This is a strong draft just probably no superstars past the top 2. Wait until next year and you will see what a weak draft looks like. Cam, Amen, Ausur, Hendrickson, and Walker all have all-star potential. Further down Lively, Black, Nick Smith all have good potential.
Do you see Whitmore as an elite shooter (ala KD/Kawhi/etc.)? Do you see Whitmore as someone who can significantly improve his feel/playmaking abilities? If the answer to both is no, then I'd say just stick with JG (though his frame/size/defensive issues worry me too). If the answer is yes to either, I'd probably say it is a toss-up (maybe Cam gets the edge for being younger), and if it is yes to both, then absolutely go with Cam over JG. Though to be clear, I see Whitmore more as a big wing/quick big vs a true wing/guard, though not sure that matters much in this specific context. FWIW, for Amen, IMO the question tends to be: do you think he can hit 30-33% from 3 and/or develop a floater/mid-range option? If the answer to either is yes, he's probably a top tier PG, and if the answer to both is yes, he's possibly top 15-30 in the NBA. I assume the odds of that are similar to Whitmore developing feel/playmaking and/or becoming an elite shooter, though I think Amen's odds are probably a bit more likely (I think shooting is easier to develop than feel...especially adequate shooting vs elite shooting).
Hey, man, I wish I knew the answers, but I don’t. So my heuristics goes like this: we know that Whitmore has a better NBA body at 18 than Green at 20, and we know that Green has been disappointing. This is all I need to know to explore Cam as a possible alternative. Mind you, I said it’d be interesting to have both to see who develops better, that’s not a Whitmore over Green proposal. It’s a "let’s see how things shake out" proposal. BTW, I’m not crazy at all about Green’s playmaking at the moment, I think both players are better as finishers than as plawmakers. who knows, if Green eats enough burgers, and develops as a creator, and starts playing defense, than he’s the man.
Gotcha, and yeah no one knows the answers to those questions. But those are the kind of questions I like to think about when evaluating prospects and the roles I expect those prospects to have on the team. I actually think Cam vs JG or Cam *with* JG is an interesting thought experiment. I'd probably throw in another question about whether these guys can excel in lower usage roles (which might be required if you have these 2 AND Sengun AND Harden/FVV/etc.).
Why do so many of you think that a 21 year old can suddenly become a sharpshooter??? If he can’t shoot against 16 year okds he certainly as heck won’t shoot any better against grown men.
My wording was possibly confusing, but I was saying it is relatively likely Amen can get to 30%-33% 3pt% and/or develop a floater/mid-range game comparable to some other guys. Compared to Whitmore becoming an elite shooter (38%-40% 3pt%) and/or an adequate playmaker. Also...shooting probably is one of few those things that you'd expect to improve even if the level competition increases (especially if we're talking wide open/C&S opportunities). So yes...I expect young guys to potentially get better at shooting relative to what they might have shot in previous years (even against lesser competition).
Taking Amen over Whitmore is going to be such a mistake when they look back on this draft many years from now.
Cam is starting to give me Jalen Brown/Jimmy Butler vibes. He should develop into a nice 3 level scorer. His passing numbers don't concern me too much because he's still so young and he has time to develop in that area. He can use his strength to compensate for his lack of wingspan to get his shots off against taller/longer players. Sengun Green Whitmore Jabari KPJ* Even if KPJ comes off the bench, this could be an explosive offensive core in 2-3 years. If we add a PG, defensive length and a shooter from the free agent market, we could be on to something. Especially if Eason keeps developing.
Yeah, definitely, he has that small hands, not that tall for his position, 18 years old going against him a little. Our own Toronto champ and Miami finalist.
I don't like his measurables but we can't have it all I suppose. Hope his strength makes up for it if we draft him.
Let me see. The Rockets need a SF who can 3 and D. The SF will also need to create, since lord knows our PG can not. The Rockets also a C who can provide weak side protection and who can shoot a little. The C will also need to create, since lord knows our PG can not. Am I reading this right?
