Veteran NBA centre says playing for former rivals Miami Heat would have been difficult had he joined them.....
The free agency this year has been a toughly fought one, with teams going hard in negotiations to land the players they wanted without exceeding their budget for the team roster. Among those teams, the Miami Heat were caught in
somewhat of a dilemma with their signings.
The Heat were interested in both Ray Allen and veteran centre Marcus Camby. Allen gave the Heat the shooting advantage they needed on offence to spread the opposing defence and make lives easier for themselves. Camby, on the other
hand, provided the Heat with the veteran experience and mentoring at the centre position, a spot where the Heat struggled throughout last season.
In the end, the Heat decided to sign Ray Allen and Camby found a new contract with the New York Knicks. In a recent interview with Newsday, Camby admitted that playing for his former rivals, the Miami Heat, would have been a very
difficult thing to do.
“I knew that it would have been very hard for me to put on that Miami Heat uniform, especially all the battles we used to have back in the days with Houston and those guys. I’m happy things worked out,” said Camby.
Although Camby has said that it would have been difficult to sign with the Heat, there are chances he might have gone ahead and signed with them had they given him an offer. Steve Nash also said the same thing about the Lakers
when rumours first started spreading about him in trade discussions with the Los Angeles franchise. A few weeks later, Nash joined the Lakers. Camby would have had the opportunity to play for a championship contending team next season, at the end of his career.
And odds are that he would have taken that opportunity.
Camby’s addition to the New York Knicks would be a great fit, as he can provide the veteran experience as well as the back up to Knicks centre Tyson Chandler. In addition to that, he can be a great asset on defence, something the
Knicks have been missing over the past few seasons.
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