Canzano: Trail Blazers pick the wrong time to be in a rush
Published: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 3:14 PM *** Updated: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 3:24 PM
By John Canzano, The Oregonian
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View full sizeRandy L. Rasmussen, The Oregonian
Marcus Camby leads the Blazers in rebounding.
If you're swallowing the company line at One Center Court then you might believe that Trail Blazers center Marcus Camby emerged from his knee surgery on Thursday, jogging and dribbling a basketball.
He did not.
Portland's announcement that Camby will return from arthroscopic knee surgery in three weeks was a puzzling one.
Three weeks? Camby?
Feels too soon. Until you realize that what we have here is not a timetable, but some old-fashioned posturing. Three weeks isn't a timetable for Camby's return, it's more or less a countdown to the trade deadline, which the Blazers would have you believe is a remarkable coincidence.
Nevermind that Camby has been a slow healer in his career. Nevermind that anyone who has coached him will tell you the center doesn't like to be pushed before he's ready. He's a later-rather-than-sooner type when it comes to healing from an injury.
Still, Camby got operated on Thursday in Vancouver, Wash., and when he came out, he found his ride home waiting. Also, he found this very public three-week deadline to get back on the court.
So we've stepped into a giant poker game, haven't we?
You might note that while Camby has been injury-prone in his career, he is not known as a faker. Those who have played with him understand that his career has been marked by injuries, and dings, and he's missed games. But they believe him to be a warrior, who wants to be on the court but just takes his time. He's missed so many games over his career that the contract the Blazers inherited when they traded for him included four tiers of provisions and incentives.
"They had stuff in there for games played, and games missed, and it was very complex," said a Blazers source who reviewed the contract. "It was huge. He missed a ton of incentives."
Camby turns 37 in March. He's just undergone a surgery to repair a partial medial meniscus tear. He has one year remaining on his Blazers contract. But what the organization has turned him into now is a stooge, who they hope will try to rush back and make it appear as though the team is in a better bargaining position.
Portland would like to trade Joel Przybilla before the trade deadline. There's a market for a 7-foot center who could be a wonderful back-up. Trouble is, Przybilla has looked stiff and immobile. He hasn't jumped well since surgery to repair a ruptured patellar tendon. Still, he's back and his contract will expire at the end of the season, so the Blazers are focused on trying to move him for the best piece they can get.
That's where Camby comes in, sort of.
Because if he appears ready to play (or close to it) before the deadline, he becomes more tradeable himself. Also, it makes the Blazers appear to have some leverage and depth at center instead of looking naked at that position should Przybilla be shipped out. Also, if Camby can get back and make the three-week miracle heal-job, even if he's playing 8-10 minutes a game, he helps the team.
I suppose it's not the worst thing to put deadline pressure on a human being. Some people respond wonderfully to them. So where was the deadline for Greg Oden? And why, post-Brandon Roy surgery, was no timetable trotted out? And why does everything this basketball organization do look so clumsy and forced?
Quit posturing. Let Camby heal. Trade Przybilla.
The Blazers feel preoccupied with minutia right now. They need to think big picture, not details. And if the future is going to be successful it's going to start in the next three weeks. Camby isn't the one who needs to heal -- the Blazers are.
Behind the scenes, owner Paul Allen is said to be impatient with how things have gone. Those who have talked with him say he's unwilling to give up anything of value in a trade and also is miffed that the Blazers froze and allowed the Oden exception to expire without using it. Furthermore, he has to be looking at the trade that sent Jerryd Bayless to New Orleans with his head turned sideways now, puzzled at how that deal doesn't currently appear likely to produce anything more than a late-teens draft pick.
Portland should have shot for the moon over the past month with its roster. It should have been thinking bold. Gunslinger moves. Maybe those would have included trading Camby. Maybe they wouldn't have. But not now. Not with him healing, post-surgery. Not with other teams looking at his future and wondering how effective he'll be.
All that flew away.
Now that three-week timetable just feels like a ticking clock.
-- John Canzano
