He hasn't been that good this year, I don't know what to say other than that he is nowhere close to as good an NBA player as Dillon Brooks, Jabari Smith Jr, Jalen Green, Tari Eason & Amen Thompson who are all ahead of him on the depth chart in the 2-3-4 spots (who are all 23 years old or younger, even Brooks just turned 29 and having one of his best seasons, probaby one of a handful of elite, volume 3&D players in the entire NBA ) There's 144 minutes to divide between the top 6 players in the position group, that leaves basically nothing for Whitmore for good reason - he's not close to being as good as the rest of them at really anything. He is - at absolute best - tied for the 7th best player at his position group on the roster, and even that's arguable. His one skill is scoring and he hasn't been that great at it this year, certainly not as good as parts of last year. Add that to his low effort, poutingness - its just impossible. This Rockets team is actually going for homecourt and have had a shot at a top 2-3 seed all season. They can't sit a much better more impactful player to coddle Whitmore's immaturity.
That was my point exactly. If he's not earning even a few minutes a game with his effort/behavior/attentiveness/whatever, that's a problem that's not on Ime.
I have a theory that with Ime the body language getting back on offense, or strutting down the court back on offense probably bothers Ime. The defensive metrics, and other hustle metrics might disprove the impact, but just being someone who played my entire life and now as a coach for my kids, like that kind of stuff matters to you getting playing time... just at a human level. You mention you don't watch him exclusively on defense, but I'm sure you've noticed he has a tendency to carry himself a certain way. Sort of a too cool for school approach even though I do think he's not lazy on defense, and doesn't mess up much in the rotations from what I can tell (obviously I'm not in the huddle so I don't know exactly what his assignments are). The way he carries himself in his laid back demeanor when not in action doesn't matter to me, but boy... I know many coaches where it would matter to them, and if I had to put my tin foil hat on, I would guess that's a human angle side of things that might be playing a factor here.
Whitmore has accepted (or checked out) his situation. Before he was pouting on the bench because he wasn't playing. Now he's actually smiling and care free despite getting less than 5 mins a game. Before when he entered the game, he would shoot the ball trying to prove his worth. Now, he checks in and he doesn't even really look for his shot at all. He has checked out on this season, and ironically, that type of attitude (checking out when you get no PT) is probably why he doesn't get PT. He has an attitude problem.
You might be right, but you also might have already answered the question you are asking. I do think that it's likely the case that Ime is mandating himself, and the team is mandating him to get the highest seed possible so they can: -Inject some life into the franchise by getting in the ACTUAL playoffs/not just one play-in game -Focus efforts on scrutinizing Jalen, and Sengun almost exclusively in playoff situations since they just invested big contract extensions on them. -Get someone on the All-Star team -Get national media attention, and games picked up ....At the expense of development of other prospects, and long term development beyond this season. It could be that even at the beginning of the season, all voices in the room (especially Tillman's) directed Ime to where if push comes to shove, we want you to value winning every single game over player development. As a fan, I'm more where you are in terms of the logic of long term development of MANY good players vs just the few 3rd/4th year players, but I do think the mandate is a decision I do understand. The people around the Rockets as well like Stone, and other executives who like being in Houston probably get concerned about Tillman moving the team to Vegas as well so supporting the win-now mandate from all levels of leadership might have more weight than we realize as "just" fans.
If this is true and there isn't something/someone covering up Cam's defensive issues that aren't showing up on a team level, that would 100% be a coach's problem.
You can't make a statement about Rockets not having a loser mentality going into the playoffs (or something to that effect) and then pout about Ime no developing Cam and Reed all year long. Developing Cam and Reed would have been a detriment to our playoff seeding. Cam especially was given plenty of opportunity throughout the year but he blew it time and time again. He did have some good games here and there, and I'll admit, I hate it when Ime doesn't at least give him a try when the rest of the team is laying an egg, but for the most part, Cam just wasn't a consistent rotation worthy player. He gambles waaaaay too much which puts us out of position defensively, he holds on to the ball way to long, and he simply doesn't move enough. I would love for Cam to be successful as a Rocket, but if we are serious about having a high seed this year, then we couldn't just wait for him to develop into a better player.
