First, some history.

One could definitely say that Marcus Camby has had quite an interesting career arc.  After winning the Wooden and Naismith awards as a Junior at UMass, Camby was the 2nd pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors.  Allen Iverson was chosen #1. 

Camby's highest ever scoring average came in his rookie year, 14.8 ppg.  It also happens to be his worst rebounding year in a season in which he averaged more than 30 MPG.  He was thinner then than he is now, so the rebounding trouble is understandable.  Overall, his two years in Toronto were forgettable.  He played exactly 63 games in each season.  He was traded to a retooled Knicks team in exchange for Charles Oakley. 

His Knicks career began quite unremarkably as well.  His first season was the year of the lockout.   Incidentally, his teammate, Patrick Ewing, was a major player in that whole fiasco as Active Players President.  I was in New York during those years, and can remember, quite well, thinking that such a good college player should be having a more productive career.  He was the primary back up for an aging Ewing, and was joined in the lineup by Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, and Chris "Bust" Childs, all of whom were signed on the same day of free agency in 1996.  One could say that that day was the beginning of the Knicks current woes.  They were joined by Kurt Thomas, Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, and Clipper favorite, Rick Brunson.  Last but not least was the reinstated strangler, Latrell Sprewell, making his first "comeback". 

Camby played about 20 minutes per game in reserve duty for the 46 regular season games.  The Knicks finished 27-23, good enough for the 7th seed in the days when a plus .500 record was needed in the East.  (I think 27 wins still gets you close now, even with a full 82 game season.)

Tied 2-2 in their first round best of five series with their hated rivals, the Miami Heat, the Knicks were able to pull off game 5 in Miami (game 4 was the Mourning-Johnson fight in which Jeff Van Gundy clung to Alonzo's leg in an attempt to stop him.)  Camby's contributions in the series were modest. 

After sweeping the Atlanta Hawks in the 2nd Rd., the Knicks faced the Pacers in the Conference Finals.  Ewing went down with a wrist injury in game 2.   Chris Dudley was named the starter, but Camby played the bulk of the minutes at center for the rest of the series.  Finally, in game 3 of the NBA finals vs. the Spurs, with the Knicks down 2-0, Camby was named the starter.  The Knicks won game 3, but dropped the next two, losing the series in 5.  That was the beginning of Camby becoming a respectable NBA player.

Over the next few seasons, Camby went on to become one of the NBA's top rebounders.  He was later traded to the Nuggets for Antonio McDyess.  He was productive throughout his Nuggets career, but especially so after George Karl took over at the midway point of the 04/05 season.  From that point on, he has averaged over 3 blks per game, and his rebound totals have been in the 12-13 RPG range.

So, after all of that, I was wondering...is Camby truly getting better with age?  Or did George Karl's up-tempo system have an impact on inflating his stats?

His rebounding numbers are interesting in and of themselves.  One would expect his offensive rebounds to be exceedingly high given all of the "chuckers" he has played with in Denver.  But it is his defensive rebounding numbers that make up the bulk of his totals, with an average of over 10 per game. 

Meanwhile, his shot blocking totals continue to increase.  This is probably a sign of experience.  Unlike FElton, who tended to record his blocks while guarding his own man, Camby gets the majority of his from the weak side.  This I think is a good thing, and is what makes him such an elite help defender.  Also, whereas FElton was able to "rebound" a lot of his blocks, Camby sends a lot of his out of bounds.  He is more of a swatter.  But it can't have been too many, because Denver was the leading fast break team for many years.  A lot of them began with either a Camby block or DReb.

I am expecting similar results from Camby as a member of the Clippers, but one never knows.  As ClipperSteve said, it will be interesting having two of the NBA's top three rebounders and shot blockers on the same team.

Camby is very versatile and athletic.  I think a shift to PF will give him some opportunities to score.  I would bet that his point average increases to the 13-14ppg range.  He runs the floor well, and is more than capable of leading the fast break.