I was impressed by Whitmore the other night when he played 4 minutes, went 0-5 from the floor, and had zeros on the rest of his box score.
He damn sure won't be getting minutes since Green thriving.. Its not even a concern anymore tbh.. Jalen pretty durable so the injury opportunity won't present itself, at least hopefully .. I'm not even a Reed believer but at least there's a road for him to thrive in the future..
I never really thought he was in direct competition with Jalen that much--he's a wing, leaning toward small forward. The problem is this is a team with 4-5 other rotation-caliber forwards, all of whom can play the 3
I think defense requires you to think within a network and people who can't multi task or have some ADD will not be able to do it. So many people want it and can't do it imo. Putting in a ton of effort can get you good deflections and man to man defense. Good effort with a springy 7 footer can be good only because they happen to be standing at the basket/goal. To simplify the way I see it very very roughly: Level 1)Effort only: Ryan Bowen, Kenneth Faried (negative defenders) Level 2) Effort and athleticism without defensive IQ: Clint Capela Level 3) Effort and athleticism and average defensive IQ: Jabari Smith Level 4) Effort and athleticism and defensive god given talent: Amen Thompson I don't think Cam has any chance of making level 3. And to be honest, I don't mind. I don't think that's the only way to be a net positive. I would be happy with watching him and thinking "man this kid is really dumb at defense right now but the fact that he's out-efforting everyone else is good enough". I would be ecstatic with him recognizing he's a crap defender and relying on excellent effort. The kind of effort that would have him breathing hard after, I'm not talking about the dramatization of body language which he seems to confuse with effort. We just need effort AND unselfishness on the court AND unselfishness off the court. IMO he's not just a small change away. This is not a Jalen Green situation. We never had to worry about Jalen's coachability, all his coaches loved him and called him coachable (Udoka, Silas, Shaw and HS coach). He earned the **** out of his minutes with Udoka. "Whatever it takes". When Cam gets to the point of "whatever it takes to play for you" we'll be in business. Ime Udoka can remove bad habits. He can not change 20-year old conditioning. Cam's issue is conditioning. Jalen's issue was just recent bad habits. Man the only thing Cam does well on a court is shoot and he's shaky AF at that. It's not like he's killing it there. He's a 34-35% 3PT shooter and a 74% FT shooter. He went on an ugly cold streak in the middle of our playoff run last season. He went on an ugly 2 of 20 streak to start this season with the starting SG spot up for grabs. He's not a guy who can beat his man off the dribble in iso. His handle is below average. His midrange non-existent. He's a negative passer. Despite all these things, he launches more shots per minute than anyone but Green and maybe Sengun. Cam is very far. He's more Michael Beasley. He doesn't have the mental toughness of our core or really anyone else on our roster.
@Mathloom Capela out here catching strays . I don't think we can rank Jabari above him after only a season or so of good play . Clint had a series in the playoffs where he had 18 blocks and 9 steals in 5 games Both guys are complemented by strong defenders during their Houston tenure . I remember a rookie Clint doing a good job vs GS on the perimeter . He also finished 6th in DPOY in Atlanta one year . I like Jabari alot I think he plays hard and the right way. But he's not an elite defender yet , not on the level on Clint in his prime yet
It's a subjective point that I don't mind. Personally I found Capela to have low defensive IQ, but he was good when you'd put him in a very limited role with very limited instructions on both sides. Please feel free to replace him there with someone you consider to have effort and athleticism but he's not your cerebral rim protector or anything. My point was that there's tiers, and effort is certainly not the determinant of an elite defender in the Tari/Amen range. To be able to focus on your man and what 8 other people are doing requires a certain level of laser focus that many won't achieve even if they want to.
