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Say this for the Los Angeles Clippers: Nobody has managed to grab more headlines this summer. The two biggest free-agent moves thus far have seen Baron Davis arriving in Los Angeles and Elton Brand departing the city. Tuesday, the Clippers used most of their remaining cap space to execute a trade, acquiring center Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets for the right to swap second-round picks in 2010.
When Brand decided to bolt for Philadelphia, it left Los Angeles with limited free-agent options. The top players remaining on the market--Atlanta's Josh Smith, Charlotte's Emeka Okafor, Chicago's Luol Deng, Golden State's Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis and Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala--are restricted free agents, making them difficult to pry away from their former teams. None of the midrange talents available, like Philadelphia's Louis Williams, made much sense for the Clippers, who need a power forward to replace Brand.
That left the Clippers with two choices--save their cap space for the future or use it to acquire Brand's successor in a trade. Reports last week linked Los Angeles to New York's Zach Randolph, which would have meant taking on a bad contract and a deeply-flawed player. In Camby, the Clippers have found a much better fit, both in terms of performance and flexibility.
There are two years left on Camby's deal, which leaves Los Angeles with cap room for the highly-anticipated 2010 free-agent class. And while it almost seems secondary in the modern NBA, Camby also happens to be an awfully good player. I picked him for my All-NBA Third Team last season as well as Second Team All-Defensive. Camby instantly makes the Clippers a much better defensive team. His presence in the paint will be invaluable for a team with extremely weak one-on-one defenders on the wings.
The biggest question Los Angeles will have to resolve is how Camby and Chris Kaman will coexist. Both are naturally centers, though Camby often played power forward early in his NBA career. On offense, fitting Camby and Kaman together should not be an issue. In fact, Camby is a much better complement for Kaman's low-post game than Brand was because of the newcomer's preference to play in the high post.
Defensively, Camby figures to defend most power forwards, but smaller lineups will create difficult matchups. Even if Camby can stay with these quicker players, having him on the perimeter takes away the ability to help that makes him so valuable on defense. In Tim Thomas, the Clippers have an effective small four of their own, but having him at the position for extended minutes means taking either Camby or Kaman off the floor.
Despite some concerns with the Camby/Kaman pairing, in isolation it's hard to knock the move. The Clippers get an All-Star-caliber performer signed to a very reasonable contract without giving up anything of value. If they did not expect to be able to land one of the top restricted free agent big men, Camby is a terrific alternative. The issue remains that this is a Clippers team that doesn't entirely fit together. There's an unusual mix of youngsters on the wings (Eric Gordon and Al Thornton) and veterans like Camby, Davis and Thomas elsewhere.
My analysis showed a Clippers squad with Brand as an above-.500 one that still might not be good enough to crack the Western Conference playoffs, and with Camby stepping in for Brand the projection becomes slightly less optimistic. If everyone stays healthy and things break right, this is a team that finishes in one of the bottom three spots in the playoffs and throws a scare into one of the favorites before bowing out. Compared to most of the franchise's history, that sounds pretty good, but the Clippers aren't exactly aiming high.
On the Denver side, this deal looks considerably worse. The Nuggets' rationale is obvious; by moving Camby, they save not only his salary for next season but also the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax they would have had to pay, a total of somewhere between $16 and 20 million, depending on how you account for Camby's bonuses. Even with a payroll in tax territory, Denver has been living out the kind of future I imagine for the Clippers--annually serving as a first-round sacrifice--without much flexibility to take the next step.
That said, if the Nuggets were looking to get better, dealing Camby was not the place to start. Having him anchoring the middle was a major reason why Denver was able to rank 10th in the NBA in Defensive Rating (and much higher earlier in the year before faltering down the stretch and especially in the postseason) despite starting a backcourt of 6'0" (generously) Allen Iverson and 6'2" Anthony Carter, while showing a distinct lack of focus on the defensive end.
Ultimately, the Nuggets were forced to trade Camby in large part because of the generous six-year, $60 million deal they gave Nenê as a restricted free agent two summers ago. Nenê played well as a starter alongside Camby in 2006-07 before last season was virtually wiped out by his battle with testicular cancer. Nonetheless, in going from Camby to Nenê in the middle Denver will experience a major drop-off.
As for who plays behind Kenyon Martin and the injury-prone Nenê up front, that's tough to say. With Eduardo Najera departing in free agency, the only other true big man on the roster is Steven Hunter, who played just 118 minutes last season. Presumably some of the money saved by dealing Camby will go toward signing another big man, but the Nuggets also have to try to find room to potentially re-sign restricted free agent guard J.R. Smith. Denver did get a break when point guard Anthony Carter re-signed with the team for the veteran minimum, less than he might have commanded elsewhere.
Can a weakened Nuggets team still make the postseason? That will be a challenge. The Clippers leapfrogged Denver in the order of contenders for the bottom few playoff spots with this move, while the young talent in Portland puts the Blazers ahead of both teams, and Golden State is also in the mix.
The Nuggets' brass is hinting to the media that there may be other moves in store, and this deal does create a sizeable trade exception that Denver has a year to use. The timing is good in that the Nuggets will be able to use it this time a year from now when other teams may be looking to dump contracts and Denver's payroll will be in better shape because of the expiration of Allen Iverson's mammoth $20 million contract. Even then, it's hard to see how the Nuggets will be able to add a player of Camby's ability; the guys teams are willing to move in pure salary dumps are usually along the lines of, well, the aforementioned Randolph.
A bold move was in order for Denver after a fifth consecutive first-round playoff exit. Dealing Camby, however, doesn't add up.
Kevin Pelton is an author of Basketball Prospectus.
You can contact Kevin by clicking here or click here to see Kevin's other articles.
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