The Jazz swapped backup point guards Thursday with the Los Angeles Clippers, trading Jason Hart for 11-year veteran Brevin Knight.
   
    Hart finished the 2006-07 season with the Clippers, nearly helping lead the team to the playoffs. He signed with the Jazz as a free agent last summer but lost his job to Ronnie Price 50 games into the season and finished the year out of the rotation.
   
    The Clippers signed Knight last summer after they were unable to sign free agent Steve Francis. Knight, who turns 33 in November, averaged 4.6 points and 4.4 assists in 74 games last season, starting 39.
   
    Knight signed a two-year, $3.2 million contract with the Clippers and will make $1.6 million this season. Hart signed a two-year, $4.8 million contract with the Jazz and will make $2.484 million this season.
   
    The Jazz signed Hart hoping he could help fill the void after Derek Fisher asked to be released from his contract. But Hart struggled with the limited minutes available backing up Deron Williams and shot a career-worst 32.2 percent.
   
    Hart grew up in Los Angeles and questioned his decision not to re-sign with the Clippers as he struggled during his first season in Utah. Hart exercised an option to return to the Jazz but he did look at signing with Denver and the Clippers as buyout possibilities.

Hart is more durable, has superior size and, despite Knight's steal totals, is a far better defender.  Apart from that, I don't know what else it portends, other than a net $800,000 loss for the Clips. 

In other news, Maurice Evans isn't a Warrior yet.  Wire services in the Contra Costa Times report, "Golden State has offered Evans a three-year, $6.4 million deal, but after initially agreeing to the terms, Evans is reportedly holding out for more money from the Warriors." 

The fact that Golden State would commit 3 years/$6.4M to a 6'5" swingman might be a harbinger of their willingness to let Kelenna Azubuike walk.  

Camby expressed numerous times his enthusiasm at the notion of teaming up with Davis, Chris Kaman, Gordon and Al Thorton, whom he described with a laugh as”very aggressive offensively”). There are issues, however, with the deal itself, a blatant salary dump which Camby received warning could be on the horizon. After playing six seasons in Denver, the veteran C/PF believes a little more respect was in order and hasn’t gotten over that sting.

The chuckle over Thornton's game is a funny throwaway. 

Kamenetzky reports, "Camby - seen by his new coach as more of a high post guy offensively - will likely man the power forward spot, the incumbent Kaman remaining at center."  That sounds about right.  I've been surprised by the number of suggestions we've heard that Kamen and Camby are redundant somehow.  Watch both guys play and it's clear they occupy entirely different roles in the halfcourt -- both offensively and defensively. 

"If he was a stock on the market, you could pick him up at a pretty low price right now. I just don't think his future looks bright as a second-round pick because they don't have a lot of incentive to invest time with him. His 11 rebounds look great, but most of them came right to him. I don't think that he has got any rebounds out of area. It doesn't impress me that he jumps straight up in his spot and grabs rebounds. He doesn't play with great energy or intelligence and his emotional IQ is very low. He is a young man and he wouldn't be the first to change his career path. It doesn't happen very often."

The Los Angeles Clippers have identified the latest target in their recovery from the free-agent loss of Elton Brand by agreeing to terms on an offer sheet with restricted free agent Kelenna Azubuike of the Golden State Warriors. NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com that the Clippers have extended a multi-year offer using their estimated $3 million in salary-cap space left over after completing a trade Tuesday with the Denver Nuggets to acquire center Marcus Camby as their primary Brand replacement. The Warriors will have seven days to match the offer when the deal is completed, but the Clippers would appear to have a good chance of emerging from that wait with Azubuike.  

The guy doesn't leave the paint, he doesn't fight through screens, he won't show on a pick and roll, and he can (as it has been since 1996) be bullied in the low post. This fine post from Pickaxe and Roll leads to a series of other fine posts that echo what the proprietor of that site and other Nugget fans have been saying: Marcus gets blocks, and defensive rebounds, but he hurts his team defensively at times. I'm not going to go as far as to say that he hurts the team "nearly" as much defensively as he helps it - defensive boards and blocked shots still count - but Defensive Player of the Year? All-NBA Defense? No way.

