4:34pm: Camby has canceled a meeting with the Heat, and Nets GM Billy King is pursuing Camby "pretty hard," sources tell Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter links). Marc Berman of the New York Post hears that "frontrunner" is too strong a word to describe the Knicks position in the race for Camby right now (Twitter link). Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald has additional details on the canceled Heat meeting. Both Jackson and Berger, via Twitter, say the door remains open for the Heat to acquire Camby via sign-and-trade. Jackson reports the Rockets are interested in Norris Cole as part of sign-and-trade with the Heat.
3:17pm: The Knicks appear to be in the lead for Camby, as the Rockets are interested in making a sign-and-trade with New York, but not Miami, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Even if the Knicks fail to work out a sign-and-trade, they still may have the $3.09MM mini midlevel available if the Mavs agree to a sign-and-trade for Jason Kidd. The Heat, after agreeing to terms with Ray Allen, could only give Camby the veteran's minimum of about $1.4MM, unless Houston consents to a sign-and-trade. John Hollinger of ESPN.com believes the Heat would have to include an expiring contract and a draft pick in any sign-and-trade instead of Joel Anthony, who has three seasons left on his deal (Twitter link).
2:15pm: We heard earlier today that the Knicks and Marcus Camby were to meet sometime in the next few days in Las Vegas, but a source tells Frank Isola of the New York Daily News that the meeting will take place tomorrow in Houston. Isola says Camby is still considering the Heat, Rockets, Mavs and Spurs as well, with the Nets a dark horse (Twitter links).
The Heat, rumored to be seeking Camby in a sign-and-trade, have a few assets to pull of that kind of deal, tweets Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Among them are Joel Anthony, the Sixers' 2013 first-round pick acquired in an earlier trade, and perhaps even Norris Cole, Winderman says.
As we heard from Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports yesterday, the Knicks and Heat appear to be the frontrunners for the 38-year-old who was the league's Defensive Player of the Year in 2006/07. Camby averaged 4.9 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game with the Blazers and Rockets last season, the first time since 2002/03 he put up less than 10.0 RPG.
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