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Clippers Replace Brand With Camby - July 17th, 2008

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

Sports Betting at WagerWeb Online Sportsbook

The Los Angeles Clippers somewhat filled the void left by Elton Brand leaving for the 76ers by acquiring Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets for basically nothing.

What did the Clips give up? Denver gets the option to trade second-round picks. In 2010! That is thievery. OK, Denver did get a $10.1 million trade exception that it can use, but this is basically a salary dump by the Nuggets, who were in the luxury tax neighborhood.

This gives L.A. a likely starting five of Camby, Chris Kaman, Baron Davis, Al Thornton and Cuttino Mobley. Camby, 34, was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in a season in which he averaged 9.1 points, 13.1 rebounds and 3.61 blocks for Denver.

"I think this is a very good addition for us, especially since we're getting a player who can really help us without having to give up a player in return," general manager Elgin Baylor said. "With him playing alongside [Chris] Kaman, I think we will have a pair of excellent interior defenders and that will make us a formidable team."

After having been considered fragile most of his career, Camby has averaged 68.6 games over the past five seasons with the Nuggets, including a career-high 79 games and 34.9 minutes a game this past year.

"I love this acquisition for the current make up of our team," Clippers 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."

 

Meanwhile, the Nuggets seem to be saying that their current makeup, led by Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, just isn’t working, and maybe they are right. Despite having that top scoring duo in the NBA, they were swept by the Lakers in the first round this season of the playoffs and have lost eight postseason games in a row, including the last four games of the 4-1 first-round exit in 2007 to San Antonio.

"We felt like we needed to shake things up and do something a little bit radical to be able to create flexibility going forward," Nuggets vice president of player personnel Rex Chapman said.

Denver wasn’t a very good defensive team with Camby, so it should be interesting to see how many points the Nuggets give up without him.

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