Kevin Pritchard once again made a trade only a rich owner could afford by acquiring Marcus Camby in exchange for $1.5 million (as well as paying Camby's bonus provisions) along with Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw.
With both Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla out for the season with injuries, the 37-year-old Juwan Howard has been playing 31.5 minutes per night since the first of the year, something he hasn't done since 05-06. Howard didn't sign on for that kind of duty and the Blazers couldn't afford to keep trotting him out there for that many minutes per night. The Blazers have lost nine points per 100 possessions this season with Howard on the floor, as he's been horribly outplayed at both center and power forward.
Camby is also firmly in his mid-30's, but he has a lot more milage left and is consistently competent on both ends of the floor. He has the best rebound rate in the entire NBA and though he has unquestionably slipped as a shotblocker since leaving Denver, he is still an effective off-ball presence in that role.
Offensively, Camby isn't having as good of a season as he did in 08-09, but his 55.6 TS% was largely an aberration from his career mark of 50.9%. This season, it is down to 49.7% with his struggles happening during a frustrating month of January offensively.
He likes to play at the elbow offensively and has a jumper that must be respected, though he is not nearly as deadly as new teammate LaMarcus Aldridge.
Camby is an underrated passer and facilitator and he creates a ton of extra possessions with his ability on the offensive glass.
Camby isn't too thrilled about being dealt to Portland, but an almost 36-year-old, 14-year vet playing for one more contract won't let that affect his play whatsoever, especially since he could be back home in Los Angeles by the beginning of May.
The Blazers were also interested in Brendan Haywood, who was dealt in a seven-player trade last week to Dallas. Haywood is the better defensive player and is significantly younger than Camby, which would open up the possibility of him re-signing if things began to look especially bleak with the recovery of either Oden or Przybilla. Washington was rumored to be asking for talent, along with cash, which made that concept of a rental feel far too costly.
Blake and Outlaw have been very good veteran role players for the Blazers over the past few seasons, but were non-essential expiring contracts.
Blake became a dead man walking as soon as the Blazers signed Andre Miller this offseason, because either Jerryd Bayless would begin commanding minutes, or they would pull together some assets to make a run at a young starting point guard. Blake had a career season in 08-09, starting 69 games, but he's always been a back-up in starter's clothing despite the 289 career starts. His numbers across the board got worse this season and he's a few days away from 30.
Outlaw is just now hitting his prime and is set to sign a contract with another team this summer that wants him more and has more minutes available than the Blazers could offer. His versatility at both forward positions has been hugely valuable, but the younger, cheaper and more offensively gifted wing options of Nicolas Batum, Martell Webster and Rudy Fernandez makes relinquishing Outlaw an easy decision.
The deal from Portland's perspective was an easy one to make because they should be virtually guaranteed a playoff spot for the second straight season, which is fairly crucial for a young team, and the price tag is far from prohibitive. They also managed to block Camby from going back to Denver or more importantly to Oklahoma City, who would have been significantly buoyed by Camby at their weakest position.
Grade for Blazers: A
This deal is a morale buster for the Clippers, who get no assets back in return other than the cash. They should have at least received a heavily-protected first rounder or even the draft rights to Joel Freeland as something to take back to their players and fans. The Clippers weren't making the playoffs clearly, but mustering a full effort over their final 30 games will prove extremely difficult.
Camby had a lot of value in this market because he is an expiring while still holding value over the stretch run of the regular season and playoffs. While I realize the Clippers also want cap space this summer, they probably won't have enough space to sign a max free agent without a sign-and-trade anyways and they could have held out for one of those deals instead of getting nothing but money for Camby.
DeAndre Jordan, the floor is now yours.
Grade for Clippers: F
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