Oh no. Cam was "given legitimate chances" last season and he failed miserably. The reason Ime didn't believe he wasn't ready yet was because of what he saw on the court (and probably in practice). Some of the Cam and Reed fanatics who constantly whine about them not being giving an opportunity have blinders on. At some point, failing players must be pulled off the floor to sit. Then it's up to the player to make full effort to improve themselves. Now you say it's easy to pile on Cam because "it's the convenient thing to do". What planet are you from? Every single Rockets player gets piled on when they don't perform. That's just the way it is. In Cam's particular case, his body of work is terrible because he barely tries on defense and makes some of the stupidest plays you ever see in the NBA on offense. As I've said many times, whenever Cam decides to screw his head on and dedicate himself to being the best basketball player he can be, things will turn around. Until then, it's gonna be a very tough slog for him.
He was awful to start (but let’s not kid ourselves like he was playing 20+ minutes…8min, 13min, 20min, 12min, 7min, 4min, 6min) His first 7 games, as I said, awful. 10.7 minutes, 6 points, 1.5 rebounds on 39% shooting, 1-18 from three, 67% from the line. So they sent him to RVG. Comes back. From December 19 to March 14 (with 5 DNPs sprinkled in): 17.7 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds on 43/37/78 shooting. Or about half the minutes, half the production, slightly better shooting numbers Jalen had the entire season. (32.9 minutes, 21 points, 4.5 rebounds on 42/35/81 shooting) Then another 7 games of DNP. And then in his final 7 games (really 5), 12 points, 3 rebounds on 60/55/86 shooting. Super small sample alert: in 3 starts (vs Thunder, Lakers, Clippers): averaged 25/8R on 58/55/71 shooting But but but defense! But but but consistency! (Wow, a 20 year old is not totally consistent?!) Others have already mentioned it, Nesmith and Pritchard in Boston. Glued to the bench. Now one’s helping/starting for the Pacers and the other the Sixth Man. Oops, can’t play G7 killer Buddy Hield! Only does one thing & only plays one side of the court! Ime Thibodeau needs to loosen up or get out. “but but but but he took us from Silas to 52 wins and losing in the first round!” |_________________| |_________________| |_________________| |_________________| |_________________| |_________________| <—Ime Thibodeau clearing the Silas bar |_____Silas bar___|
Again, Cam had his shot this season. In January I sang his praises and shrugged off concerns about his bad body language. By February there was nothing good to say about his play on the court and his media answers reflected poorly on him. I don't blindly trust Udoka about anything. I rooted for Cam to get minutes and when he got them I didn't like what I saw, nor did I like what he said. Red flags galore.
IMO, it's >50% chance Cam is traded this summer as the Rockets look to upgrade the roster (at minimum, starting SG and backup C). If the roster improves, it will be even harder for Cam to crack the rotation. For Cam to get a season's worth of NBA minutes, he needs to go to a lottery team that doesn't give a care about winning.
Or..... An organization that has a good vision for developing while you compete, instead of letting talent rot on the bench and playing NEVER WILL BE players like Tate..... Cam should have been playing all year - as BACKUP SG/SF....all year especially with Tari out on B2Bs - Ime blew it, he falls in love with players and doesn't move along, meanwhile CHAMPIONSHIP coaches like POP can start a 19 year old PG with Tim and Manu because he can see the bigger picture.... Reed and Cam would have made this team more playoff ready and balanced had they played all year as backups. IMHO - Ime did a decent job, but more of a B level by ignoring talent on the roster because he was focused on DEFENSE first players. He made us noticeably worse when he started Amen for Jabari - because we lost that spacing. DD
LOL - that is just stupid, there are people that watch basketball that are WAY smarter at it than Stone, Ime, or any of us......it is just a game after all....nothing Rocket science about it......but as a game - you have to know how to play the game within the game and get the most out of your full roster. IME is a great motivator a below avg Xs and Os coach, and not sure on his development abilities yet. DD
Agents always know best (paging Dmo!). Cam’s media answers and body language torpedoed his season more than anything on the court. He’d be wise to listen to Ime while he’s here instead of his agent. Do what the coach says when you’re under contract and give your agent something to work with when the contract is up. Asking your agent to bail you out mid contract before you have a body of work is a recipe for disaster… for this career and beyond.
He's talking about consistent effort not simply whether or not you make shots. Jalen was giving his all on defense despite not shooting well. That's not Cams M.O.
We need offense. Offense wins championships, not defense. Defense will win you a lot of games in the regular season, but everyone plays defense in the playoffs. What happens when the other team matches your defensive intensity and you have no go to scorer? You get bounced in the first round.
What happens when (because it's the playoffs) the other team targets your one undisciplined defensive hole and gashes you every possession? You can't play them. You cannot win in the playoffs when one player is completely out of sync with everyone else on the floor. Saying "offense win championships, not defense" is so silly and untrue. Take about 15 seconds to think about it.
Now you’re just making stuff up. When has any team targeted cam whitmore? Stop making him out to be some defensive liability. He’s fine. See that’s the problem with that line of thinking. You’d rather have inefficient role players that play hard like fvv, rather than an all star like harden. Just because people used to say “defense wins championships” 50 years ago doesn’t make it true. Literally almost everyone can play defense, it just a matter of playing hard. You can teach defense, but you can’t teach offense.
First off, I was specifically talking about the playoffs, where game-planning is more crucial. During the regular season, Cam's lack of defensive effort is indeed a liability but certainly not fatal if he's producing on offense. All he has to do is not play stupid and hit 3-pointers. That's all I ask, which isn't much. Secondly, don't peg me. I don't want Fred or Harden (unless Fred is the backup). Thirdly, I never said "defense wins championships". You made the statement, "offense wins championships, not defense" which is dumb in the first degree. Whether you like it or not, the truth is it takes a balance of offense and defense to win championships.
Stone and Fertitta surely did a number coddling players like Green and Kevin Porter. Udoka has to wake up.....
Udoka not playing him in the regular season, did not help with playoff rotation.....but again.... He did not even trust Aaron Holiday, Landale .........the most heralded bench depth where did it go?
An 8-player playoff rotation is just fine. Main problem I had was not giving Holiday more chances, particularly in game 1 when Fred and Jalen were both complete and utter trash. Landale, seriously? Steven Adams and Alpi were just fine at C.
I don't care about 8 or 9 man, he didn't use the guys the way it was supposed to be. Why sign Landale anyways.....he was a Playoff contributor for the Suns.......but I meant as a name not necessarily that guy. You are supposed to sign players that you can use and not Reggie Bullocks.
