Denver ? When the coach started lecturing about lax defense, Marcus Camby took it personally.

Anyone who has watched the Nuggets of late knows, however, that Camby’s game these days is about more than defense. He’s dominating on both ends of the court, leading many to believe he finally has made it onto the list of the NBA’s elite centers.

“He’s definitely one of the top four or five players in the league if he continues to play this way,” Nuggets guard Earl Boykins said of the 10-year veteran. “He’s basically our anchor.”

His 16.1 points a game are third in the league among centers, behind only Yao Ming and Mehmet Okur. Not so surprising is that Camby leads all NBA players with 14.1 rebounds and 3.7 blocks a game.

Maybe most impressively, he has led the Nuggets in rebounding in all seven of their games and has led them in both scoring and rebounding four times.

“In my eyes, he’s an All-Star center,” Carmelo Anthony said.

The Nuggets have struggled to a 3-4 start, but it’s no fault of Camby’s. His role has become even more important with injuries to forwards Nene and, more recently, Kenyon Martin, whose sore knee kept him out of Sunday night’s victory over Minnesota and could force him to miss more time.

Denver's Marcus Camby picks up a loose ball and heads down the court. The action took place during a March game in Denver. Camby is averaging 16.1 points and 14.1 rebounds for the Nuggets this season.

“I just tried to will my team to a victory,” Camby said. “I just had to be more vocal and step up my level of play. K-Mart is a big part of what we do. I don’t know how long he’s going to be out. If he’s going to be out an extended period of time, I have to pick up my level of play.”

The big question is, how much better can he get?

Coach George Karl said he was very surprised when he arrived in Denver to learn that Camby was much more than the defensive specialist he had been defined as over his early years in the league with Toronto and New York. Since his rookie year, in which he averaged 14.8 points, Camby has never averaged more than 12 points a game in any season.

When the Nuggets traded Antonio McDyess to the Knicks in 2002 for Camby and Nene, Camby wasn’t anything close to the headliner in that deal. Considered one-dimensional and injury prone, many thought he might not last long with the Nuggets.

Now, though, he’s signed through 2010 and figures to be a cornerstone of Denver’s plans, alongside Anthony.

Although he’s not a traditional, back-to-the-basket post player, Camby can score inside and, after extensive work on his jumper, the 6-foot-11 center routinely hits from the top of the key where defenses still often leave him open. Camby is shooting 56.8 percent this season.

Against the Timberwolves, he outplayed Kevin Garnett. His 22 rebounds were the high in the league this young season. He outrebounded the entire Minnesota team 14-13 in the first half.

“He’s had three or four of them all year where he was a dominant player around the basket,” Karl said. “His offense has improved. I thought he showed he was a class player on the court. When you’re playing against Kevin Garnett, I think it was a pretty impressive performance. And we needed it.”

While it’s hard to predict whether Camby’s offense will stay on the best pace of his career, the defense has always been dependably good.

In Karl’s system, good defense is supposed to set the tempo that leads to good offense. In a season in which Denver has struggled thus far, Camby is among the few on the roster who has been putting that philosophy into play.

“He really lit into us about how poor defensively we were playing,” Camby said.

“Me being a defensive player, I kind of took it to heart. I felt that he was trying to challenge me a little bit out there. So I tried to come out here, be more assertive, tried to be there on the weak side when my teammates needed help. I think everybody followed suit.”