10 Feet High

We’re almost halfway through the NBA season and it’s time to give some marquee rookies their midterm grades …

The Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin has been sensational after missing all of last season with a stress fracture in his left knee. Griffin should be the first rookie All-Star since Yao Ming in 2003, and his 21.7 points and 12.5 rebounds make him on pace to have one of the best rookie years of all time.

We all knew what type of talent John Wall coming out of Kentucky. While he’s missed eight games, he too has been wildly impressive when on the floor. A close second to Griffin for Rookie of the Year, Wall has drives and dashes to the basket that make him perhaps the most exciting young guard in the league.

Biggest bust goes to Evan Turner. The No. 2 pick out of Ohio State by the Philadelphia 76ers has fizzled to the point that he may be the NBA’s worst actual “shooting” guard.

Turner is averaging 7 points on a putrid 38.8 percent shooting. Worse, he is just 25 percent from the three and has relinquished his role in the starting line-up to Jodie Meeks, a former second-round pick.

Turner has also struggled mightily on the defensive end, namely with quick guards who can penetrate the lane. He is a liability on both ends of the floor.

The most puzzling rookie thus far is DeMarcus Cousins, the brute force center who is becoming more known for temper tantrums than actual play. The Kings’ top pick has validated all of the maturity questions scouts and GMs alike were worried about. Most notably, Cousins has feuded with head coach Paul Westphal and been kicked out of practice. Moreover, he’s been rumored to be headed down to the D-League – not exactly what Kings’ fans had in mind when Geoff Petrie made him the fifth overall pick.

Nevertheless, the 20-year-old has shown glimpses of dominance, particularly of late, averaging over 22 points and nearly 10 rebounds over his past four games. The big fella has a knack for using his body and bullying his way in the paint, but his lack of a soft touch (43.2 percent shooting) and emotional outbursts remain legitimate concerns.

Another rookie to watch is Derrick Favors, who has seen his name swirl in trade talks as much as any No. 3 pick in draft history, yet managed to keep level-headed and play surprisingly well. Loaded with upside, the Nets’ Favors has harnessed his natural ability and parlayed it into success.

Instead of being worried about isolation chances where he’s forced to either score or make a challenging decision with the ball, Favors has focused on the simple things: running the floor, rebounding and defending. Still raw, Favors will only improve, and the comparisons to Dwight Howard in terms of dominating the paint at both ends of the floor, although drastic, are not unrealistic. His numbers won’t wow you, but his 6.4 points to go along with a 56.4 field goal percentage and 5.1 rebounds in limited playing time suggest that Favors can be special.

Landry Fields of the Knicks is by far the biggest surprise of the class. The second-round pick probably won’t become a star, but is already a strong player. The four-year swingman from Stanford has displayed remarkable poise and savvy in seizing a starting role from Mike D’Antoni, who doesn’t always love to play rookies (see Jordan Hill last year).

Fields, like Griffin, has now repeated as rookie of the month. He has the sort of old man’s cerebral game that coaches love and successful teams need -- the type of player who doesn’t need the ball to be effective, Fields is an active defender, terrific guard rebounder at 7.4 a game and consistent shooter (51 percent). In time, he will become a solid 13-15 point scorer to go along with his rebounding and defensive prowess, and is just the type of glue guy that the Knicks – especially if they get Carmelo or CP3 – would need to become a real contender in the east.

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Note: Statistics are accurate through Wednesday, January 5.

Welcome back to the race for NBA Executive of the Year, Kevin Pritchard!

With all the Tracy McGrady and Amare Stoudemire talk, Portland’s GM just made an excellent move to acquire veteran do-everything center Marcus Camby from the reeling Clippers.

The best part?

Camby has an expiring deal so this won’t hamper any potential free-agent luring come summer time, and furthermore, the Blazers didn’t have to give up any marquee guys. Trading the pesky, albeit starkly average, Steve Blake immediately makes this a better team by allowing last summer’s free agent Andre Miller to assume full point guard responsibilities in lieu of splitting time.

Ridding themselves of chronic black hole Travis Outlaw was another key. Outlaw is a gifted scorer and athlete, but for a kid who came straight of high school, he never really learned how to play the game. Despite his occasional scoring outbursts, he was such a streaky player and enigmatic defender that he really didn’t fit in Nate McMillan’s system. In other words, he will mesh perfectly in dysfunctional Clipperland, playing with the offense-thwarting Al Thornton, Baron Davis and Ricky Davis.

We will get to Camby in a second, but by merely trading away Blake and Outlaw, Portland automatically improves, leaving more touches for All-Star Brandon Roy and the versatile LaMarcus Aldridge both in the paint and at the high post. This team is no longer the eighth seed out west.

Getting Camby was a downright theft. When the Blazers lost Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden to season-ending knee injuries, this team’s title hopes went down the drain. Both provided stellar rebounding and defense, and more importantly, they clogged the paint, a necessity to compete for a title.

The value of Camby is immense in that his presence is felt all over the floor. He can do what Przybilla and Oden can ... and a whole lot more as well.

Perennially one of the game’s best shot blockers (career average of more than 2.5), the two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection may not be the hefty five-man like a Przybilla, but his superior length in the lane is responsible for several altered shots every game. When Shaq was “the real” Shaq, you’d always hear announcers comment on how guys wouldn’t drive when he was in the game. Camby is near that level.

(Even leaper extraordinaire Josh Smith isn't immune to Camby's interior presence)

His presence alone deters drivers and forces offenses into jump shots, ultimately allowing for long misses and for this athletic Portland team to get out in transition and take advantage of fast break numbers.

Because he runs the floor so well and is so dexterous for a 7-footer, he also becomes a viable scoring option on the break. He certainly doesn’t have the conventional set shot, but Camby is more than capable of knocking down 14-footers, an upgrade from both Przybilla and Oden, two traditional centers who prefer operating on the block and in the paint. And unlike Oden for example, who completely disrupts the flow of the offense with his awkward and delayed post touches, Camby doesn’t need the ball on offensive sets. He doesn’t need to score to be effective. By the end of the game, you will check the box score and see he had 8 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 assists.

The other value of Camby is in the pick-and-roll, which will surely to free up Miller and Roy, who will be able to attack the basket more frequently, as well as create open shots for Camby when the defense hedges too high.

Look, we all know the Western Conference runs through the Lakers. They are the champs and have looked every bit the part thus far. All-Star Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum have been stellar this year, proving to be the ultimate twin tower escapade in the league. Portland is talented enough on the perimeter with Miller and Roy, alongside the gifted LaMarcus Aldridge and now a true center in Marcus Camby, that they can challenge LA the way we thought they would when the season began.

The NBA playoffs are all about home court, and LA’s troubles at the Rose Garden (lost nine of ten) cannot be overlooked. I’m still not sold on Dallas, Denver or San Antonio. Caron Butler should help the Mavericks, but this team is too finesse with Dirk, who as great as he is, can’t be the best player on a championship team. George Karl teams never win the big one. And the Spurs are too old, fragile, and slow.

Don’t say you weren’t warned. Watch out, Western Conference. The Portland Trail Blazers just put themselves right back in the contending hunt.