--F Marcus Camby is not the tallest player in the league, nor does he have the highest vertical leap. Yet, the 2007 NBA Defensive Player of the Year has led the league three times in blocked shots and annually ranks among the leaders in that category.
"It's all about timing," the 6-11 Camby explained. "I also watch a lot of film and I do my own scouting report. I get a feel of how the opponents we're about to play are going to play." Camby also said that in past seasons his blocked shot numbers were high because of the type of defense that his former team, the Denver Nuggets, played.
"Most of my blocked shots don't come on guys that I'm guarding," he said. Unlike former NBA center Dikembe Mutombo, Camby does not have a noted calling card after he has blocked a shot. A Mutombo block inevitably would be followed by a wag of his finger, as in, "Not in here, you don't."
"No, I don't really talk any trash," Camby said. "In the heat of the battle, though and if it's a momentum changer, I might say something like 'Get that stuff out of here.'"
Camby said if he has a blocked-shot opportunity in the first quarter, he typically will try to swat it into the 15th row.
"That's to send a message," he said, "and especially at home because a big block gets the crowd pumped up. But in the fourth quarter, if it's a tight game, I'll try to block it and keep possession."
--The Clippers' sluggish start to the season did not surprise F Tim Thomas, who was one of only three players on the team that were active for the Clippers during the final weeks of the 2007-2008 season.
"It's always difficult when you bring in 10 or 11 new guys," Thomas said. "It's going to take us time to gel, when you have new guys trying to learn a new system. It's a process."
Thomas, G Cuttino Mobley and F Al Thornton were the trio that finished the season for the Clippers. Centers Chris Kaman and Paul Davis -- the only two other players on last season's roster that are back, both were injured and unavailable for the final month.
"We've been doing a good job so far of trying to figure things out on the fly," Thomas said. "The thing we have to do is to play hard every night because sometimes that can get you over the hump."
--The Clippers entered their eighth game of the year with the opposition having out-rebounded them by a wide 54-rebound margin. Opposing teams were averaging 48.9 rebounds per game to 41.1 for the Clippers. This was despite the Clippers being one of only two teams that had two players averaging double-figures in rebounds per game. Marcus Camby was averaging 10.9 rebounds, while Chris Kaman was pulling down 10.4 per game. Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy offered a simple remedy for the rebounding disparity.
"Box out on every shot," he said. "We'd probably do a better job of rebounding."
The other team with two double-digit rebounders is the Philadelphia 76ers, with former Clipper Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Like I said, I don't care. If they want to trade me, fine. This is a business." -- C Chris Kaman, responding to trade rumors that coach Mike Dunleavy said are unfounded.
