Stoudemire hopes for labor deal… or new players league

Someone out there is still hopeful. Amar’e Stoudemire is hopeful.

But if that hope is misplaced he has another idea.

Amar’e Stoudemire was making the rounds of the ESPN campus on Tuesday to pimp his new shoes, but all anyone wanted to talk about was how he couldn’t wear those shoes on a court right now. And will not be able to for a while.

Stoudemire is more optimistic than most of us right now (video).

“I think we’re pretty far apart, but the most important part is that we’re trying to work to get something done,” Stoudemire said while making appearances on “SportsCenter” and “ESPN First Take” at ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., headquarters to promote his new sneaker, the Nike Air Max Sweep Thru. “There are so many jobs at stake; their livelihoods are on the line. We’ll get a deal done eventually.”

But if that doesn’t really pan out, Stoudemire is down with the players forming their own league.

“If we don’t go to Europe, then let’s start our own league; that’s how I see it,” the 6-foot-11 forward/center said.

Stoudemire was asked to gauge “how serious” the idea is being considered.

“It’s very, very serious. It’s just a matter of us strategically coming up with a plan, a blueprint and putting it together,” he said. “So we’ll see how this lockout goes. If it goes one or two years, then we’ve got to start our own league.

If the summer tour of charity and pro-am games has showed us anything, it’s that the NBA’s ability to organize and promote shouldn’t be underestimated. Glitches marred pretty much every game. To the point that when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were asked about a players league last weekend, they laughed it off.

Let’s just hope Stoudemire’s optimism isn’t misplaced.