Can I get a list of the many 18 year old elite athlete wings that significantly increased their feel/IQ/playmaking? For reference, Brown has 2-3x the AST% as Whitmore in college and was IIRC the 3rd best assist guy in his team, while Whitmore was basically last (LAST) on his team. Yeah I know I'm just repeating myself, but it bothers me how many people think this is relatively easy to develop. Also, I noticed this account was talking about Cam via a NBA Draft big board. And oh geez that has to be one of the strangest big boards I've seen (Scoot @ 10 just ahead of Gradey Dick but behind his G League teammates and Pods, Jarace Walker @ 2, etc.). Maybe he'll look like a genius in a couple of years, but right now, I'm not sure I trust the evaluation skills of this account. :/
From Sam Vecenie’s just released draft guide… 03. Cam Whitmore | W | Villanova | Birthdate: July 8, 2004 (Age: 18) | 6-6 | 230 LBS | Hometown: Odenton, Md. BACKGROUND Parents are Beth and Myron. Father was in the Air National Guard. Has an older cousin, Bob Whitmore, who was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1969. Cam is from the DMV and played at Archbishop Spalding. Was a tremendous high school player in one of the toughest high school leagues in the country, the Baltimore Catholic League. Broke his leg as a freshman and missed that season. In total, played three years there and won two Baltimore Catholic League Player of the Year awards. As a senior, he led his team to the state semifinals in Maryland. Played for Team Melo on the Nike EYBL circuit. Upon the end of his senior year, he was seen as a solid five-star prospect who had a chance to be a one-and-done player. But Whitmore really emerged into being a certain one-and-done over the following months. He was selected a McDonald’s All-American, was invited to the Nike Hoop Summit and played in the Jordan Brand Classic, which gave scouts a big opportunity to see him live and confirm him as a likely one-and-done prospect. Following those events, he went to play for Team USA at the FIBA Americas U18 event in Mexico, where he led the team to a gold medal, won MVP and certified himself as a potential top-five pick in the upcoming draft. In the end, he was considered a clear five-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. He committed to Villanova before his senior season. Had surgery on his right thumb in early October that kept him out until Dec. 3. Returned and was a bit of a mixed bag. Scored in sin- gle figures in five of his first eight games. But over his last 16 games in the regular season, he averaged 14 points, five rebounds and 1.6 steals per game, shooting 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3 and 70 percent from the line. Won the Big East Freshman of the Year award. Declared for the 2023 NBA Draft after the season. Was invited to the 2023 NBA Draft Combine. STRENGTHS Elite intersection of size, frame, athleticism and power. I think his athleticism has been underrated through the process. Mixes that with very real body control and balance. Whitmore is 6-foot-6 without shoes with a near 6-foot-9 wingspan and a powerful 235-pound build. He has a strong near 8-foot-8 standing reach. But beyond that, he is very explosive. Not quite the overall athlete Anthony Edwards is in terms of fluidity and ability to flip his hips but is in his ballpark in terms of power generation and explosiveness. Has a good first step despite being 235 pounds. Very real bounce. Can jump off one foot or two and finish high above the rim. Very powerful and has real burst in transition. Creates transition opportunities and finishes those chances. But he’s also a real half-court dunking threat. Threw down some monster ones. The important thing, though, is that he combines all of this with power and huge hands. Has great contact balance. Hard to knock him off his spot. Drives through rim protectors at the basket and is a really impressive contested rebounder because of this combination. Villanova would often run through a set to get him on either the left or the right wing. If he was on the left wing, he’d often drive baseline and try to beat the rim protector to the spot. Has long strides when he’s not playing off two feet. Loves the rip through (particularly a stutter rip). Love him when he catches on the wing on an empty side and just attacks. Will beat you to the rim most times. Very comfortable dribbling and attacking with his left hand. If he was on the right side, he would often take a middle ball screen and try to get downhill for a finish in the lane. If you try to get in front of him and don’t have enough strength through your base and lower half, he will just move through you on his way to the rim. Powerful and on-balance as a driver, largely because of how smart he is playing off two feet. He has an enormous jump stop move to change the angle on defenders. He initiates contact and is willing to go through you. Center of gravity is strong and doesn’t get thrown off by contact. Also has this strange ability to contort his body at weird angles and still finish through below the rim. Uses that body-control aspect exceptionally well to create angles and find his way around bigs, both on the ground and when already in the air. If you cut him off and he must pick up his dribble within 8 or so feet, he has a developing batch of step-through moves and pivots to use his strides and strength to get to the basket. He’s also a sharp cutter. Goes decisively and gets downhill quickly, particularly when cutting from the baseline. Seems to really time them well for when the help and the double-teams come and will get above the rim to finish here. Made 64.2 percent of his attempts at the rim in half-court settings, a very high percentage for a wing creator. Finishes with both hands. Whitmore’s handle is quite good, particularly when trying to get to his stepback. Has a large bag of tricks. Good change of pace that is also mixed with all sorts of nasty crossovers. Seems to have real rhythm, with the ability to decelerate and quickly accelerate into new moves. Doesn’t pick up his dribble. He’s patient and willing to see what develops then attack it. If you make one mistake defensively in terms of your weight distribution, there isn’t much room for error because Whitmore can get around you or go through you. He also has a nasty stepback game off the bounce. Made 19 3s off the dribble this past season, and some of those reps left evaluators with their jaws on the floor in terms of his ability to create that necessary separation from his man then load into a perfect-looking pull-up. Will string together multiple moves out on the perimeter including quick-succession crossovers to get his man off-balance leaning to Whitmore’s right, then will drill a stepback to his left. Loves the hop step after completing these moves to get his rhythm and balance toward the rim. I buy the jumper long term. He didn’t take a ton of catch-and-shoot 3s because his role was more attack-oriented at Villanova, but he made 40 percent of his looks there and has real touch. Makes tend to be very pure. Might struggle a bit early on from the NBA line. There’s a lot of wrist involved with the shot. Takes them off the hop, which is good, but can occasionally have a slight pause at the top of his mechanics. A bit of a slower release. When the rhythm is clean, the shot looks clean. It’s all about repping it out so that those reps become the norm off the catch. Will be easy to work through long term, but all of this might limit him to being more of a spot-up 3-point shooter as opposed to a movement catch-and-shoot threat – especially early. But he can hit relocation 3s when someone closes him out heavily, combining the pull-up flashes with the catch-and-shoot threat. I also think Whitmore has some real on-ball defensive upside. Has quick, strong, disruptive hands. Averaged 1.4 steals. His intersection of quickness and power gives him real switchability in cross-matches and scramble situations. Really hard to go through him when he gets his chest squared up to the ballhandler. Has the length to contest shots. I think he’ll have some success switching one through four in the NBA in terms of his tools. Can also three-quarter the post while maintaining his spot, using his length to contest entry passes. As an on-ball defender, it will all be about effort for Whitmore. This past season at Villanova, he had some rough moments, but it was mostly positive. Has all the tools to be great at it if he wants to be.