IDK, they actually look like they are the same player to me. You know, the unrealized potential types.
Cam's playing time is down because he's just not as good as last year in the minutes he does get. Ime had no problem playing him last year because Cam was on a heater from 3, how he's shooting 32% from there with the same shot selection. You can't just expect playing time when you have inconsistent effort on defense, bad shot selection on offense AND you don't make your shots. We are not under Silas anymore where players just gets to do whatever they want, we have an defensive identity and we are in the playoffs race. I have yet to see Ime not reward players who actually produces on defense and offense. Tari gets plenty of playing time despite being boneheaded plenty of times, but he contributes to wins with his defense and hustle. The only people this season that don't get playing time are Reed and Cam who arguably played very subpar basketball in the minutes they were given.
Not debating any of that, other than he won't get there without consistent developmental minutes. If the Rockets goal is to build a championship team - and we can all agree this one isn't it.....they should still be developing players. And yes, that might mean we are not quite as good, but players like Cam and Reed you sacrifice playing time from players much better than them today - because you are building for tomorrow. Brooks has been great, but he should be traded, same for FVV - got to let our guys take their lumps the sooner they learn to swim the sooner we get a team that is a contender. And Cam hasn't had near the minutes per game as when he played last year, it has been inconsistent, same for Reed. I contend that as we limp towards the playoffs we would actually be better with them having played all year and getting more NBA ready - now there is no way to prove that or prove that we would be worse.....but if you draft players, and you are in a development cycle it is always good to develop them, and that means playing time. As an extreme example, playing Tate any minutes ahead of Cam is ridiculous. I get the "Earn minutes" argument - and generally agree when teams are mature, but IMHO, this one isn't and we should have traded Brooks already, and probably FVV.....anyone blocking our young developmental players should be gone now, as our culture is set. DD
DD, you gotta admit Udoka gave Reed an extremely long leash to the point (IMO) it became an embarrassment. Cam started the season in the rotation but he was a complete flaming train wreck to the point he HAD to be pulled from the rotation. Rockets then tried to jump start him again in G-League like last season. Seems like ever since, Cam's attitude hasn't been good.
I think Cam has some real talent but if he can’t get PT during this run without Amen, I don’t think it’s the coaching staff that’s the issue.
Yeah, guys like Tate, Jeff, Jock, and Holiday only get spot minutes once in a while. But they play hard whenever they get the chance.
There’s plenty of win now players that teams would trade away for Cam .Not star players but needle movers. We could’ve did the same trade for Deandre Hunter the Cavs did. All they got back was Levert, salary fielder; and low draft compensation .(second rounders).I’m pretty sure they rather have Cam with his both ceiling and cheaper contract. we could’ve did Cam, Tate and second round picks
No way, I don't agree at all about Reed, I think he should have started in the GLeague and when brought up, should have been 15-20mpg regardless of how he is playing. Once he got PT against OKC he was amazing, and that is not a bad defense....he just needs to not be looking over his shoulder as quick hook McGillicutty (Ime) was pulling folks out at their first mistake - same for Cam. DD
The issue is that Cam doesn’t know how to play team basketball, and Reed’s shooting isn’t any better than Holiday’s. Udoka can’t afford to drop games right now, especially since a couple of wins or losses could shake up the seeding. We aren’t some playground for kids to mess around on. I’d send both of them to the G League and keep them there until they show some real improvement.
If Kevin Porter can adapt to some sort of team ball off the bench (a major head case), I can see a much more talented Cam Whitmore doing the same but it might take 2-3 years..... Yes, I know, the Rockets would not give him 2-3 years.
