Those handy hands — the Spalding-sized ones that effortlessly swatted shots into the Pepsi Center seats — will greet their old team tonight, and will surely do so with Marcus Camby’s trademark handshake — a backwards high-five, knuckles-to-knuckles — and then, predictably, with a swatted shot into the Staples Center seats.
For the first time since this summer’s trade, the former Nugget Camby, torn and forlorn, will play against his old team.
“It’s definitely difficult — deep down inside, I want to be out there with them,” the Los Angeles Clippers’ Camby said Tuesday by phone. “But reality is the opposite and they’re the enemy. Those guys have been playing well thus far this year.”
So has Camby, for what it’s worth. Despite his team’s 2-12 record, he still flirts nightly with a double-double, and he’s still among the league leaders in blocks per game (third, with 2.45).
And so, tonight will be a little weird. Camby was Denver’s mountain-like mainstay for six seasons. Tonight, he will be guarding Nene and Kenyon Martin, two old friends, the former a former protege.
“It’s going to be like a big, old family reunion,” Camby said. “But in between the lines, it’s going to be physical.”
For years, coach George Karl watched countless hours of Camby video, his center snatching double- digit rebounds. Ho-hum. In a way, it was like watching “Cheers” reruns — after a while, funny is just assumed, and you overlook the comedic brilliance of a Sam Malone.
But this week in film breakdowns, “What I probably didn’t (fully) respect when he was here is he reads the rebound before it hits the rim,” Karl said, “and I don’t know how many guys are as good at that as him. His instincts, he actually has perimeter skills in his rebounding, and I think when you have him on your team, you don’t evaluate it like that. You just say, ‘Well I’m glad we have him.’ But you watch him on film, you say, ‘Wow. He gets around a lot of balls.’ ”
Defensively, the Nuggets will likely switch Nene and Martin on Camby, letting each “have a feel,” Karl said. Nene, a former sparring partner in practice, already has a feel — “Definitely, I know how he plays.”
“We just have to be concerned about his rebounding,” assistant coach Adrian Dantley said, “because we’ve seen games when he gets hot, and he can get 20 boards and numerous blocked shots.
“I hope he has a great game, but I hope we win.”
