Oakland, Calif. – With the votes all in, Nuggets center Marcus Camby is hopeful injuries won’t hurt his bid of making the NBA Western Conference all-star roster.
Camby entered Monday’s game against Golden State averaging 15.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, 2.97 blocked shots and 1.48 steals. But Camby also has missed 20 of 50 games because of injury.
Portland coach Nate McMillan has said Camby’s injuries could affect his vote. Coaches from both conferences turned in their votes for the reserves Monday, which will be revealed Thursday.
“It remains to be seen,” Camby said. “But I remember a couple years ago (Seattle’s) Ray Allen missed a lot of ballgames, also, but he also made the all-star team. It’s not a big deal to me. I just want to be on the court consistently, keep playing ball and try to position myself in a better position. The individual stuff doesn’t matter to me.”
While Houston center Yao Ming also has missed numerous games to injury, he was voted in as a starter by the fans.
West coaches considered Camby and Utah’s Mehmet Okur as backup centers, but had the option of naming Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki or the Los Angeles Clippers’ Elton Brand a forward-center in order to add another one of the West’s long list of forwards. Such a vote would hurt Camby’s or Okur’s bid.
When asked if he thought injuries would hurt him, Camby said: “They might, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t know if (they should). … You probably have to ask the teams I did play against and their coaches. I think I played pretty well.”
Said Nuggets coach George Karl: “I don’t think there isn’t any question that he is the (West’s) second-best center, but arguably the best center.”
Trade talk
A proposed three-way trade that would bring Orlando guard Steve Francis to Denver and send Denver forward-center Nene to Orlando and Denver guard Earl Watson to New York seems dead because it would add too much money to the Nuggets’ salary cap. It possibly could be revived if another high-salary Nugget is involved.
Footnotes
Karl knows fellow Pittsburgh native and Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher “a little” and plans on sending a congratulations message to him for winning the Super Bowl. “I may write and try to call him,” Karl said. “I’m going to write him a letter and probably (Broncos coach Mike) Shanahan. I thought they both had great years. (Cowher’s) one of those guys where their career is fantastic, except for the Finals.” …
And1 shoes plans to market Camby and his Mystique Mid shoe in Houston during All-Star Weekend if he is selected. “I hope he can make it,” And1 sports marketing director Chris Hightower said.
“You can’t take nothing away from the man who worked so hard. You can’t take away anything away from someone due to injuries. A lot of people equate injuries with hard work.”
