Marcus Camby has been a somewhat polarizing player in the sphere of NBA discussion since he was named the 2006-07 Defensive Player of the Year. Camby has built a career as a serviceable offensive player, but an elite rebounder and help defender. He’ll record his 2,000th block sometime before Thanksgiving. If he can stay healthy, he’s got a chance to finish his career as one of the NBA’s top 10 most prolific shot-blockers of all-time.
Archive for April, 2009
Checking in on Camby’s Defense
On April - 15 - 2009
Clipper for Life
On April - 15 - 2009
Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times has a long profile of someone who hasn’t missed a single Clippers game in 30 years – play-by-play man Ralph Lawler:
Bob Miller, the hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster for the Kings, says there is no harder job than calling the action of an awful team, game after game, minute after endless minute.
Lawler has been doing that for the Clippers for 30 years, but the losses — 1,583 — have not defeated him.
Not a Particularly Happy Birthday…
On April - 14 - 2009
…for Baron Davis last night at Salt Lake City [hat tip, Basketbawful]:
Morning Roundup
On April - 14 - 2009
- Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune: “The Clippers are probably five times as talented as the Golden State team that beat the Jazz with seven players on Saturday, but they sure didn’t play like it. Baron Davis – - no C.J. Watson – - was 1-for-13 and finished with three points and seven assists. For the game, the Clippers went 5-for-19 from three-point range, got to the foul line less than half as much as the Jazz and were outrebounded 50-36 and outscored 23-7 on second chance points.”
Utah 106, Clippers 85
On April - 14 - 2009
This season, a procession of visiting coaches delivered identical pregame bytes to the media prior to taking the court against the Clippers. “I told my guys that this is a talented NBA team they’re facing. The Clippers have a lot of guys who can play.” The 2008-09 Clippers’ team managed to sell expectations of its talent until the final days of the season. They’ve existed in a platonic force field ruled by the idea that the design could work, if only… That dynamic generates a powerful intensity that’s hard to let go of. Most 60-loss teams don’t achieve spectacular failure, they just lose lots of games. The 08-09 Clippers are one of the exceptions, and they’ve made for an ugly, but captivating, subject. Call it Stockholm Syndrome, but over the past few days, I’ve been hit by a strange pang of sadness at the thought that, after Wednesday, we won’t see the 08-09 Clippers ever again.