Marcus Camby isn’t looking at his trade for a second-round pick to the Clippers solely as a way for the Nuggets to dump salary. He sees himself as the scapegoat for the team’s problems over the last couple of years.
“Blindsided, distraught, disrespected,” said Camby. “All those adjectives. I definitely feel insulted,” he said in a telephone interview with the Rocky Mountain News.
“When I first heard about the trade, I felt like I was the scapegoat after all our past first-round exits and failures and lack of defense,” Camby said. “I felt it was them telling me that I was no longer wanted, and I was the cause of everything that went wrong the last couple years on this team.”
“I’m still in disbelief. I’m still in shock. I still can’t believe this happened.”
“Obviously, the Nuggets don’t owe me any explanation,” Camby said. “I understand that this is definitely a business, but I felt that the six years of service that I put in on the court and off the court, they at least could have given me a heads-up on what was going on. I feel very disrespected on that aspect.”
Is trading Camby to the Clippers a way of shoveling the blame for Denver’s recent failures onto his shoulders?
Source: Rocky Mountain News
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July 17th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
tealish says:
The trade doesn’t make sense. But Camby’s not too great anyway. Good defender, but almost overrated in that respect as well.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
POINTFWD13 says:
The NBA is the best league in the world. It’s also the shadiest.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
sans says:
I don’t know, couldn’t they have gotten rid of K-Mart for a 2nd-rounder? Camby did a lot more for what he got payed.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Kobeef says:
What’s up with teams who don’t even make a call to a guy they are trading.
I agree with Camby - 6 years and a kick in the face? WTF
July 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Prof. TX says:
This looks like Denver refusing to admit that the Iverson/Anthony pair didn’t work as well as they wanted it to. They ship out Camby and tell their fans “look, we made changes, wait until the ‘09 playoffs” instead of changing the parts that need more work.
Denver might be the team that loses it’s postseason spot to the Blazers. The Mavs have a good chance at losing their spot too, but Denver is definitely in the running unless they have some improvements coming.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
hahns says:
cambys got a legit gripe. all he was asking for was a headsup. you put in six years with a team and then one day you wake up a clipper. he even qualifies his statements with “nuggets dont owe me an explanation.”
July 17th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
fiyaman says:
I dont think they were blaming him. Everyone knew they were trying to lose salary and his contract was the easiest to rid. At the same time it definetly was an insult to trade him for no one(not even a 1st round pick i mean who gets trade for a 2rounder..not even Kwame Brown) and being there for 6yrs i’d definetly be mad but i dont think the intentionaly was trying to use him as scapegoat..
Knicks need to go get him for one of her bigmacs (i.e curry and James and maybe we throw in Nate to sweetin things)
July 17th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Tha Boddy says:
I feel for Camby I think he should have been given notice bu t hey you can’t expect the people who own your rights to just update you on everything they don’t wanna hear the gruff that comes and will come. But someone should have said something to him he has been a model player and almost 10ppg 12rpg 2blk guy the whole time…give him respect there is no overrated in the stats because like owners and team management and some players they don’t lie.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Blue says:
i agree with fiyaman…
i don’t think they were making him out to be the scapegoat. he was just the most expendable player with a sizeable contract. i’m sure it was a tough choice.
but being traded for a second round pick is kinda shitty!
July 17th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Ross says:
He’s only upset because he was trading for nothing. He feels like that is his worth now.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Scott says:
this trade still baffles me. Outside of Melo and AI, Camby was the most consistent player on their squad. For some reason the Nuggets organization as a whole just seems to be free falling. Dumping contracts without a plan to use that free’d up money is never EVER a good sign for a franchise.
Damn I feel for AI.
