Yahoo! Sports is now reporting that the trade between the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers is official. The Blazers will send Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake and $3 million dollars to the Clippers for center Marcus Camby.
- For the blow-by-blow from last night and to vote on whether you like the trade, click here.
- For Dave's analysis, click here.
Adrian Wojnarowski notes this morning...
Sources tell Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports that the Blazers deal with the Clips for Marcus Camby has been completed.
Portland is throwing $3 million into Camby package, league source says. That's why Clips chose this deal -- not anything else.
Click through for trade analysis as it pours in. This post will be updated throughout the day.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter
Henry Abbott checked in briefly this morning to say...
This is the good way to SPAM.
Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus writes...
With Brendan Haywood in Dallas, the best short-term rental option in the middle is Camby, who makes little sense at this point for a Clippers team that has slipped 10 games below .500 and headed into the All-Star break on a four-game losing streak. With an expiring contract, Camby can help a team now without hurting the balance sheet going forward.
...
Camby has been stronger than ever on the glass, pulling down a career-best 22.7 percent of available rebounds and essentially one in three opponent misses (33.1 percent of available defensive rebounds). Both marks lead the league. Camby does have some issues defensively in terms of stepping out on the perimeter and playing the pick-and-roll, but he is an excellent defensive anchor who would upgrade most teams in the middle.
After posting an impressive .556 True Shooting Percentage during his first season in L.A., Camby has slipped back to the near-50 percent range he settled in at with the Nuggets. Hoopdata.com's numbers show that Camby benefited from a temporary uptick in his accuracy at the rim in 2008-09. However, he's likely to improve the 27.0 percent of attempts he's hitting from 16-23 feet. While Camby has never been quite accurate enough to justify the number of long twos he takes, he's made between 35 and 37 percent of them the previous three seasons. Camby's free throw percentage should also bounce back, making him more efficient than he has been so far.
DJ Foster of ClipperBlog writes...
The Haul. Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake, and cash savings are probably not what Clippers' fans had in mind for Marcus Camby. As one of the more attractive players and contracts on the trade market, you'd expect the return could have been more substantial. If there were no available trades for big pieces, it seems the Clippers could have at least picked up some draft picks in a deal, even though a first round pick does equal another guaranteed contract. Essentially, this trade implies that cash has a higher value than draft picks, which may be tough for some to swallow.
Chemistry. By all accounts, Marcus Camby was the "big brother" for a lot of these guys, and there have already been some reported grumblings about Camby being moved. This season is shot, but finishing with some positive momentum may have helped aid the reloading process next year.
On Court. It's tough to tell the effect Outlaw and Blake will have, but one thing we do know for certain is that the Clippers were a much, much worse team with Marcus Camby off the floor. From strictly a basketball standpoint, the Clippers appeared to have downgraded quite a bit. In some ways, that could be listed as a pro...if you catch my drift.
Kelly Dwyer from Yahoo! Sports writes...
It's a lazy trade. The trade deadline isn't until Thursday, and the going rate for a 7-footer who can dominate on one end and hold his own on the other (to say nothing of his rather helpful expiring contract) should be through the roof. Camby should be amongst the most sought-after assets in this market, despite the paucity of buyers, and yet the Clippers are about to send him to Portland for something they'd already get even if Camby stuck around past the trade deadline - contracts that expire in June. And some cash.
So, the cash is the difference. And the initial reaction, the glass half-full reaction, is to tell yourself that Dunleavy was doing this as a favor to Camby. Sending him to a team that needs him, working in front of a fan base that tends to win over even the most harshest of hearts, spinning its way toward the postseason despite myriad injuries. This was done with Camby's blessing, logic tells you, because why else would they switch around the deck chairs, taking on the same amount of expiring cash for Travis Outlaw (who might not play again this year) and Steve Blake?
And then you learn that Camby wanted absolutely nothing to do with being moved to Portland, or anywhere else. And then you read that the deal went down with the Clippers in Portland, and you wonder if Dunleavy was even allowed to make long distance calls.
A must-read article from the Clipper Blog archives by Kevin Arnovitz of True Hoop on Camby's defense...
Marcus Camby is one of those guys who tests our faith in perception. Voters have traditionally seen him as a stalwart defender when it comes time to fill out their ballots for DPOY, but those who've watched him most closely over the years maintain that he's more specialist than complete defender. The numbers tell us one thing, our eyes sometimes tell us another. Camby won't be a candidate for DPOY this season for a variety of reasons, but as a former winner, he'll likely be in the mix for All-Defensive Teams. Does he deserve it? The links above advance his case, but it's also worth looking at his on-court performance with a naked eye. I don't want to suggest that the first quarter of a meaningless game in the final week of the regular season is a representative sample of Camby's performance, but...meaningless games are all we have. Consider this review of Camby's first quarter Monday night as a narrow window into the current state of his defensive game:
Hank Stern of the Willamette Week writes...
How Portland Is He: So Portland. Clean record (aside from the league-standard pot offense in the late '90s) and active with various charities. The tough part would be letting camby go at the end of the season.
...
1) This is a deal that should improve the Blazers' playoff position this year, increasing the odds they can make it out of the first round. And they did it without sacrificing anybody who's part of the longer-term effort to build a championship contender. Good on them.
