Seemingly lost in the shuffle of Brett Favre’s sandy vagina and last night’s All Star Game was a trade between the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets. Just a few days after being slighted by Elton Brand, the Clippers seemingly picked up a steal in acquiring shot-blocking extraordinare Marcus Camby for a future exchange of 2nd round picks. While this move can help offset the loss of Elton Brand, it’s also a questionable use of their salary cap cushion.

For the Nuggets, we know what this trade is all about. With a salary cap situation that would make Isiah Thomas blush, the Nugs are dumping salary in order to make a long term commitment to J.R. Smith, who is a restricted free agent. With Camby gone and Allen Iverson on the chopping block, Denver is ready to commit to rebuilding this team around Smith, Carmelo Anthony and young Linas Kleiza. In the meantime, the Nuggets are without any resemblance of interior defense and will probably allow 130 points a game.

While the fragile Camby is an automatic boost to any defense, I still think the Clippers panicked here. Camby is nearly 35 years old and has a history of injuries longer than Ron Jeremy. With $20 million tied up in Camby for the next two years, the Clippers will be unable to afford a contract offer to restricted free agents Josh Smith, Emeka Okafor, Luol Deng and Andre Igoudala. Smith and Igoudala are likely going to have their contracts matched, but Okafor could have been a very distinct possibility.

In the end, this appears to be typical Clippers. Camby is a hell of a player, but the Clips rushed into this acquisition, essentially wasting all of their salary cap cushion. What looked like such a promising offseason will likely conclude with the Clippers ending up with two older, injury-prone veterans. Nice job, Sterling.

Team USA basketball can’t win anymore even if they try to field their best team. When members of their best team don’t want to play, that makes it even more difficult to win. And by more difficult I mean next to impossible. This is the task they will be facing as they head into international competition.The team was looking to add Marcus Camby as a defensive stopper/inside presence, but he has declined the invitation.

Camby has a pressing family problem that he needs to attend to, and while this is going to be a hit to the United States team, I’m sure they can find someone else. I personally don’t know how much Camby’s style of play fits into the international game. While Camby can dominate the post, it seems like we get beat because we can’t play as a team and can’t defend the perimeter play. He is obviously one of the best players in the game. He won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and can still play. But how well would he adapt to the international game?

Regardless, the people who make the selection for the team obviously thought he would help them, and his absence will hurt them. That means that this is going to be a tough blow for the team to overcome. Can they do it? I certainly hope so, but I’m not sure. They need a lot of help, and Camby might have fit right in as a role player, or maybe he would have failed completely. While I tend to think more towards the latter, we just won’t know.