He was actually drafted at 18 and played a summer league game at that age. Those Summer League teams better watch out for Amen and Cam next year lol
Injuries happen at summer league. We would be foolish to play the. Both there. Tari and Amen both suffered injuries last summer league
Cam might work out with the Summer League group. He might play once. I have my doubts. Now our lottery pick, they can lace it up in Vegas.
The first 20 games of this season JG4 issues were on full display. The first 20 games Cam played showed his promise AND he clearly outplayed JG4, at that time. This was not lost on JG4, I suspect. JG4 has improved as the season has gone on ... maybe feeling the pressure of his backup outperforming him. This is a very good thing. This might be the first time JG4 has ever been pressured for PT by his backup ... and he responded by playing better/smarter, listening to his coach. The challenge going forward for Udoka is making sure both players get their minutes and continue to improve. BTW I have thought that JG4 would need an entire season for him to get with the HC's program and to start looking like a player good enough to start on a playoff team. JG4 is now there and has exceeded by expectations.
It is good how it all came together and very unexpected: the passing of the trade deadline, Sengun's injury, moving AT to a dunker spot (and almost out of the guard rotation), and Cam's injury (creating the breathing space it gave JG to find his next level). Credit goes to Green for figuring it out, getting in sync with his teammates, and trusting Udoka.
Getting Whitmore back will be big to help the offensive during the minutes when Green is resting. Even though Cam isn't a very good shot creator yet; his aggressiveness, floor spacing, and finishing would help the team win or least break even during those minutes. Too often in those minutes, most of the guys play too passively and stagnant. That ends with Holiday or Brooks "making a play" late in the shot clock. Sure they can do it sometimes, but that isn't really ideal for efficiency as they are best as finishers also. Just worried people will say that Green's +/- has fallen off, and he isn't good anymore if that happens. If Cam and/or Sengun can get healthy enough to play, they should. All these guys are young, and they all need minutes on the floor to get better chemistry and for the team/coaches to best find the sets, line ups, that will work for them. There is always a risk of injury; that is just life.
The minutes I saw he has done it more for himself than creating shots for others though. Do you mean off the PnR or hand off? If so, then I would definitely use him in that role more with the bench unit and have Holiday as the secondary playmaker. Especially when Amen is with the starting unit. Though that could be tough coming off an injury.
Can't wait for Cam to be back, the rockets have increased their pace post all star break and we have seen how Jalen has benefitted. Cam was the other player who mentioned how they need to increase the pace to take advantage of the athleticism the team has. I think we will see a new version of Cam we have not seen yet as a result, he was already doing well for a rookie, but I am expecting him to show us something completely different from what we have seen thus far if he is healthy. I have seen Cam super excited and cheering every big play from the bench, more so than any one else on the team, I know he cant wait to get back out there. The way he mentioned that they should increase the pace, he said it in a way he was not throwing the coaching staff under the bus, but instead he was complimenting the skillset of his teammates, and he was also ambiguous about who it would help (this is different from Green just saying they aren't using him correctly), this shows a tremendous amount of maturity, and if you watched his early interviews he was just not communicating things well at all, he didn't seem like he had an agent to really talk him through the basic Q&A. I honestly think he must have tanked the interview process with teams and that is a part of the reason he fell so much in the draft.
while the premise here is pretty spot on, i just want to point out that Jalen began the season pretty decent outside of like the first game which was a stinker. Idk where the narrative started that he sucked to begin the season. He was actually decently ok. His slump and terrible play started in december.
