I STILL believe that Whitmore has the most star potential of anyone on the team. And several others have bright futures. Cam is at another level, talent wise.
Cam has a lot more work to do than everyone else. Amen, Green, Sengun and Jabari only need to improve their 3PT shooting to be worth the max or near it. Cam has to significantly improve two of: driving, passing and defense. He's extremely subpar for a SG at all those things. I suppose Amen improving his shooting can be considered equally difficult (needs to improve his 3PT% by over 20% and add significant volume). The other 3 (Green, Sengun, Jabari) are basically a 3-6% improvement in 3PT% away from being stars. However, Cam is the youngest player on the team so it wouldn't surprise me if he does it. He comes from a hard working background too so I think he can do it. Just give him some time, it's a lot to do all at once.
He has fantastic tools right behind Amen and arguably Jalen Green, and appears to already be a better shooter than either of them (with an asterisk for sample size and differing roles as compared to Green). However, I'm not convinced he has the ball skills, basketball IQ, or feel for the game to become a true superstar. I think his absolute best-case scenario would be something along the lines of Jaylen Brown, which would be an incredible player, but I think if you squint you can see even higher-end outcomes being possible for all three of Sengun, Thompson, and Green. None of these guys are likely achieve their maximum, best-case scenarios though. We'll be very lucky if just one of them becomes a top 5 player in the league.
We all know he has a lot of improvements to make to his overall game....But damn, a 19 yr old who was used pretty sparingly in the big picture, putting together 22 minutes of spectacular game footage? So excited about this kids future....let's f'ing go!
I was very clear in my post, Cam needs to improve his defense more than all of those guys, he’s much worse than the worst of them (Green). Didn’t say there’s no room for improvement for everyone.
My 6 year old son watches Cam's season highlights probably once a week, he loves the guy, always yelling out Slam Whitmore while watching. Even at the minimum if Cam turns into a consistent 15-20ppg off the bench, bringing the crowd into the game with his electric athletic ability, then his job is done.
The biggest things working in Cam's favor are his work ethic, young age, and he can play SG. At still only 19 yrs old entering his sophomore year he hasnt even scratched the surface of what he can do, I mean he is even younger than Reed Sheppard who was our 3rd pick this year. While Cam can play both forward slots, I believe his best path to stardom is to position himself as a shooting guard where he can leverage his power, strength and athleticism to bully opposing sgs. With Amen at the 1 and Cam at the 2 you suddenly have two players who dominate their respective positions.
It is mind-boggling how young the Rockets are. I don't remember an NBA team amassing this many young talents together. And there is a sense in which these pieces fit together. This would be some kind of college squad. Our oldest guys would be upper-classmen. 19 Cam -- July 8, 2004 Reed -- June 24, 200420 AT -- January 30, 2003 Jabari -- May 13, 2003 A. Griffin Jr. -- August 25, 2003 21 Jalen Green -- February 9, 2002 Alperin Sengun - July 25, 2002 I know we'd like to fast forward, but patience is a virtue.
As of right now (since we haven't seen Sheppard play yet in the NBA), I think Whitmore has the highest superstar potential. He's absolutely fearless and seems to be strong mentally. Crazy hops and athleticism just like Jalen. Was a bit streaky but can also get superhot from the 3. Great at cutting and on the receiving end for dunks. His only issue is the tunnel vision he gets sometimes but I think he improved on that end towards the end of the season. He has the ability to make great passes if he gets more opportunity to do it.
