Sunday, January 18, 2009

Marcus Camby?

So about Marcus Camby....:

Nick (Cleveland): Any substance to the idea that Marcus Camby could go to the Cavs for Wally Szczerbiak and a first-rounder? He would be the perfect fit in Cleveland.

Marc Stein: There's substance only from the perspective that this would be the only kind of deal that the Clips would accept for Camby. Taking back a contract shorter than Camby's incentives-laden deal, in other words.

He's got the most cap-friendly contract of any of the big names in Clipperland, and Donald Sterling is not in the mood to add any more money to the payroll after his (relatively) open checkbook of the past few years failed to prevent the Clips from winding up in a race to avoid this season's worst record.

If a deal like this ever did go down, though, it would be a total steal for the Cavs. A dream. Which is probably why we shouldn't even be addressing it.

How valuable is a future first from the Cavs going to be? That pick and Wally's expiring contract isn't nearly enough for Camby.

Andy (Las Vegas): Tell Nick that Camby fits even MORE perfectly in Detroit ... and can be traded for Rip Hamilton, who would fit in nicely with Baron in L.A.

Stein: We repeat: Donald Sterling is not going to take back a deal longer than Camby's. Rip just signed an extension.

Jason (Cleveland): Steiny Mo: Have any of your sources brought up this Camby deal? You MUST elaborate before you send the entire city into an uproar.

Stein: Sorry. I was purely responding to a chat-room hypothetical. (Later learned that this scenario was tossed out in one of the Cleveland papers recently).

So I don't want to suggest that this Camby-to-Cleveland idea is in any way live. One source who would know described it to me as a "fan fantasy."

I should also say that while such a scenario is indicative of the KIND of move that the Cavs have the capability of making with Wally's expiring contract -- IF they decide to mess with their good chemistry -- most observers still expect them to make a trade before the deadline only if they can get a big-timer from the Vince Carter/Michael Redd class. They wanted another big man even before losing Zydrunas Ilgauskas, but there's also a feeling in Cavsland that they're deep enough to survive injuries to Big Z and Delonte West as long as they stay in the one-month to six-week range.

I'd love (LOVE) Marcus Camby, but I'm not seeing how the Cavs can pry him from LA.

I do think this type of team is the best fit for Carter at this point.

As for Redd, do the Cavs really want to reunite the backcourt of a terrible Bucks team?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really think that it's going to be either Gerald Wallace or Carter. Not too long ago, I would've said they would go after another big, but with the emergence of Orlando, the Cavs need either a.) defense and/or b.) more scoring. Wallace can help tremendously against Hedo or Rashard (or Pierce or even Kobe), and Carter would provide mostly help on the offensive side.

If I was a betting man, I'd say its Wallace because the Bobcats probably want to move him.

Anonymous said...

I DO NOT WANT GERALD WALLACE. Just needed to make that clear. I know he can defend, but I dont want a Larry Hughes redux. Hes a slasher who cant hit the J consistantly and is quite injury prone. I think Ben mentioned this in an earlier post and I couldnt agree more.

As for VC, if he can pull off what KG and Ray Allen did for Boston last year, I would take him in a heartbeat. He is another guy with size who is an underrated defender. No doubt his style would fit in with the Cavs, but will his attitude be a positive one?

Ben said...

I'm really intrigued by Carter, I'm not gonna lie. The guy is a perennial all-star and borderline HoF'er.

And most of his bad tendencies will be masked by having LeBron. He wouldn't have to shoulder the load, he wouldn't have to go inside all the time and he would just have to help out.

Now, whether or not he would take a role off the bench or agree to splitting time with Delonte, I don't know. But I'd imagine he'd be open to making a sacrifice for at least a few legit shots at a title.

Anonymous said...

The Other Ben - I agree, Wallace scares me for all the reasons you mention plus his contract. I just think its going to be one of those two at this point. I'm concerned about VC's game in a LeBron-led system. We could do a lot worse. I suppose the Miller-Salmons combo is another decent possibility, as we'd get a big and a wing.

Anonymous said...

has anybody been paying attention to the last couple of weeks??? if i'm not mistaken, the problem with this team over that time, stemming mainly from all of their injuries, has been the lack of scoring from their big men and l.a. just completely bitch-slapped them last night to the tune of 36 points between pau gasol & andrew bynum. watching lorenzen wright trying to cover them would be like watching my grandma trying to walk a great dane. shudder. anyway, enough talk about big guards like gerald wallace, vince carter, michael redd & john salmons. if you ask me, they need to go after a power forward who can score, rebound and defend, someone like washington's antawn jamison would look just skippy in wine and gold. you put him on the front line with lebron and andy (sorry ben) and this team jumps to a whole nother level. we can only hope.