10 Feet High

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.