How could I avoid writing up a guy who picked up 17 boards last night? Well, this little blurb isn’t so much praise as it is a warning.

With Nene out for the season, Marcus Camby is the clear and unquestioned #1 centre in Denver. He’s 31, he’s extremely frail, and his career high in games played is 72. But this guy has an upside.

Last year, in 66 games, Marcus averaged 15 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 blocks/night. His FG % was nice at 46.5, and he wasn’t awful at the FT line to kill you (72%).

He blocked 6 shots last night! When he’s on he’ll do that. Camby is an all-or-nothing player who’s either hurt, or grabbing 15 rebounds. Since he’s averaged about 60 games/year in his long career (he entered the league in ‘96 as the Raptors’ 1st round pick), you’re really not getting much of a guarantee when you draft/trade for Camby. Sure he’s a double-double every night and a huge help in blocks, but he’s also the kind of guy who you should be able to deal to a blocks-rebounds poor team for a reliable option at guard or forward.

It’s impossible to peg Camby’s trade value. If there’s a team in your league that’s desperate for blocks you might be able to use games like last night to pick up a Top 5 point guard. Just know that Camby won’t play a full-season. In fact he’s just as likely to get hurt tomorrow as he is a month down the road. He has chronic back problems and at 6′11″, 31 years old, they’re going to keep him out for a couple weeks at a time. He’s also not afraid to sprain his ankle and miss 3 weeks, or bang his knee and miss a month. Remember his career high in games played is 72, and his career low is 29. And he’s done that a couple times.

Marcus Camby Career Statistics