A Trade That Hurts Both Teams

Word on the wires is that the Clippers will be acquiring Marcus Camby from the Nuggets for an embarrassing low price of a couple of second round picks.

Now, assuming the rumor is true... why would the Nugs give up the only guy on the team who is a plus defensive player? Salary Cap Hell, of course, though maybe it's also just part of God's Punishment towards Allen Iverson for being, well, Allen Iverson. How this is supposed to help the Nugs, you know, win basketball games... that's completely off the table.

Having said that, it's not like this is going to help the Clips much, either. The Clips actually already have a center (Chris Kaman, who boards like the angry freak that he is), and already struggle mightily to get scoring from outside of the guards. Adding Camby, who's offensive game is charitably described as Limited, won't help much, and that's assuming he stays healthy.

So what we've got here is one organization (the Nugs) that appears to be on the express elevator down into the depths (Iverson isn't getting any younger, Carmelo Anthony appears to be getting incapable of getting the memo about good team behavior, and George Karl is mailing it in), and another (the Clips) that just imported one injury-prone superstar (Baron Davis) and wants to pair him with another. Oh, and games are won in the Association by teams that can, you know, score a little.

Let's just say that the Western Conference doesn't seem to be getting any more difficult right now...