NBA Free Agent Rumors: New York Knicks Must Find a Way to Land Marcus Camby

The New York Knicks must find a way to land veteran defensive specialist Marcus Camby this summer.

According to an early Monday morning report from ESPN New York's Jared Zwerling, both Camby and the Knicks met on Sunday in Houston to discuss the potential of the 38-year-old center joining forces with Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler in the Knicks' front court. 

Camby, who was selected No. 2 overall in the 1996 NBA Draft, played for the Knicks for four seasons from 1998 to 2002, and could join them as a free agent a decade later.

According to Zwerling, the Miami Heat, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs and Brooklyn Nets all have shown interest in Camby, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer. 

Acquiring the veteran Camby makes perfect sense for New York though. Camby can still impact a game defensively and on the glass. He averaged nine rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots per game last season playing for both the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets.

Camby would also take a significant load off of Tyson Chandler's shoulders. The reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year was New York's leading rebounder in 2011-12, reeling in 10 per game. If Camby can come in and average 20-25 minutes per game like he did a season ago, his impact will be noticeable. 

Camby led the league in rebounds per 48 minutes last season; his 18.8 RP48 was better than Dwight Howard, Kevin Love and Andrew Bynum. Camby's intensity and focus on the boards would give New York the league's most fearsome defensive front court in 2012-13, and immensely improve its chances of competing in the Eastern Conference. 

Although Camby can be a liability on the offensive end at times, the same can be said about Chandler. Neither need to be dominant scorers either considering that forwards Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire combined to average 40 points per game last season.

The acquisition of Camby would give the Knicks a valuable piece in their pursuit of knocking off the Miami Heat in the NBA Playoffs. Camby would make the 11th best scoring defense from a year ago even better, and he would make the league's 18th best rebounding team one of the best on the boards. 

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