When you're 39 years old, the injuries start to pile up. For Marcus Camby, a torn plantar fascia will keep him out of action for at least two weeks, and perhaps even more. Here's Jonathan Feigen's story from training camp:
Rockets center Marcus Camby, expected to be out another two weeks with a foot injury, could be out much longer if things don't improve soon. Camby said Wednesday that the therapy he has been trying is to improve his condition enough to avoid surgery that would likely keep him out for as much as two months.
"My plantar fascia is torn," Camby said. "I'm trying to do whatever I can to avoid surgery. We're just going to rehab it and see how it goes in the next two weeks and take it from there. We don't want to rehab it and nurse it and have it still be lingering. That is something I'm going to sit back and figure out and definitely look toward long term, as the season progresses to the second half of the season. I have to be smart about it."
I've said it from the start that if the Rockets have to count on Camby for serious minutes this season that they'll be in trouble. Camby struggled mightily with injuries with the Knicks last year, and never got fully comfortable, especially on the offensive side. Over the course of the entire season, Camby made just 17 shots all season, some three less than Luis Scola made in just one game in 2010.
And on the defensive side, he continues to be a solid help defender, but his athleticism has waned and he has begun to struggle with quicker big men. That plantar fascia injury he suffered might be partially to blame.
With Omer Asik still in the fold, the Rockets can afford to play it slow with Camby, but the injury nonetheless is worrying. Many have been quick to pencil Camby in for backup minutes late in the season after the Rockets presumably trade Asik, but this injury does underscore the value of having a reliable, consistent backup center like Asik.
We're early in the evaluation process and hopefully Camby will be back before the regular season, but it's definitely a story to watch.