2007-08 — The Nuggets 1.1 points per 100 possessions better off with him on the court
2006-07 — The Nuggets were 2.1 points per 100 possessions worse off while Camby was on the floor
2005-06 — The Nuggets were 3.6 points per 100 possessions better off with Camby on the court

That 8.5 number Camby posted last year with the Clippers looks out of place … I wouldn’t put it a lot of faith in it at this point … it’ll be interesting to see if it repeats itself next season.

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That’s a pretty enjoyable (to read) way to put it. I think we have at least two, but I’m not sold on having a Robinson yet.

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The RRR scale works as follows: You have Randolphs, Robinsons and Riders, named after Zach Randolph, Clifford Robinson and Isaiah Rider respectfully. We have all three types of players on our team so its a good point of reference. You can use this classification for evaluating veterans and prospects, typically youll see these intangible qualities a lot clearer.

The Randolphs are good players that can only play their style of basketball. Like Z-Bo, JO, Stoudemire, Iverson etc. Great players but you sacrifice a lot in order to let them be the dynamic stars that they are. You might have a system, but these guys arent going to use it. As far as they are concerned, they deserve $16M a year because clearly they are the best player on the court.

The Robinsons are your Clifford Robinson types of players, they adjust and become excellent in regards to how the team wants to play. The best guys to represent this would be Chris Bosh, Grant Hill, Ray Allen, Carlos Boozer, Marcus Camby, Pau Gasol, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett etc. These guys excel by adapting to situations, will make an extra pass, are aware of their teammates and typically play excellent defense. They will add whats needed as the game unfolds and step up where needed. They can also be focal points of the team but typically thrive as a member of the team as opposed to being its sole star.

The Riders are your Isaiah Rider type of players. They add nothing to the team except terminal brain cancer and some flashy highlights on ESPN. They might show up 30 minutes late to a game with a loaded weapon and a pound of cocaine in the backseat of their car. Some may have a court date to make where they “allegedly” stabbed a guy at a strip club or beat up a transgender hooker in some Canadian backalley. These guys are over the top, they might drive drunk over 100 mph while masturbating to porn on their in dash LCD player and crash into a locomotive for kicks. Total nutjob headcases. Your team has a better chance of recovering from terminal brain cancer than winning with these guys. The accused of this lot are guys like Ricky Davis, Stephon Marbury, Shawn Kemp, Antoine Walker, Derrick Coleman, Eddie Griffin, etc. Krispy Kreme is probably one of the creditors filing grievances against them when they are bankrupt at 45. These are guys you waive even though you owe them $20M in salary because they were once promising Randolphs.

In free agency, drafting, etc, you want to get and keep a Robinson and trade off your Randolphs for picks and prospects. Thats your hope. But Randolphs still sell tickets and can win games.

I guess my rambling point comes down to this: Camby is a Robinson. We already own Randolph and Ricky Davis.

Even at 34, Camby is a better investment from a team perspective.

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Thanks for the kind words…

“Evaluating hoops is simply a matter of getting your eye in agreement with your data-reading mind.”

That’s the best summation of what it is to be a thinking fan, ain’t it?

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Evaluating hoops is simply a matter of getting your eye in agreement with your data-reading mind.

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I’ve always been a fan of Camby’s defensive game. His weaknesses are obvious, but the strengths he brings allow you to hide a lot of your other defensive players’ weaknesses.

He adds a lot to the toolkit.

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To a certain degree, greatness in the NBA depends on your versatility, since you have to mesh the with the semi-randomly selected players around you. And Camby is not versatile. But he really is damn good at what he does well.

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