The Knicks’ reunion with Marcus Camby almost never happened.
The veteran center, who signed a three-year contract in July, admitted his return to Madison Square Garden after an 11-year hiatus should be credited to a last-minute phone call from one of his former Knicks teammates.
“I was on my way to Miami, about to go to the airport to go to Miami when I got the call from Allan [Houston],” Camby said. “I played with Allan for four years in New York, and he was like, ‘Just come, sit down and have a meeting with us.’ So I took the meeting with him and Coach [Mike Woodson] and they pretty much talked me out of going down to Miami to take that visit.”
Camby played with Houston on the Knicks from 1998-2001 and was part of the 1999 team that made it to the NBA Finals. When it boiled down to picking New York or Miami, Camby just had to look back to the playoff wars the teams had over a decade ago.
“It would have been hard for me to put on that Miami Heat uniform, especially with all of those battles that we had back in the day,” Camby said. “I’m happy things worked out here in New York.”
After coming so close in 1999, when the Knicks lost 4-1 to the Spurs in the Finals, Camby has high hopes for this version of the team.
“I feel we have a team assembled that can make a long playoff push,” Camby said. “We all know it’s going to be tough. Miami is the defending champions, and there are still a lot of good teams in the East. [But] we consider ourselves one of the top teams in the East, if not the NBA.”
Camby knows all the confidence in the world won’t be enough to get the Knicks back to playing basketball in June.
“It’s easier said than done, we have to get that continuity down,” Camby said at the opening of the North Hempstead Yes We Can Community Center. “I think if I [play my role] and everyone follows suit and listens to what Coach Woodson says we should have a prodigal season.”
Houston and the Knicks faithful are not the only familiar faces Camby will see in New York this season. The former Defensive Player of the Year will rejoin former teammates Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, Kurt Thomas and Raymond Felton.
“I’m looking forward to being reunited with Carmelo, J.R., guys I played 4-5 years with in Denver, I’m familiar with a lot of players on the team,” Camby said. “Raymond is coming back, I played last year with him in Portland. Kurt Thomas is coming back. I like our depth and I like our talent. Hopefully we can put it all together.”
Camby will serve as the primary backup for Tyson Chandler and could see minutes at power forward backing up Amar’e Stoudemire. Camby has spent the majority of his career as a starter, but pushing aside his ego should be no problem.
“This is the first time I’ll be coming off the bench in 16 years,” Camby said. “There has to come a point, a time in my career, where that’s going to happen. I still feel I am going to be a big contributor to this team.
“I’m not going to come in here and say, ‘Well, I’ve been a starter for 16 years, so I’m going to be a starter,’ I just want to come here and fit in.”