Champion Creed

This is why New York fans dare to say with confidence that they don’t need Ewing.

Marcus Camby absolutely has talent; in fact, during his college years, he was thought to be the second Admiral on defense. He appears slightly skinny but possesses athleticism of a small forward level, which is very similar to the Admiral.

Years later, Anthony Davis’s draft template was indeed Marcus Camby.

This is enough to illustrate how outstanding his talent is.

So the kind of defense from yesterday’s game, where all he did was block shots and leap recklessly while losing track of opponents, absolutely doesn’t reflect Marcus Camby’s level.

A player’s speed may slow down, his jumps may deteriorate, or he may even grow lazy, but his awareness absolutely shouldn’t worsen.

John Stockton’s passes are exceptionally good day in and day out for decades, the Dream could still provide assists from the low post during his time with the Hawks, and the Big Ape, no matter how poor his stamina, could still persist late into the night at the Gold Club. Awareness is engraved in the DNA of every player and will not change.

Marcus Camby though? His performance yesterday seemed like he lost even the most basic defensive awareness, which is almost impossible.

All these point to one fact—he deliberately didn’t plan to play well.

Mutombo cares a lot about Marcus Camby because they knew each other before entering the NBA and shared a period.

Of course, it wasn’t a heroic romance but friendship.

In 1992, Camby, who was still in high school, attended the Nike Training Camp and met Mutombo there.