2) As former Blazers coach Jack Ramsay said this morning on 95.5 The Game, it's worth noting that Camby has been injury-prone and the Blazers obviously don't need another big man to succumb to the team's unfortunate history of centers with injuries (Bill Walton, Sam Bowie, Greg Oden, etc.)
3) And while Blazers fans should be happy if the deal happens, there's got to be a smidgen of sympathy for Clippers fans who once again are on the short end.
Travis Demers from 1080 The Fan writes...
Initially, I really like this deal, should it happen. In fact, I love it. We know Kevin Pritchard isn't going to make a deal just to make one. The roster as it is right now (before the trade) is NOT going to be able to compete in the post season. They can get there, but that's about it. Adding Camby changes that.
WHY I LIKE THIS DEAL -
-You have a legit center. After losing both Oden and Przybilla they don't have anyone in the middle. Camby brings rebounding, and toughness that the team lacks right now. Not to mention his defensive presence in the paint. Yes he is aging, but yes, he can absolutely improve that defense and front court. He won't score a ton, and won't need to.
-LaMarcus Aldridge can be himself. This give LA a chance to stop worrying about the possibility of being a combo F/C, and the pressure of him needing to be the man defensively and on the boards will allow him to be the 4 that he needs to be.
The Invisible Ninja says Synergy isn't slobbering over Camby...
Hope Camby brings the intangibles, because his offensive and defensive metrics in Synergy are unimpressive at best.
For this year, Synergy rates Camby as an "Average" (38%) individual defender and as "Average" (33%) on offense. He has contributed 0.86 PPP on offense.
Coup from Rip City Project reasons...
there is literally no downside to this deal barring an epic fit thrown by Camby, though it sounds as though he is more upset with the Clippers than anything. No risk-medium reward here.
SJ had a funny reaction to Camby's distaste for the deal last night...
Just to use another Jersey Shore reference...looks like we got a situation. Did Hedo text him or something? Now the whole deal takes on a different spin. I mean I loved the deal because I thought Camby would want to leave the Clippers and get to a contender, but it looks like that may not be so. Reason why I didn't want Tyrus Thomas? Attitude. Not sure I want Camby's attitude either. As the world turns..
Eric Freeman of the Sporting News writes...
This is a great deal for the Blazers: they give away no long-term assets and get a sorely needed big man to protect the rim and grab rebounds. There have been talks for much of the last few weeks that they were most interested in Brendan Haywood, but Camby was the logical next target with Haywood now in Dallas. He'll be a huge upgrade over Juwan Howard in the middle.
Last night, Bill Simmons tweeted...
Did the Clips really just give away Marcus Camby for Steve Blake + Travis Outlaw? Please tell me that wasn't the whole trade.
Yup, another Dumbleavy special!
David Locke, the radio broadcaster for the Utah Jazz, is mad...
The LA Clipps never cease to amaze. They just traded Marcus Camby to a Western Contender and all they got was cash, not even cap space, cash
Quick anaylsis of Camby to Port: Will help defensively but not dramatically, will hurt offensively in limited possessions. 35 yrs old.
Anaylsis of Camby to Port #2 -- losing Steve Blake will hurt Port. Good +/- last 2 years. More Bayless is bad for Blazers.
Bottom line - Def gained by Camby will be off-set by having Bayless on floor more 4 Port and not better offensively with trade. Minor impact
Nathan Begley of Portland Roundball Sociefy writes...
Steve Blake is a steady veteran who doesn't make many mistakes and Travis Outlaw is Brandon Roy's best friend on the team, a locker room glue guy, and one of the most interesting characters on the Blazer's team. Both will be missed, though possibly not for long.
Ezra Ace Caraeff of the Portland Mercury writes...
Wasted steak and hurt feelings aside, trading Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw (and possibly some cash) for Camby is a big deal for Portland. All involved parties have expiring contracts, meaning that no player is obligated to stay with their new team after the season ends in a few months. That means Outlaw will test the free-agent market and might return next year, while Blake, um, well, it was nice knowing you.
But this is about Camby. What he offers the injury-depleted Blazers is rebounds, rebounds, rebounds, and more rebounds. He's ranked second in the NBA (behind superstar Dwight Howard) in boards, and will provide the stopgap this team needs under the basket. He's also sixth in the league in blocks (nearly two a game), and while his game is far from flashy, Camby brings the no-frills reliability the Blazers so desperately crave.
aramnath on SBNation's Front Office Fans writes...
For GM Kevin Pritchard and the Blazers this deal will help them address their lack of size in the frontcourt and adds no payroll to the salary cap after this year with Camby's contract expiring this summer. Another excellent move by a franchise that has made many over the past few years.
The Clippers on the other hand make another trade that should leave their fans dumbfounded by the stupidity of GM Mike Dunleavy. The issue here isn't trading Camby. In fact, that was the prudent move to make after they dropped to 10 games under .500 heading into the All-Star break. Camby is a quality big man and with teams looking to solidify their rosters heading into the last third of the season into the playoffs this was a good time to sell high on him. While the Clippers certainly did sell, they failed to get any real value in return.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter