Marcus Camby has injured not one, but both ankles in his brief time with the Portland Trail Blazers.  He injured his right ankle on February 23rd against the New Jersey Nets, only his third game with the Blazers after being acquired in a trade from the Los Angeles Clippers.  He missed just one game after that injury, but he injured his left ankle in practice only a couple of weeks later.  Camby again missed one game and returned last night in a 88-81 win over the Sacramento Kings.  Despite Camby being hobbled by his bad ankles, he has still been a force down low on defense.  In the seven full games he has played with the Trail Blazers, he has averaged 3.0 blocks per contest.  In his return against the Kings last night he had 5 blocks.  He has also averaged 8.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals.  He hasn’t been much help on offense though.  In those seven games he is averaging 31.4 minutes and only 3.9 points, including one scoreless effort against the Indiana Pacers.  Camby is obviously very injury prone, but the Blazers have themselves a great shot-blocker even when he is not healthy.

The Trailblazers have signed 28-year old PG/SG Travis Diener. Diener played in 4 games (0 starts) for the Pacers this season and he averaged 6.3 minutes, 0.8 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. Diener has now played in 174 games (21 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 15.1 minutes, 4.9 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. This was a nice signing depth-wise for the Blazers.

The Trailblazers have acquired 35-year old PF/C Marcus Camby from the Clippers for 29-year old point guard Steve Blake, 25-year old small forward Travis Outlaw and $3 million dollars cash. Camby will immediately bump Juwan Howard back to the bench and he will help out the defense and rebounding of the Blazers. Camby played in 51 games (all starts) for the Clippers this year and he averaged 31.3 minutes, 7.7 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocked shots per game. Camby has now played in 808 games (655 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 30.7 minutes, 10.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steal and 2.6 blocked shots per game.

Steve Blake played in 51 games (28 starts) for the Blazers this season and he was averaging 27.4 minutes, 7.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless will likely see bumps in their playing time to make up for Blake moving on to L.A. Travis Outlaw played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Blazers this season and he was averaging 21.0 minutes, 9.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Outlaw has been a decent backup player in his career for the Blazers but Nicolas Batum and Martell Webster will likely pick up the slack with him gone.

This was a great move for the Trailblazers who are 31-24 on the season which has them in the 8th spot in the Western Conference, 3 games ahead of the Hornets and Rockets. The Blazers are probably more worried about the Grizzlies though who are 4 games behind them right now. This is not to say that Juwan Howard didn’t do a good job for the Blazers because he did, but Camby is a game changer both on the boards and defensively.

With their star player Brandon Roy out since January 22nd, the Portland Trail Blazers have needed a few players to step up their play.  One in particular is point guard Steve Blake, who has not really been playing as well as the Blazers have needed him to.  Last night in their 108-101 win against the red hot Phoenix Suns, Blake got the start and showed that he can be an impact player for the Blazers.  Blake finished with 20 points, 12 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block.  He played 38 minutes and went 7-12 from the field.  The Blazers need some more efforts like this out of Blake, as he has been playing nowhere near this level leading up to this game.  In his previous 5 games, Blake scored a combined 16 points and had two scoreless outings.  Granted he wasn’t getting 38 minutes a night in those games, but he had not been shooting the ball well and his effort on defense looked nothing like it did in the Suns game where he tormented Steve Nash into 6-16 shooting and 5 turnovers.  Now I don’t expect Blake to drop 20 every night, but if the Blazers can get him to play with that effort and efficiency on more of a consistent basis, it could really make a difference for them.

The talented 21-year-old Jerryd Bayless has been a very strong asset off the bench for the Portland Trail Blazers this season in his second year as a pro.  Bayless has improved in nearly every statistical category from his rookie season to this season, and is getting more minutes because of it.  Bayless still is not shooting for a very good percentage this year at 41% from the field and 30% from three-point land, but it is a big improvement from his rookie year of 36% shooting and 26% from three.  Last year he averaged only 4.3 points, 1.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and only 12.4 minutes.  This year he is averaging 8.9 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 18.2 minutes.  He has been playing even better this month, scoring in double-figures in 6 of 10 games, and has been getting even more minutes because of it.  Bayless looks to have a very bright future ahead of him and Trail Blazer fans should be excited for what is to come from Bayless.