| Los Angeles Clippers Acquire Marcus Camby |
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| Written by Joe Willett | |
| Tuesday, 15 July 2008 | |
 Camby has been a reliable player in the paint, and despite being unable to put up big points offensively, he is only a year removed from being the NBA Defensive Player of the Year and has lead the NBA in blocks three consecutive years. Last season, Camby also made his presence made on the boards more than before, leading the NBA in rebounds per 48 minutes with 18, and 13.1 rebounds per game to go with 9.1 points and playing about 35 minutes a game, better than any other season in his career. “I love this acquisition for the current make up of our team,” Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy said. “We are getting a consummate pro who is maybe the best team defender in the league and who has 60 playoff games under his belt.” Camby was basically shipped in a gift bag to the Clippers, seeing as the Nuggets needed to shed cap space so that they could revamp their roster. With cheap asking price of the option to swap 2010 second round picks being basically nothing, the Clippers pounced and were able to take on the salary of Camby with the departure of Brand. The Clippers are also now in a spot that is enviable by most teams in the league. They have the choice of playing two centers and creating one of the best defensive front courts in the NBA, or trading the high value of Chris Kaman's breakout year for a pure power forward. Without any trades, the Clippers are going to have a formidable front court as well as a back court with the newly added Baron Davis and Eric Gordon. The Nuggets were forced to make this move due to an extremely high payroll, 4th in the NBA last season, the high cost of luxury taxes, they paid over $13 million last season in luxury tax, and very little return for the cost, they were sent packing in the first round the past two seasons with the trio of Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, and Camby. They would have preferred to move one of their other high priced players in Nene or Kenyon Martin, but there were no suitors for the over paid, underachieving players. "Marcus has been an exceptional representative of the Nuggets both on the court and in the Denver community during his time here and we are greatly appreciative of all he has done," Mark Warkentien, the Nuggets' vice president of basketball operations, said in a statement. The Nuggets are now likely to20go after a free agent for a lower price than Camby, the most likely target being J.R. Smith. The Clippers are back to contenders, the Nuggets are now in rebuilding mode. But we will have to wait till the season starts to see how this move really pans out, or if this is Ben Wallace part two.         Set as favorite Bookmark Comments
(1)
steal
written by Chris W , July 26, 2008
Clippers robbed Nuggets and Nuggets is going to have another dissapointing year, unless they trade Carmelo Anthony away for someone who can carry the team on his shoulders.
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