The idea of Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire dominating the league together was a good one. But unfortunately, injuries have reduced Stoudemire to a very expensive supporting player, and one that may continued to see a minutes limit. Here’s the New York Post:

With 7-foot power forward Andrea Bargnani officially coming aboard July 10, the Knicks have had renewed discussions on a stricter minutes restriction next season for Amar’e Stoudemire, according to his agent, Happy Walters.

The idea of a 20-minute nightly maximum with a prohibition on playing both ends of back-to-backs has been one of the ideas that has been discussed.

“I don’t think anything has been decided,’’ Walters told The Post yesterday. “The doctors are still talking about that. But he’s not going to play a ton of minutes.’’

An extra-cautious approach on Stoudemire to have him on a minutes restriction lower than last season’s was a factor in the Knicks’ willingness to trade for Bargnani, feeling they needed another scoring big man. The Knicks played 18 back-to-backs last season, so that could potentially be 18 games Stoudemire misses. It’s not all that dissimilar to the Spurs’ treatment of the aging Tim Duncan.