I agree with @Aruba77, but I did see a few glimpses of court vision in SL. I think the more he plays that skill and his feel for the game will develop. Right now he's a weapon as a scorer and a more than passable defender with potential to be very good. I'm not sure how he'll fit in the rotation, but if he gets minutes he'll likely force Ime to give him more. Love this kid!
This is my concern. The ball stops with Cam pretty much every time. Great talent, but he might need some coaching.
Jalen and Jabari better watch out. Tari and Cam are gunning for earning starting spots one day. I don't think Ime plays around with that potential based on draft place stuff vs on court production. Tari has been and will continue to prove a positive every time he's on the floor and Cam brings similar advantages in size and strength at the 2 that Jalen lacks, albeit with tunnel vision at the moment. It's Cams defensive potential that makes me raise my eyebrow for Jalen. It's Taris consistency makes me do the same for Jabari. Amen gonna be too big for point guards, he just needs that shot to be reliable. After the Brooks and FVV contracts are up, it's going to look very interesting and competitive at the G and F spots if all develop on predicted pace.
why would anyone need to tell him that? he just spoke to it, being able to play multiple positions. that's what positionless basketball means
Cam is more advanced in terms of scoring than anyone else we've drafted recently. Definitely a top 5 talent from this previous draft. I know he's young, tunnel vision, blah blah blah. He looks better than Jalen Brown and Jimmy Butler coming out of college and he's younger than they were. He's poised. Unfazed by the moment. And he plays defense? He may eventually become our best player.
Definitely not more advanced compared to Green coming in. I don't see a single advantage outside of strength that Whitmore had over Green coming in. Green had significantly faster more advanced footwork, handles agility coming into the league than Whitmore.
Shooting? Green is a career 80% ft shooter and with his horrible and very difficult 3 pt selection as a 19-20 year had a 34% 3pt percentage. I doubt Whitmore with Green's shot diet from three( contested step backs especially given the fact that Green was a safety blanket for teammates to dump the ball to when the shot clock was running out) would match that. Finishing? The couple of times Cam tried to finish from a actual dribble drive in a half court set he tried to double clutch and failed badly at it. At the moment his finishing is more suited to what KJ Martin did. Explosive cuts and transition but not in a half court set off the dribble with bad spacing. Green has a lot more craft to his finishing in terms of awkward angles, cork screws, finesse, touch, along with more advanced footwork to get to the paint when there is a lack of spacing in terms of eurosteps and hop steps. Just because you are stronger doesn't make you a better finisher.
Why can't he be both? Why do we have to choose? "Ma'am, what kind of music do you normally listen to here?" "Oh, we have both kinds. We have country and western."
I'm not going to put Cam against Jalen. I'm a fan of both. I'm strictly using the old eye test. Jalen is faster and craftier in terms of his attempts around the rim. He's getting stronger but coming into the league every slight bump would throw him off balance or cause him to lose the ball. Cam finishes through contact much better. It's not about speed or craft for me. It's about buckets when we attack the rim. And Cam has the edge in terms of finishing. Cam's shooting stroke looks more consistent. Jalen is more streaky. Maybe it was the shot diet. But his form was all over the place as a rookie. I want them both reach their ceilings. I'm a big fan of Green and I believe in him. But I also see something special in Cam. And think he's more of an advanced scorer at this age then Green was. No offense to Green or the JOF's homie.
I'm not one to get worked up over summer league or pre-season but Cam has looked awesome every time he's been on the court. if he keeps this up there may be a lot of teams wondering where they missed in the scouting department.
Hey bud I'm also using the eye test. I haven't seen Cam use his strength to finish in difficult half court sets where Green has used his craft and more explosive athleticism. So you are essentially just using the same argument that he's essentially just stronger. Look at Green's first two scoring plays in his entire career in the NBA against the Wolves(one play showing hangtime and craft around the rim in a half court set and the other showing immense dribble separation and wiggle) . Those are scoring plays that are more advanced than anything Cam has done so far in a NBA court.
Cam Whitmore is a really interesting player. His talent is obvious - he is an extremely explosive athlete, he is very strong and can handle the ball well for a man that has his shoulders and lower body. His shot is really nice, especially when he is able to face up - he can do enough of a cross over to get his shot off clean. The negative is that he is never going to be a combo guard - and that is the trend in the league, but guys like Vince Carter, Demar DeRozen and Carmelo Anthony were never really combo guards/play makers either. It is pretty obvious that if he stays healthy and works hard - he is going to be SOMETHING valuable in the league, it is just hard to know for sure. When I first saw him, I thought of Corey Magette... same type of explosive athleticism and strength, coupled with a lack of playmaking.... however, I think he is a better shooter than Magette and is actually a better player in the full court. It may take him awhile to find his niche - he will need his teammates to set him up sometimes, and he will need to master when to cut and when to come off screens for open 3's - but he has a lot of offensive upside. Defensively he will be fine with time.
get used to the score first mentality. It isn't going anywhere anytime soon and folks are going to keep bringing up tunnel vision. In fact, it's one of the biggest reasons he's got to this point. Again, he's going to attack anyone and everyone. The fact that he knows his minutes will be limited/earned, he's going to do whatever to make them not play him
Handles, more creativity at the rim. Same strength as Whitmore but at the same time nearly as agile and fast as Green. If you give Can the same usage as Ant had his first two seasons, you'd see Cam probably average more turnovers than assists. Ant has almost the best of both worlds. The strength of a very strong wing/forward and near the same lateral agility and acceleration as guys like Ja or Green.