Can will be aight inthe ki grin. He’s just not a fit with Ime. I have a friend who’s a Celtic fans and he said it’s not surprising. He said some had the same issue with Payton Pritchard. Pritchard was a late first round pick, like Cam, who showed some great offensive ability in the limited minutes he play. Had some good per 36 stats. Looked poise for an increase role his sophomore year. Unfortunately his sophomore year coach was Ime. Cleric fans used to cry about Pritchard minutes jsut like we do about Can especially with all the scoring and bad offensive nights the Celtics had. It never happened under Ime and never would’ve. he said he’s positive Oritchard wouldn’t be having this historical season for a sixth man if Ime was still her. He said FVV is our Marcus Smart. He said Ime knows what he’s doin but he has a strict type of playing style and he doesn’t budge from it. Said Cam will breakout with another team. He also said Boston under Ime had those same letdown game and played down to their competition just like we do(game against Chicago and 76ers) said he remember not even tuning in to a game versus our Silas rocket because we were terrible and didn’t think we had a chance of winning. Went out to dinner with his girlfriend and came back to loss. Said it just clicked once the postseason started So even though I don’t think Cam is prefect and still has some growth to do I think he knows no matter how much he tries he’s probably not goin get a long leash of an opportunity with Ime. . Ime is even playing Uncle Jeff ahead of Tate. Ime has his guys he likes . All we can do is hope the guys he like can get us over the hump in the postseason. Interning the trade Cam in package with tevin party. Not cuz I want to because I like Can and hai potential but I do think he’s going to reach it here in Hosuton and as a local guy who lived 15 minutes from. Where Cam balled, I like to se the local kid succeed inthe league even if it’s not with the rockets
Your friend doesn't seem to follow his team very closely, they famously clicked around ASB. They were by far the best team in the NBA in the second half of the season. They went into the playoffs the hottest team in the NBA. Pritchard was not a problem for the Celtics. If he didn't play much, he still worked hard and supported his team like any average person. He wasn't good enough to play more. Mazzula played him less the following season compared to Udoka (14 vs 13 minutes). He didn't get serious minutes till his 4th season age 26. Can we please not wait till Cam is 26? Don't put that on Ime please, this is NOT one of his weaknesses. He's an elite developmental coach, better than Mazzula at that even. No one playing under Ime is perfect, but all of them are committed to teamwork except Cam Whitmore. Cam is the only exception - selfish on both sides of the court and even on the bench. That's nothing like Pritchard. 2nd year Pritchard would be far more likely to get minutes on this team than Cam Whitmore.
Pritchard is an interesting comp, nice to hear about what Ime did in Boston - seems the next coach was just a little bit better. Ime is a great turnaround coach, but I am not sure he is innovative enough to win it all.....great coaches know how to get the most out of every player, like Popovich and Manu...etc Great coaches adapt to their players, and don't force one system on everyone. DD
I disagree that great coaches don’t force one system onto their players. I will say that a good coach will “adapt” and find a way to utilize talented players within their system—as long as that player is willing. The respect has to go both ways with player and coach. Cam didn’t get a choice with his team but he’s gotta be coachable at this age and stage of his career. I think Ime has his flaws but I feel like we go back and forth on this idea that we want coaches that hold their players accountable but when they do it with certain players, we turn on them. We don’t know everything that’s going on behind closed doors but if Cam can’t get burn when the team is struggling to find some solution down 25 to the Sixers, I’m not questioning the coaches when it comes to his situation at that point…
I want him held accountable, but part of that is playing him and then taking him out if he isn't, correcting him and putting him back in. DD
Yep, 0 for 5. With each of his shots, it was: "I." Clank. "Don't." Thud. "Give." Whoooosh (air). "A." Thud. "F***." Clank.
Making **** up again, huh. Dunno, they don't practice all that much in season, just shoot arounds and go over what they expect to see, very few actual practices. DD
He's on the sh** list and it's gotten into his head. He probably feels that rising to the occasion won't do his career much good here. As long as Ime Udoka is his coach, he won't play much. Wouldn't stun anyone if he's stapled to other assets in a summer trade, but I'd be the first to say it's a damned shame, because he's so capable. But he reverts to old habits: no passing, no defense.
How do you know he is on the **** list? You might be right, sure seems like it, and he is capable, and 20 years old, much more dynamic than anyone else not named Amen on the roster, he has all the tools to be good, why the hell is Stone not saying, play the man over tate, over Reed, this is bad development, IMHO. I am NOT saying he is great, or even will be, I am saying this year is still a developmental year, we are wasting it by playing Tate.... DD
