His words were delivered softly, quietly and without much conviction.
“I still think I can come back despite what they say,” Marcus Camby nearly whispered yesterday after his Knicks teammates practiced at Purchase College.
The less-than-inspiring utterance could be followed with this question: Why bother?
Camby yesterday morning received more bad news about his torn hip muscle, as Dr. David Altchek’s opinion was no different than that of the Knicks’ medical staff.
Camby is not expected to play again this season and will spend much of his time rehabbing in a pool, which is fitting for a team that for months has been dead-in-the-water.
The likelihood of Camby getting back on the court is almost non-existent. He said he was “devastated” to hear the grim prognosis on Monday and was further disheartened with the equally depressing second opinion.
“I’m frustrated,” he said. “I was hoping to get some good news, but I still think I can come back.”
Asked why it is important for him to return this season, with the last-place Knicks headed home instead of the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, Camby said, “Just for myself. That’s probably why I’m not giving up hope. I really don’t want to sit on the side if I don’t have to.
“If I feel I can play, it doesn’t matter where we’re at, in the playoffs, out of the playoffs, I just want to play.”
There is nothing for Camby to save upon his return. Not that he is much of a savior, anyway. The stringbean center’s fragility has been an issue throughout his six-year NBA career and if he does not play again this season he will have appeared in only 326 of a possible 492 regular-season games. That means 34 percent of the time, Camby is a no-show.
This season produced his worst attendance of all. Camby missed 15 games with a sore left foot and on Feb. 1 landed awkwardly on his hip after colliding with Indiana’s Jermane O’Neal. Camby hasn’t played since and his numbers this season (11.1 points, 11.1 rebounds) were attained in a career-low 29 games.
Rick Kaplan, Camby’s business manager, said doctors have assured the center that this injury is not career threatening.
“It should be no hindrance,” Kaplan said. “He could easily be 100 percent in three months.”
By then, the Knicks season will mercifully have come to an end. Camby said teammates have told him “to get healthy and get ready for next season.” He added “probably everybody” has advised him not to attempt to come back this season.
“He could have a miraculous recovery, and if he comes back and he’s healthy, why not play?” coach Don Chaney said. “It’s all his call.”
Getting Camby back on the court would allow other teams to see he has healed, which is important for any possible trade this offseason. Rather than intensify his treatment, Camby has been instructed to cut back in order for the muscle to heal on its own. He walked yesterday with a severe limp.
“If this just happened everybody would be sort of shocked and stunned,” Chaney said, “but it happened a while back. Hearing this news this late is not as devastating to the players.”
No doubt, they’ve been devastated too much by this 20-34 horror show of a season to notice.