Keeping Pickaxe and Roll Honest

In the wake of the Marcus Camby trade, many of you noticed that Jeremy from Pickaxe and Roll was somewhat dismissive of Camby's defense, among other things.  I've said that I tend to agree with him that while Camby is a premier shot-blocker, that's not necessarily the same thing as being a solid man-to-man defender, and that Camby is not great in that area.  However, I think the shot blocking in and of itself is a very, very good thing.

I recently came across an end-of-season post about Camby on Pickaxe and Roll.  What's interesting is that while many here have suggested that Jeremy was partaking in a little sour grapes after Camby left, he was actually calling out Camby's perceived shortcomings long before.  Now, obviously he watched the Nuggets a lot more than I did, but I have to disagree with him on the question of altering shots.  I mean, if Marcus Camby is not altering enough shots or intimidating enough, then exactly who in the NBA is?  He references Dikembe Mutumbo (I assume we're talking about Mount Mutumbo in his prime in the Denver days) - OK, well he was pretty much the best ever at that.  If that's the standard of excellence you're looking for, then Camby and everyone else since Bill Russell falls a little short.  Camby does just fine altering the shots he doesn't block, thank you very much.

But even though Jeremy was criticizing Camby plenty, he still was holding out hope of getting something in return a mere 5 weeks ago.  In his post, he imagines trades for Andrea Bargnani, Josh Childress, Etan Thomas and Andray Blatche, and Eddy Curry.  All of those are a pretty far cry from 'swapping second rounders.'