2009 he Suns were right back where they found Amar'e: in the lottery.

Stoudemire seemed to be a natural, heck, a perfect fit in former Suns Head Coach Mike D'Antoni's system, in which running the floor and finishing the break were every bit the expectation and getting stops were an afterthought.  Not that the 6-10, 250 lb., Stoudemire isn't capable of being an impact player on the defensive end of the court, he just wasn't ASKED to do so.  But, in the summer of 2007, the organization made a philosophical shift (marked by the hiring of Steve Kerr as Director of Basketball Operations and General Manager), and the Suns haven't been a contender in the Western Conference since. 

A hot start to the 2009-2010 NBA season in the valley of the sun, however, has Stoudemire and the Phoenix faithful hoping for the Suns to rise again.

"Last year wasn't too much fun," Stoudemire told HOOPSWORLD of the disappointments the team has endured the last couple of seasons.  "I think the year before that we were still having fun out there.  We're back to it.  I think (Head Coach) Alvin Gentry has done a great job of keeping our spirits up and guys really getting involved in our offensive and defensive strategies.  Everybody is enjoying it and we get along very well off the basketball court, so I think all of that is kind of tying in to our play out there."

While it seems easy to point the finger at Kerr for the team's fall from contention in the Western Conference (he did, after all, swap Shawn Marion, the team's best defender, for an aging, $20M+ per season Shaquille O'Neal), the Suns have afforded themselves some salary cap flexibility moving forward and, as a result, have begun assembling young talent around which to build after selling off draft picks under the previous regime.  

Suddenly, a rise from the lottery and back to upper-echelon of the NBA hierarchy doesn't seem do distant and fleeting a thought to Stoudemire and the Suns.

"We don't want to put that kind of pressure on ourselves," STAT said of a return to elite teams in the NBA after the team started this season 4-0. "Orlando, Boston and the Lakers are well established teams and they have been in the playoffs for years and have been in the Finals and won championships.  We don't want to give ourselves that much pressure, but I do think that we are on our way to being a successful team and getting back into the playoffs and trying to push the envelope there and go a little bit further."

A huge key to the Suns making any kind of noise this season, in the regular or the post-season, is the health of Stoudemire.  In his first seven NBA seasons, the 2007 first team All-NBA selection has missed at least 27-games three times (for various reasons) and appeared in just three games in the 2005-06 season. 

On Wednesday night, the Suns suffered the team's first loss of the young season but started to see signs of Stoudemire returning to form that made him a four-time All-Star after a somewhat slow start to the season for him individually.

"I felt great," Stoudemire said of his 25 point, 14 rebound performance in the team's 122-100 loss to the Orlando Magic. "Since the road trip started I have felt phenomenal.  I just want to keep it going.  Just keep going as a team and keep learning from our mistakes out there and just keep improving."

So much of this team's future seems to be hanging on the future of Stoudemire.  With a player option on the 2010-11 season, he could opt out of his contract after this season and test the free agent waters with some of the game's biggest names and best players.  But even before that becomes a possibility, Amar'e must become a leader on and off the basketball floor in order for this team to have a successful campaign this year.

"That is what is happening now." Stoudemire said.  "So far this season I have definitely taken the leadership role into effect.  My teammates love it.  They appreciate it.  You know, I love my guys.  We have a great time on and off the court.  We also learn and teach each other the game of basketball, so that is what is important to us.

"When you are young and a rookie, you can't tell a veteran anything.  All you can do is bring the donuts.  Being so young in the league, it was hard for me to really be that leader because I was surrounded by some older guys, pretty much an older group.  So I learned from them.  Now with the role kind of shifted a little bit with me being 26 and more of a vet player, playing in my eighth season, now it is time for me to teach these young guys what it takes to be successful and I have been pretty successful in my career so far."

After playing for Western Conference supremacy early in his career, Stoudemire understands that over the last couple of years, for several reasons, this team has taken a step backward.  Despite what the experts and the pundits have to say about this edition of the Suns, however, the big fella has high hopes for this season.

"I think, for the most part, definitely getting back to the post-season is a success from last year, but we don't want to sell ourselves short," he said. "I think we can be a better team than that.  I think we can push the envelope and probably go past the first round and maybe to the Western Conference Finals, if possible.  We don't want to put too much pressure on ourselves.  We just want our team to keep getting better, keep learning from each other and see what we can do."

Gentry brought back the run and gun system under which this group had so much success and, as Stoudemire alluded earlier, the team is enjoying playing for Gentry.  The Suns have talent on the roster in two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill and Stoudemire.  Now the group must put it together and Gentry will be essential to making that transformation.

With the top of the conference flooded with championship caliber teams like the Spurs, Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, it seems a bit unrealistic to envision the Suns making a deep post-season run this year.  The future of the organization, however, may be hanging in the balance with Stoudemire potentially in a contract year. 

The Suns have a steep mountain to climb from the Arizona desert to get back near the top of the NBA, but on the broad shoulders of Stoudemire, the Suns may rise, once again.