Marcus Camby

Marcus Dion Camby (born March 22, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player who played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Marcus Dion Camby was born on March 22, 1974, in Hartford, Connecticut.

Camby began his high school career at Conard High School in West Hartford, Connecticut.

He transferred to Hartford Public High School.

In his senior season, Camby averaged 27 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks and 8 assists, en route to a 27–0 record and state title.

He was named Gatorade's Connecticut Player of the Year.

Camby played three seasons for the UMass Minutemen.

He had an NCAA freshman record 105 total blocks during his first year at UMass, and was named the Atlantic 10's Freshman of the Year.

Camby was named to the A-10's First Team during his sophomore season in 1994–95, as the Minutemen reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

Camby won the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith College Player of the Year Award during the 1995–96 season.

He led UMass to numerous #1 rankings and the 1996 NCAA Final Four.

In the NCAA tournament, Camby set a tourney record of 43 total blocked shots in 11 games.

On April 29, 1996, Camby announced that he would forgo his senior year at UMass and enter the NBA draft.

As part of the penalty, the school was forced to return their $151,617 in revenue from the 1996 NCAA Tournament.

Camby later reimbursed the school for the amount lost.

Camby was selected second overall in the first round of the 1996 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors.

In his rookie season, he made the NBA All-Rookie First Team, averaging 14.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game.

In 1997, UMass' visit to the Final Four was vacated by the NCAA because Camby had been found to have accepted $28,000 from two sports agents.

According to a 1997 Sports Illustrated article, the agents, John Lounsbury and Wesley Spears of Connecticut, had hoped that Camby would hire them to represent him when he became a professional.

The article reported that Camby had also received "jewelry, rental cars and prostitutes" from the agents.

On March 27, 1997, Camby had perhaps his best game as a rookie, scoring 37 points (a remarkable 47% of Toronto’s points) and grabbing 8 rebounds in a 90–79 loss against the Atlanta Hawks.

In the following season, Camby led the league in blocked shots with 3.7 per game.

However, consistent injuries hampered Camby's productivity and the team decided to trade him after two seasons.

In 1998, Camby was traded to the New York Knicks in a draft-day deal for longtime Knick Charles Oakley and the draft rights of Sean Marks.

Following the trade, Camby stated of Oakley: "No one can replace Oak. He was the heart and soul and team leader. I play different positions. I bring versatility. We'll take it one day at a time and focus on winning, that's what I'm about."

For his first two seasons in New York, Camby backed up veteran All-Star center Patrick Ewing.

The Knicks struggled to establish on-court chemistry in the lockout-shorted 1998–99 season, finishing with a 27–23 record, which was just good enough to qualify for the 8th and final seed in the Eastern Conference.

In the playoffs, Camby and teammate (and close friend) Latrell Sprewell began to assert themselves as the Knicks shocked the top-seeded Miami Heat and swept the Atlanta Hawks in the first two rounds, setting up a meeting with the rival Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

After Ewing went down with a season-ending Achilles injury early in the series, Camby filled the void, averaging double-doubles in the last three games of the series to lead the Knicks to a six-game upset series win over the Pacers and into the NBA Finals.

The Knicks became the first 8th-seeded team to make it to the NBA Finals, where they matched up with the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs defeated the Knicks in five games to win the 1999 Championship.

In the 1999–00 season the Knicks with Ewing back at center bounced back and won 50 games thanks to the contributions of many of the veteran players, including the Sixth Man of the Year Award-type season from Camby.

In the playoffs, the Knicks defeated the Toronto Raptors in three games and Miami Heat in seven games in the first two rounds of the playoffs en route to making it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row.

There they faced the top seed in the East, the Indiana Pacers, and were defeated by the Pacers in six games.

During a game against the San Antonio Spurs on January 15, 2001, Camby took a roundhouse swing at Spurs' forward Danny Ferry after he was hit in the eye on a box-out.

He was named Defensive Player of the Year during the 2006–07 NBA season, leading the league in blocked shots per game.

Camby was inducted into the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame on September 10, 2010.

Though some criticized the school for inducting a student-athlete who caused their Final Four achievement to be vacated, others saw it as a positive recognition of one of the school's best ever athletes.

Camby is also a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team and is 12th on the NBA's all-time career blocks list.

Camby returned to school, taking online courses from UMass, and earned his degree on May 12, 2017.