Marcus Camby Agrees To Two-Year Contract Extension With Blazers

When the Blazers acquired Marcus Camby from the Clippers at the trade deadline, most figured he would be a one-year rental until Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla got healthy next year. But Camby has been even better than expected, and now, the Blazers want him in their plans going forward.

Camby and the Blazers are closing in on a two-year, $21 million extension that'll keep Camby as a Blazer until the 2011/12 season, according to Joe Freeman of the Oregonian. ESPN's Marc Stein was the first to report that talks between the two were heating up today. 

Just how much has Camby meant to the Blazers? All you have to do to answer that question is to last night's playoff opener against the Suns, when Camby grabbed 17 rebounds, blocked three shots and held Phoenix's All-Star Amare Stoudemire to just 18 points on 19 shots in a Blazers upset win. Oh, and he did it all on a sprained ankle, one that probably would have kept him out of action if it was 2002, back when Camby was known as a fragile, brittle disappointment.

All in all, Portland went 16-3 in games Camby played down the stretch, surging all the way to the six seed despite an injury to Brandon Roy. Camby has provided veteran leadership to the young Blazers off the floor and top-notch interior defense to a previously-middling unit on the floor. In other words, he's valuable and worth the extension even at his advanced age.

The big question now is what happens with Oden. Does Oden back up Camby next year? How will that affect Oden's own contract negotiations, which could begin as early as this summer? These are questions that the Blazers will have to figure out going forward. 

For more on this story, SB Nation's Blazers blog Blazers Edge is rounding up all news as it happens here.