July 17th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Marci In D-Town says:
Once again, the front office and their stupidity has reared it’s ugly head. All this means is that whenever he sees us, he’s going to light us up. Thanks again front office, you just keep getting better and better. Idiots.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Luigi says:
ah yes the only player on Denver who actually commits to playing D. gets traded 4 basically nothing
now that Denver is Camby-less. they will give up 130-140 ppg. n im guessing Kobe or Gil or Lebron or some prolific scorer to score their career high
Over/Under vs. Den
Kobe-70 pts
Gilbert-50 pts
LBJ-60 pts
lol n also Denver will have Melo n AI score 50 pts each just to have a chance of winning.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
ML says:
Man Camby need’s shut his mouth. His Injury prone ass need’s to call it a career im glad his ass is gone. This is the same game that missed some time before with a messed up pinkie. Pinkie? Team him up with Chris Kamam and you got 2 of the most injury plagued player’s in the entire league. He’s a good defender but he can’t post up has no post moves. He shoot’s that 15 foot slingshot. He’s going to do okay as a Clipper but he will be injured again.
July 17th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
fiyaman says:
@post 13
70 wont be a career high for Kobe.. did u forget the 81.. he might go for 100 against them
July 17th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Promoman says:
I’ll upgrade Prof. TX’s point. It definitely sounds like something shady went down. Yesterday, news leaked out accusing Camby of being a cancer because he griped about getting too few shots. This comes immediately after the surprise trade and before Camby’s public statement. Add to the fact that a Camby swap has been a staple of trade rumors for the past few years and the bullshit smells all the louder. I’m not a Denver fan but I question the trade. Camby, Najera, and some nights K-Mart, were the closest things to defenders that the Nuggets have. They’d better have a helluva in place because they’re gonna suck. The only things that AI and Melo have to look forward to is the usual license to gun and the All-Star Game.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Tom says:
I would rather have Camby on my team than Melo or AI. In fact, I’d rather have Camby on my team than Melo and AI.
July 18th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Ferdiberdi says:
Nuggets with Camby = can’t see winning the chip
Nuggets without Camby = same old stuff
Nuggets = not going anywhere fast. As a disgruntled fan, I can’t be more excited.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Kudabeen says:
Denver doing this is more of a sign that they aren’t a championship caliber organization then blaming Camby for Melo not dominating his match-ups…
Denver like the Clippers top down don’t have the capacity to navigate the fine line between the egos of talent and their agents and the egos of the front office people and their owners. To many of the teams in the L have owners and front office people that thinks they are the “product”. You won’t win making guys like Brand and Camby feel slighted. Model NBA citizens by all accounts. Is it that hard to contact a guy and let them know what’s up?
How many guys have RC Buford, Joe Dumars left feeling spurned and “disrespected”? It’s more to winning and doing good business than collecting talent and writing checks (ask Cuban and Dolan). Top down the organization has to be in sync. During the season guys shouldn’t have to wonder about their role and what direction the team is headed. They should only be focused on how to get better and help the team elevate. Was Glen Davis, Powe, Posey, House and all looking over their shoulders all season worrying about their spots? Seems like they were able to buy in to what the entire organization was trying to do…Get a Chip.
The Blazers, Hornets will win Chips before Nuggets, because their organizations are attempting to do it right…
Having said that, if Camby was as much as a cancer as we are hearing post trade and if Brand really was on board to play for LA and changed his mind, then tried to blame LA for treating him bad, they have no legs to stand on.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Kudabeen says:
Tom,
I don’t know about Camby over AI and Melo…
Based on what? His tireless effort? That’s laughable. Don’t get me wrong Camby is a solid Big in the league, but his numbers were inflated because he was on a team give the green light to jack up shots (good or bad) and they didn’t play defense so all blow-bys were directed to Camby to get a handful of blocks. He just started to shake the nickname of Mr. Glass. His durability is due to the fact that he avoids the paint more than most Bigs in the league IMO…
Melo, I’m not too high on, because he just doesn’t bring it when they need it. He hasn’t figured out how to make things happen when his J isn’t failing…
AI…carried this retched Nuggets team into the playoffs. If Denver was serious about winning they would have gotten a big guard how can handle the ball at some point. Anthony Carter shouldn’t be starting with AI and guarding Kobe EVER.
George Karl was never an elite coach and since his recover he has been more of a ghost on the bench. Denver is not ready to get to that next level.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
dukesman2000 says:
How can the blame him for defense inadequacies. The guy has about a thousand blocks and rebounds a season