The Fig Cap: Upon hearing news of his trade from the Nuggs to the Clips, Camby replied, “NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Yeah, Marcus Camby is no longer a Denver Nugget, which absolutely makes no sense considering he was traded for an OPTION of a second round draft pick from the Los Angeles Clippers.  Yes, Camby will be in the Clip Joint, but how happy will he be going from a playoff-caliber team that has the presence of Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony to a team that historically “messes it up.”  Okay, so the signing of Baron Davis could work out very well for the Clips, but still… it’s the Clippers!  Which is why I don’t understand how they got Camby for NOTHING!  Yeah, I know… the Nuggs were shedding salary and clearing up cap space.  Ugh… still ugly.

What WON’T be ugly, however, is getting the Camby Man on your fantasy squad. 

Let’s be honest… aside from the Atlanta Hawks’ Josh Smith and to a lesser degree, the Miami Heat’s Shawn Marion, no one puts up the defensive stats to the way that Camby does, which is why he wasn’t named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the 2006-07 season.  Add the guaranteed double-digit boards and you’re golden in three categories right off the bat!  Just looking at the past three seasons, let’s take a look at the prime categories that Camby will produce for your fantasy team.

2005-06: 56 G; 11.9 RPG; 1.4 SPG; 3.3 BPG
2006-07: 70 G; 11.7 RPG; 1.2 SPG; 3.3 BPG
2007-08: 79 G; 13.1 RPG; 1.1 SPG; 3.6 BPG

At the beginning of this trend, there is some question about Camby’s durability as he only played 56 games during the 2005-06 season.  Certainly, the injury-prone label has followed Camby throughout his career, especially since he’s only played 70 or more games in only three of his dozen seasons.  However, take heart prospective Camby drafters as two of those seasons have been the past two.  So, perhaps Camby has found the health mojo?  Camby is 34-years-old and while some big men might have worn down already in their careers, Camby has already missed a ton of games due to injury, so his body hasn’t really been through the NBA grind as much as it could have been in 12 seasons.  That has to count for something.  I’m not saying Camby is guaranteed to play at least 70 games, but the odds are looking good for the 2008-09 season that he does.

Last season, Camby averaged the second-most amount of boards per game behind the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard’s 14.2 RPG average.  The season before that, Camby finished fifth in that category.  In fact, in seven of the past eight seasons, he has been averaging double-digits in boards.  So, feel good in knowing that the man is going to get you at least ten rebounds, probably more than that, each night he puts his sneakers to the hardwood. 

In regards to the steals, category, Camby does well in that category for a big man, using his quickness to get into the passing lanes.  In his career, Camby has a 1.0 SPG average, so the recent steals numbers aren’t a fluke of any sort.  However, defensively, Camby is not known for swiping the rock, but sending it back to sender on the regular!  Camby has led the league in blocks per game each of the past three seasons and as any savvy fantasy basketball playing veteran knows, blocks and steals are hard to find and make up, especially in a H2H league.  But, in the second round, Camby should not be hard to find.  The question is… will you pull the trigger?