His biggest strength is not shooting actually but a Lebron and Carmelo like driving game where he can also extend it to the 3 point line. The thing is that you would need to get a Luka type of playmaker to make Jalen and Alpe expendable at some point. And gets rid of Fred's incredible contract. A playmaker and scorer in the same body and favorably over 6'7 .....sounds like Amen but he cannot shoot and score big yet.
Liked this quote fron Ime in that Athletic article.... We don’t just fight and get through every screen and stay with a man, we do a lot more communication and stuff to be proactive. He was a little slow with those initially, (but) much better now.”
Really don’t like his game. So many mistakes and opportunity lost each game due to not making the right reads on offense and defense or turning the ball over with over aggressive play. What I noticed besides the usual looking off open shooters or driving into 3 defenders packed in the paint, he wastes a lot of time doing nothing. When he gets an open look for 3 he hesitates pumps fake then dribbles into traffic when there’s no seam then stops and tries to go one on one wasting valuable seconds when he should have shot or rotated that ball. He also does the dribble pull back then dribble some more then dribbling back into a packed area when it seems he has the angle on a defender in the first place. You add his consistent gambling for steals on the perimeter or missing assignments in the corner or wing his play hurts this team. Sure he can put up some points quickly on some nights but this isn’t winning basketball.
I would say shooting is a swing skill for Cam. He can get decent looks off almost any time he wants. His athleticism gets him a lot of attempts at the rim. He doesn't have the bag Jalen has, but the power as well as deceleration skills give me high hopes that he will be able to be an more efficient at the rim player while maintaining a huge volume fo attempts at the rim. I don't see him being a highly skilled passer ever. If the shooting hits, he will get a ton of assists just through gravity if he at least becomes a willing passer with decent passing skills. His off ball defense looks a lot better. His on ball defense is already pretty decent (e.g., the forearm push to create space just doesn't work well on him like it does on Green and Jabari.)
I will say he needs to get the ball stopper out of him. I think he was better last season at doing something immediately with the ball. On the mistakes on defense, those are happening a lot more when he isn't in the game lately than by him. On turnovers, there is only one player with a higher usage in the NBA that turns over the ball less often. Sure his turnovers look stupid when he's being ultra aggressive, but he just doesn't turn the ball over much except when he makes a stupid charge.
Current Cam reminds me of von wafer, comes in only looking to score. Every team needs that spark off the bench but unless he expands his passing and defense I can’t see him being a starter on contending team. I’m rooting for him to get better
There is a bit of that in him. But he has been playing excellent D lately...so there is hope that he expands his game. DD
Cam is more likely to get an assist than Brooks and Jabari, the starting forwards to start the season for the Rockets. The defense has been the only thing holding him back, but he's either improved or he's on a defensive hot streak lately.
These are all fair observations and I have the same reservations about his contributions to winning as a featured starter playing 30+ minutes. I would also add his release is just a tad slow and methodical, so I don’t think he will be a movement shooter either. I do think he is young enough that we have to give him a chance to grow out of these bad habits with good coaching. I’m glad we have a winning team which is going to accelerate everyone’s growth in terms of their habits. I see a reasonable outcome for him as a Jason Richardson type player. Good to great perimeter shooter, great at attacking closeouts, best when getting set up by a lead guard with vision instead of having to create for himself. That is a very useful player, it just comes down to the contract. In the new CBA you cant pay a guy like that the full max without severely crippling your future.
His one on one defense certainly improved but he still makes a lot of gambles trying to jump lanes or going for a steal when a player gets by him. We also almost lost last game with couple terribly missed coverage on corner 3 where he simply defended the wrong guy allowing them 6 points.
Cam right now plays like Rudy Gay. Extremely athletic and strong, with questionable handles and decision making. Their natural tendency is to shoot, anything else happening is a bit of a surprise. Like Gay, I bet Cam can be a 20ppg scorer and have a long career. Cam is still extremely young and might grow beyond that role, but that would still be a really good career for a 20th pick.
I was thinking about this the other day and you're exactly right about his gambling. That said, he is in the perfect environment to be gambling with Tari and Amen. Their pressure creates passes that are just a little lazier than they would normally be. It's like when Phil Ivey negotiates all his comps at the casinos and how the game is played, he actually swings the odds in his favor. Sometimes I feel like that's what Tari and Amen do for Cam.
The bug this year is NO JOKE. Hope Cam can recover soon, he's been playing better and getting more comfortable game by game. And he seems happy, too!