Pickaxe noted back in June that Denver's defense was negligibly better with Camby on the floor and that "a truly great defender and shot blocker will alter many more shots than they block.  Camby does not do that." Camby has always been a much better defensive rover than a shut-down post defender.  And both KD and P&R's point is well taken -- the accumulation of defensive stats isn't a substitute for shot denial. 

Sources told ESPN.com that the Clippers will only have to surrender a future second-round pick to acquire Camby, who is being jettisoned into the Clippers' salary-cap space vacated by Brand to generate payroll relief for the Nuggets.

A trade call with the league to approve the deal has been completed, sources said, clearing the way for the teams to announce the swap later Tuesday.

Camby, 34, is coming off a productive season in which he averaged 9.1 points, 13.1 rebounds and 3.61 blocks for the Nuggets, who won 50 games to claim the final playoff spot in what is regarded as the most competitive conference race in league history.

But the Nuggets have yet to advance out of the first round with their Allen Iverson-Carmelo Anthony-Camby core and, according to sources, opted to shed the remaining two years on Camby's contract (worth nearly $15 million) to create the flexibility that could allow for more changes.

It's a good mid-term solution for the Clips.  Camby can more than compensate for Brand's rebounding and blocks.  He's arguably the most effective help defender in the league.  Not a bad passer, either.  Camby's usage dropped precipitously after Denver acquired Allen Iverson, but he's a reasonably effective scorer and has that dependable set shot from about 15.  He's certainly not capable of contributing at Elton's level -- and he'll never demand a double-team -- but he doesn't have to.  Side note: We posed the question a couple of years back, "is Chris Kaman secretly a power forward?" Now we might have occasion to find out.   

On the salary grid, Camby's contract is favorable: $8M next season; $7.65M in 2009-2010.  The Clippers essentially give up bupkis.  And they still have a little money left over under the cap to do something else -- whether it's now, during the season, or next offseason...or 2010. 

UPDATE: The NBA.com report on the Camby acquisition. 

UPDATE: There's some confusion as to Camby's salary.  Stein reports it as $10M each of the next two seasons. The reliable Hoops Hype grid shows it as $8M next season and $7.65M in 2009-2010. It's possible both are correct insofar as Camby earns $20M, but only the $8M/$7.65M count against the cap.  We'll try to learn more.

LAS VEGAS -- The Los Angeles Clippers confirmed on Sunday that lottery pick Eric Gordon will miss the remainder of the NBA Summer League on the campus of UNLV with a strained left hamstring.

Gordon, who has shown some nice flashes in two games despite his struggles from perimeter, suffered the strain Saturday in a loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. The injury, while not believed to be serious, rules out what looked to be one of the better individual duels in Vegas this summer: Gordon's scheduled showdown Wednesday night with O.J. Mayo of the Memphis Grizzlies. Drafted No. 7 overall last month out of Indiana, Gordon has missed 19-of-28 shots from the field in two games but has relied on his strength, body control and confidence to get to the free-throw line 21 times (making 16) in just under 60 minutes of court time, enabling him to average 19 points along with 6.5 rebounds. Clippers summer league coach Kim Hughes has been primarily playing Gordon as a shooting guard, a position in which he is likely to be deployed most as a rookie alongside Baron Davis. "I think once [Gordon] figures it out, he'll understand that he doesn't have to take the first available shot," Hughes told NBA.com. "When he uses the picks a little bit more, we'll send the ball to him weak side and he won't have to shoot the ball so quickly. I think he's got a good feel for the game, I think he can break his own guy down one-on-one and I think in transition he can be a monster."

The FTA number is encouraging.  Getting to the line is a skill and instinct I'd much rather see from a 19-year-old in the incipient moments if his career.  The FG% isn't nearly as important as the TS%, which is respectable.  The 11 rebounds in 57 minutes isn't bad either.  

MORE: Good quote from Kim Hughes on Gordon at NBA.com:

"I think once he figures it out, he'll understand that he doesn't have to take the first available shot," Hughes said. "When he uses the picks a little bit more, we'll send the ball to him weak side and he won't have to shoot the ball so quickly. I think he's got a good feel for the game, I think he can break his own guy down one-on-one, and I think in transition he can be a monster."