Buck Harvey: Old faces, new test: Birth of Cam-Mart

[Kori Ellis]

Buck Harvey: Old faces, new test: Birth of Cam-Mart
Web Posted: 04/26/2005 12:00 AM CDT

San Antonio Express-News

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...21393eb21.html

One is best known in San Antonio for throwing a roundhouse right hand that just missed Danny Ferry.

The other is best known for just missing about, oh, 20 times.

Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin are also known for being overpaid, as well as being under Tim Duncan. First Camby and later Martin were in attendance when Duncan lifted his Finals MVP trophies.

But something happened when these two men teamed together. They became Cam-Mart, a combination of athletic bodies with different sets of skills, and the creation is exponentially better than the individuals ever were.

Which is why Sunday night was no fluke.

Asked about his tandem Monday, George Karl immediately announced these are the best big men he's ever coached. Or, to put it in today's NBA language, Karl said, "I love my bigs."

Karl's bigs also include Nenê, the Brazilian bull, and Eduardo Najera, who San Antonio knows well. It's a group of depth and versatility, and, if Najera can play in this series with his broken hand, the bumping will only increase.

But it's Camby and Martin, both coming to Denver from the New York market, who fuel what the Nuggets do. When Camby isn't blocking shots, Martin is muscling in the post, and both are quick to help the other.

"We complement each other," Martin said.

They should. Martin went No. 1 overall in the 2000 draft, and Camby went No. 2 overall in the 1996 draft. Then there are their salaries: Martin got a maximum contract, and Camby isn't far off.

About $20 million annually should buy something.

But these are also the numbers that hung over both. The numbers said both were supposed to be better.

Camby's fragile body didn't help. Before last season he'd never played in more than 63 games in a season, including consecutive seasons of 29. Duncan, in contrast, has never played fewer than this season's 66, except for the strike year, when he played in all 50 that were scheduled.

But it was more than that. Camby didn't always play even when he played. And when he turned violent — coincidentally on Martin Luther King's birthday — in 2001, throwing a punch at Ferry and that found Jeff Van Gundy's face instead, his reputation suffered some more.

When Camby did play, he could star as he once did against the Spurs in 2002 with a 20-20 game. And then there was 1999, when Camby stood as a skinny center getting his first start as a Knick against the Spurs in the Finals.

But for the money he demands? No wonder Denver is his third team.

Martin has been more rugged, and the Nets wouldn't have made the 2003 Finals against the Spurs without him. But then Martin followed a four-point game in Game 5 with a notorious performance in the finale.

Shown a box score afterward, Martin shook his head at the 3-of-23 shooting night he'd had. "I knew I'd been bad, man," he said then. "I didn't know I'd been that bad."

Duncan again offered the contrast, finishing with 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists and eight blocked shots.

So no one was confusing Camby and Martin with Duncan, and it's likely Kiki Vandeweghe didn't either. But when Karl took over and reshuffled the emphasis, the birth of Cam-Mart followed.

Instead of posting Martin as the Spurs do Duncan, Karl set Martin free to roam on offense with Camby on the high post. And on defense, backing each other up, both versatile with quickness and height, they became Cam-Mart.

Martin usually draws Duncan, and he draws from experience, too. Sunday, after Martin threw in a 15-foot bank, he turned to Duncan and joked.

"That's from the Tim Duncan School," Martin said, and Duncan smiled.

The smiling stopped on the other end. There Martin used what the refs allowed him, pushing and bumping.

"I knew (Duncan) could play a couple of years ago," Martin said Monday, "but I know him a little better now. I know his comfort points. He is such a good player, you can't let him dictate what he wants to do."

Duncan missed some gimmes Sunday he normally makes. And his ankle, no matter Martin and his desire to post a don't-ask-about-the-ankle sign, factors in, too.

But what will be present Wednesday is what has been with the Nuggets since the All-Star break. If Duncan beats Martin, then there's Camby, a shot-blocker quick enough to switch, to rebound, to form a formidable big-man combination.

Cam-Mart.

Familiar only in appearance.

[toosmallshoes]

Cam-Mart!!!!! ack. he said that about seven times. we get it.

[boutons]

Cam-Mart? Buck is getting weirder and weirder trying fill his column-inches.