Marcus Camby will play Friday.

As we hoped would be the case following his participation in scrimmages on Wednesday, it sounds like Marcus Camby will be ready to take the floor Friday night against the Mavericks after missing six to ten days to thirty days with a calf strain. Mike Woodson said as much today:

Mike Woodson said Marcus Camby will play tomorrow.

That really makes it sound like Camby's gonna play.

As we discussed yesterday, it's unclear how many minutes Camby will receive and when/with whom he'll receive them. A lineup with Carmelo Anthony and him at the four/five would be nice, as would a lineup with Camby at the four alongside Tyson Chandler (provided he's feeling comfortable with his mid-range jumper). Camby/Kurt Thomas and Camby/Rasheed Wallace will surely happen at some point as well. I do not condone lineups in which Camby plays point guard for three sheep and a knapsack. I know Woodson's feeling confident in his team, but that would be irresponsible.

Meanwhile, with or without Camby, we may see Woodson turn to a different starting lineup tomorrow:

Woodson also said he's not sure he will start the same way tomorrow as he did the first 3 games.

I hope he sticks with it. Yes, Elton Brand and Chris Kaman comprise a bigger, more traditional frontcourt than anything the Knicks have seen so far (Brand's might actually be shorter than LeBron James and Thaddeus Young, but he's got nine arms and typically plays more like a big, wouldn't you say?), but it'd be an interesting test for that group and, ya know, if it ain't broke, don't break it. Whether or not Melo starts at four, I'm sure we'll see him play plenty of minutes there, so I suppose it's not worth fretting over either way.

Word. A China Joe preview of Knicks-Mavs and, in fact, all of next week's games will be up in the near future!