The Knicks’ deep rotation through three games has flowed and been full of rhythm. Tonight it gets a jolt with the season debut of backup center Marcus Camby, out since the fourth day of training camp because of a calf strain.
Mike Woodson will have to adjust his rotation. Everyone is playing well, but egos could be bruised, with 40-year-old stalwart Kurt Thomas possibly the odd man out.
“I got to figure that out,’’ Woodson said. “That’s what I’m paid to do.’’
It will become a mess when starting power forward Amar’e Stoudemire returns in mid-December. But the addition of Camby holds interest, too, especially because Rasheed Wallace has played well enough to increase his role.
“I just want to add to what we’ve already been building,’’ said Camby, the Hartford native and returning Knick expected to get a big Garden ovation. “I’m not demanding anything. My big-time minutes in this league are long gone. … We all are playing for one. We don’t care who gets the time or the credit. We’re all buying into the common goal.’’
Easier said than done.
“It’s going to be huge,’’ said starting center Tyson Chandler, who felt he needed a true backup this season. “He can give us some positive minutes — not just backup minutes, but positive minutes. He can make a lot of things happen. He’s been a special player throughout his career.
“[Woodson] will continue the rotation and we’ll see where the matchups lie.The good thing about this team and the big guys we have, we’re at the point of our career, we just want to win.’’
* Tonight’s MSG Network telecast will include a telethon for Hurricane Sandy relief as part of the Garden of Dreams Foundation. Viewers can purchase $100 raffle tickets for the chance at big prizes. There will be an online auction. All money raised goes to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the Red Cross. … Carmelo Anthony delivered supplies yesterday to his boyhood neighborhood Red Hook in Brooklyn.
* The plan was to return to Dallas, where he won a championship ring in 2011. Jason Kidd, now a Knick, said plans changed.
“My first intention was to stay, but then looking into it and thinking it through, I thought this was a great opportunity, not only to play at the Garden but on a team that can be competitive,’’ Kidd said. “I talked to my family and we felt coming here was the best situation to be successful.’’
Chandler, a former Mavericks teammate, said Kidd did the right thing, though Dallas owner Mark Cuban was fuming at the betrayal.
“I wasn’t shocked because of the direction of the [Dallas] organization. Jason was coming down to the last years of his career. There’s great personnel here and he feels like he has another chance to win a championship,’’ Chandler said.
—Additional reporting by Fred Kerber