WEAKNESSES Whitmore has all the physical tools to be an NBA All-Star. But his overall feel for the game left scouts wanting more this past season. Teams aren’t sure what to do with him in this respect. Had a lot of poor moments from a winning perspective and missed a lot of reads that might frustrate more established players when it comes to playing with him early in his career. Played what looked like selfish basketball a bit too often for Villanova. All of this starts on the offensive end as a passer. Whitmore will come into the NBA with a historically low assist rate for a high- usage wing. And that showcases itself on tape. He is the consummate ball stopper. There are seemingly no quick-read actions with Whitmore. He’s a guy who stops, surveys the action, then makes his move. But he’ll also overdribble and dance on the outside. Doesn’t take advantage of the defense rotating unless it’s his drive. Rarely keeps the ball moving in the chain along the perimeter with a quick reversal. It doesn’t seem like he has vision beyond his own tunnel vision. Misses a lot of easy looks for his teammates. And we’re not talking complex reads where he must be looking at the back side. There were a ton of easy, same-side kickout chances Whitmore just did not take. A lot of this results in some wild shot selection. Whitmore had a lot of unfortunate drives this past season where he recklessly attacked the rim and took an off-balance shot while his open teammates looked on around the perimeter on in the dunker spot. Plays well off two feet, which should theoretically lead to more balanced attempts, but they don’t. Defenders can collapse on him all the time right now knowing the ball likely isn’t going to come back out when Whitmore drives. Got his shot blocked way more often than you’d expect, and because defenders were really loading up the paint against him, he played much more below the rim at times than he could. Whitmore’s shot prep could use some work. Shooting an open 3 isn’t always his first choice, and some of the decision-making questions written about above also show up here. Sometimes he’ll pause to survey before taking the shot instead of shooting in rhythm. Sometimes he’ll jab step into a 3 when he doesn’t really need to. Given how much Whitmore likes to drive and attack, it’s also notable that, right now, Whitmore has zero way to beat defenses as a midrange scorer. He’s always trying to either get to his stepback 3 or all the way to the rim. But even when he does try to settle into a midrange game, you see how his jumper isn’t exactly perfect in regard to making it work long term from that area of the court. Squares himself off too much toward the rim. He has that pause at the top, which means the release is a bit slow. Can allow for easier contests even when he gets that separation. His footwork in this area needs some real improvement. Has to be cleaner and must make some mechanical tweaks to be able to be successful in this range. I thought Whitmore’s defense away from the basketball at Villanova was a bit messy. Didn’t think his communication with his teammates was always on point. Seemed to struggle in exchanges, either switches or just when to stop helping and recover back to his man. Thought his closeouts were messy. Got driven by being out on his front foot a bit too often. Gambled way too often to get steals and pushed himself out of position. Technically, he’s terrific when he gets his chest squared to his man but could have done a better job of doing that as opposed to giving up driving lanes. Again, this is attention-to-detail stuff and probably related to him missing time early. He will be as good as he wants to be on defense. But there are real flaws he’ll need to improve to reach that potential. SUMMARY Whitmore is a pure upside play. If you buy into the flashes he showed at Villanova and think he has potential to be a 25-point- per-game scorer, you should take him in the top five, passing and decision-making be damned. His athletic upside is elite even by NBA standards. I think he’s going to put even the best athletes in the world behind the eight ball when it comes to his explosiveness and power combination. He’ll excel in transition, and the opened-up driving lanes of the NBA court should favor him even more when he has better shooters and floor spacers around him. Look at the way the Pacers’ Bennedict Mathurin thrived in that regard this past season. Ultimately, I do tend to fall into this camp when it comes to Whitmore. If I’m drafting in the top five, I am doing so to find the player who can make a real difference for me moving up the standings. If Whitmore hits, he can be that. But the way he plays currently is a real flaw, and you’ll need to do some real work to fix that over the course of the next couple of seasons. I’m a buyer on the talent because of the way he can collapse defenses. But it’s all on Whitmore to decide that he wants to be a part of winning basketball teams that move the ball and play unselfishly.
