The silver lining

It really shouldn't have taken massive amount of injuries at the same time for Cam to be getting minutes. I understand he and Udoka are probably not seeing eye to eye on stuff that's preventing him from getting minutes, but if you're a good coach then you need to be able to work things out. The Rockets aren't so stacked they can just discard a talent like Whitmore.

 

Cam is going thru growing pains and mental insecurities.

And paired with anger and feeling of being misunderstood.

 

It's not the Cam Whitmore show, it's better spacing/less zone because you don't have Sengun & Thompson out there as part of your "best 5"

Jabari Smith is a pretty "meh" 3 point shooter, but at least teams have to close-out/guard him.

I actually don't even think Whitmore is higher on Ime's list than Tate or Jeff Green, I guess we'll see.

 

I'm a big Cam fan but it's clear that outside of the main roles (FVV - floor general; Sengun - Half-court go-to guy; Green - perimeter go-to guy; Amen - swiss-army knife), Udoka wants the rest of his guys to fill specific roles.

And most of our roster is geared towards that, with Brooks/Bari being 3D guys, Tari being a defensive/hustle guy, Tate being a hustle guy, Holiday being a spacing G, and Adams/Jeff Green/Landale all being veteran bigs. Whitmore is the odd guy out -- he's clearly one of the best talents on the team, but isn't ready to be a featured piece (in Udoka's eyes), and not as willing to fill a specialized role as the rest of the guys. Sheppard is the other, and he's also young, but he's more of a coach's son type so it's less awkward for him.

Cam needs a longer leash to develop, but Udoka wants to win now. It's a catch-22.

 

Unfortunately Cam is not a point guard and, for right now, is not better than Jeff Green. I don't see Cam getting minutes unless Jalen is injured.

 

Yeah I do see how Ime likes to coach. It just feels he's too restrictive and the results have not exactly been good. The Rockets half court offense has consistently been bottom of the league. So it's not like his style is working so well the Rockets must play exactly his way.

 

I don't think we can ever count on Ime doing anything when it comes to his rotations, they tend to be arbitrary and nonsensical most of the time.

 

He still may not get significant minutes honestly. He seems pretty deep in the doghouse. I've circled the reasons why below

 

One of the most frustrating things about Ime's coaching for me is he makes substitutions when the players on the court are making a run. This tendency showed again in the last game when the Rockets were scoring at will then came the substitution. The Pels then quickly brought down the lead to 7 and the Rockets had to make another run afterward to make up for the lead that they lost. I do like his new wrinkle though of the twin towers, actually three when Bari is in there with them.

 

Since his bad start and demotion early in the year, he's had a .539 TS% and 37% 3pt%. The latter particularly is important given how terrible this team's 3pt shooting is. I can get Udoka not liking him and keeping him on a leash as a result. But in terms of on-court play and his skillset, no reason why he shouldn't be getting rotation minutes on this team.

 

Will Jabari be back in the starting lineup?

 

It should be but I believe Ime doesn't believe in Cam.

DD

 

Funny thing is, as much crap as he gets for his passing, his AST% is still higher than Jabari, Brooks or Tari -- all of whom are getting minutes over him. I think playing off-ball in this offense doesn't open up many opportunities to playmake regardless.

And his TS% is dragged down by his early season slump and inconsistent minutes. I don't think inefficiency is a problem at all when he gets consistent PT.

 

I mean, fair, I guess, but I'm not really in favor of just removing a significant stretch of his season from the statistical profile that way. I could just as easily say "his last 10 games he's shooting 36.5% from the field and 32.4% from three". I'd rather just look at the entire sample, to be honest.

 

At the end of last year Ime said Cam was going be a 20+ pt score in this league for many years. What Ime is doing is trying to coach Cam, who fell in the draft because people had concerns about his attitude and coachability. He also had the lowest BBall IQ on the team as a young raw inexperienced rookie. Cam chucking up the ball isn’t going to help him develop and he’s been shooting poorly this yr anyway. Ime is trying to get him to play real basketball and help keep his head on straight. Sometimes you need to pull on the leash. If he can’t learn from it and use it as motivation to become better, he’s not gonna make it anyway. Ime rewards effort and especially when a player is trying to improve what the coach is asking. There’s no conspiracy here. Cam will get more minutes when he deserves it, and I trust Ime knows what he’s doing.

I couldn’t be higher on Cam coming off his rookie yr, but this year has shown he has a long way to go. Hope he gets to show improved play this last quarter of the season.

 

I mean even your own post has his TS% at .572 last year and being a 36% 3pt shooter. Shooting and scoring has never been an issue so much as him being a ball-stopper on offense, and not the most mercurial guy on defense. But I'm not advocating for him to start or anything. Just that he gets consistent minutes in a season where the Rockets are still looking more at development than contention.

 

Holiday and Jeff Green can play.

Amen and Reed got minutes because they are in our future (maybe) while
Holiday and Uncle Jeff are not......but still on the team in case of injuries.

Well injuries happened. Next man up. I said get a Grant, Collins, Cam Johnson
who shoot and can create their own shot for our depth at the trade deadline.

Unfortunately the Rockets front office put me on ignore.

 

I've read this type of stuff a lot on here, posted by many people ....

What I've yet to see is anything that gives it substance, it's all assumption and hearsay - repeated.
Even the pre-draft stuff - nothing but nothing giving it a shred of credibility, it came from who? Some random clown on twitter ....

This team is deep with NBA talent and trying to win games.

It's quite possible that a 20 year old Cam just isn't polished enough as a player to contribute to winning (in the eyes of his coach) on a regular basis.

All this crap questioning his character or maturity as a person seems to me made up to make excuses for why Ime doesn't play him much .... maybe, just maybe it's basketball reasons, not character or mental maturity - Basketball Maturity.

 

There are many ways to motivate players, I don't believe Ime is great at it with guys who need belief (Ted Lasso) - I don't know what type of player Cam will be but there is nothing wrong with his BBall IQ - he is sharp and anticipates well.....he just needs time to settle in.

DD