Marc J. Spears of the Denver Post has the scoop:
"It would be the greatest award I've received, other than college player of the year (at the University of Massachusetts in 1996). There are so many great people that won the award," said Camby, in a phone interview Thursday.
The Nuggets are expected to announce the award during a press conference today. NBA commissioner David Stern will be at Game 3 Saturday night at the Pepsi Center and is expected to give Camby the award prior to the game against San Antonio. While the media voting for the award has yet to be released, other candidates included San Antonio forwards Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen and Phoenix's Shawn Marion. Chicago center Ben Wallace won the past two awards and four of the past five as a member of the Detroit Pistons.
"I just try to be consistent with rebounding the basketball and blocking shots and having trust from my teammates that if they get beat I'll be there to block a shot," Camby said. "I led the league in blocks and finished top four in rebounding. I try to be consistent with that."
Camby is no doubt getting the award on the basis of his gaudy block (3.3 per game, first in the league) and rebound (11.7 per game, tied for fourth) statistics. And at those things, he is amazing. He has the gift of the block, and he should absolutely be recognized in some fashion for that.
We need better ways to measure defense (see below!), though, because more than one basketball person has told me that Camby could help his team a lot more on the defensive end.
When defending pick and rolls, the key skill of NBA defense, Camby doesn't often even try to show, trap, or do anything to impede the ball-handler's path to the paint. That means a lot of plays that might have resulted in a frustrated offense -- but no stats for anyone -- instead result in a large number of plays at the rim. That's an inflated number of layups, runners, floaters, and dunks for the other team, which really hurts Denver, as well as an inflated number of blocks and rebounds for Mr. Camby.
UPDATE: A pretty serious analysis from 82games.com determines that Shawn Marion would have been the best choice, while Tim Duncan and Marcus Camby were also strong contenders. David Nelson and Damien Walker write:
The 6-7 Marion starts at the small forward position, yet Marion grabbed more defensive boards per game than 53 of 60 starting centers and power forwards in the league, and did so playing next to an accomplished rebounder in 6-11 Amare Stoudemire. Analyzing Marion's blocked shots shows similar production. While Marion is not in the same league as players like Camby or Okafor in raw shot-blocking ability, Marion's 1.5 per-game average is more than half a block more than that of Gerald Wallace, the next best shot blocker of equivalent size. Like Artest and Bowen, Marion is given the toughest defensive assignments a great deal of the time, and sports a fantastic Block Value as a result. Yet Marion's season block total is nearly triple of that of Artest or Bowen, and unlike Artest or Bowen, Marion maintains a very good Personal Foul Efficiency. Marion's tougher-than-average defensive assignments put his stats into even greater perspective: while many of the big men on our list have the luxury of consistently playing near the basket on the defensive end, inflating their numbers in blocks and rebounds, Marion is often forced to defend very good perimeter players, making it that much more difficult to secure his position amongst the league-leaders in these categories.
