Cam has not been given consistent opportunities he has been given sporadic minutes yanked in and out - was sent to the Gleague, and never got completely back in the rotation. Saying he has had opportunities is disingenuous, he has not. Cam should have played in every game and gotten 15 mins a night and extended when he plays better, but so many times he would come in get 5-7 minutes and then yanked never to return. Poor job by Ime. DD
This is because he spends those 5-7 minutes taking (and often missing) 4+ contested shots while missing the open man and gambling on the other end. He has to at least try to play smart basketball to earn minutes. It's one thing to have mental lapses or miss things as a young player, it's another thing entirely when your whole mentality is selfish.
However, Ime got the Rockets positioned #2 in the West with his current coaching philosophy. Long term, this will be good for Cam's development...look at the ROI of when Jalen got benched last year. Now, he's our best player on the team (as of the 2nd half of this season).
He started the year in the rotation. Started losing his minutes. Completely lost his minutes. Got sent to the G league. Came back. Got some minutes again. Lost them again. Injuries piled up. Got some minutes again. Lost his minutes again. Cant even get minutes outside of garbage time. Plays disinterested in garbage time. Quit making excuses for the guy because you like him.
Yes, you take him out, explain to him that he needs to do XYZ and then put him back in, that is coaching. True by burning out the 8 players, Tom Thibedeaux style. Be honest, do you think this team is REALLY a contender right now? If so, then it makes sense. If not, then it doesn't....to me this is fool's gold the goal is not 2nd place in the WC, it is being a contender, and I don't believe we are there yet....and we have to make decisions on players that we don't have much data on.......that is how I look at it in regards to Cam and Reed. I would love to have sat Jalen for a few games to rest and let Cam play and see what that looks like. Until you can read, and understand context it is a waste of time to talk. I don't LIKE him, I don't KNOW if he is good or bad - or where he will be, I am thinking like a GM an I want the Rockets to make the right choice, I don't think they have enough info on Cam to decide. And that is where I am coming from.....nothing to do with whether I like him or not......the only thing I like about him...is his aggressiveness......and athleticism - but I don't know if he is gonna be a bust or a star, or somewhere in between, we need to find out. DD
how many times do you think Ime did that before getting frustrated with the same mistakes over and again before he completely just yanked him? greater than 10? 20? or do you really think Ime hasnt talked to him about his mistakes?
I don't see Ime ever doing that, I don't think Ime is a great coach, I think play harder ....clap clap clap doesn't work in the playoffs..... I don't believe we have an identity on offense, I don't believe we will do **** in the playoffs because we are vanilla and Jr. High level on offense. DD
Cam should get minutes in every remaining game, once the Rockets have sealed a playoff spot. How many more games do the Rockets have to win in order to make it to the playoffs?
Ime has gotten us to second in the West so it's hard to be very critical of him. But I do think it could help us to have two more players get more playing time so we can go 9 or 10 if needed during the playoffs. It's going to be a grind. The top seven for minutes look to be Fred, Jalen, Brooks, Jabari, Sengun, Tari, Amen. Then Adams (who is looking great, BTW). That's an eight man rotation but I would prefer two more players get run so they're ready if needed during the playoffs. That looks like Holiday and Cam to me. Reed is hurt and not ready. We have a lot of bigs so I don't think Uncle Jeff needs the spot. I fear that Ime loves Tate and may use him (though I think his defense is still good and he's a vet for the playoffs). I think Ime will play Tate and Aaron where I would prefer Cam and Aaron. The Cam hate on this board is sort of nuts. He hardly plays but people talk about him like he's losing games for us.
Being a long term NBA basketball player in 2025 isn’t easy - being a long term NBA basketball player that contributes to wins and reaches his potential is even harder. Cam isn’t doing this and hasn’t consistently done this as a professional. There is a lot that goes into being an important NBA player and it isn’t just scoring in bunches every once in awhile and a lot of it actually off the court because off the court eventually impacts on the court. Ime Udoka and Royal Ivey know what they are doing.
He should be filling that Mike James role... a lil instant offense off the bench with the 2nd unit....
I think you do like him though...everything you've posted about Cam seems to indicate you like him. I like him too. I don't see why that's a problem, it's not like we have to be unbiased on here
He should be consistent off the court if he wants to be consistent on the court and if he wasn’t ready to act or at least model being an adult - he should have stayed in college longer. Most people in their professions can struggle until 25-30 years old and still have success when they have maturity. That isn’t the case in the NBA. It is sink or swim and while Ivey and others can set good examples, and encourage him - they cannot ultimately make him.
I think fans need to reconcile themselves to the reality that the Cam Whitmore experience in Houston is over. The writing has been on the wall. He's a talented prospect who has a good shot at playing for a long time in this league. A lot of teams would love to have him. But it's not working out in our situation. Some of that is Cam's fault, some of it is Rockets specific, and some if it is just the business of basketball. It does neither side any good for him to waste away on the bench next season. One way or another he'll be moved on for value this summer; probably for some future asset value that we can throw in our warchest.
This is just the reality of it. It’s easy for somebody watching the 2ish hours on tv and making a judgement that Ime is being stubborn and won’t develop Cam. He might be stubborn, yes we’ve observed this to some level, but it’s not that simple. Off the court development is just as important and if Cam isn’t respecting that, why should Ime reward him with more opportunities? We don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes and as much as we want to try simplifying Ime’s coaching down to “play harder clap clap”, that would be disingenuous. And if that were true, his “play harder clap clap” is getting much better results than Silas’s “play harder” approach.
Sadly, I agree with this. Cam should be playing, and he probably would be playing if he was taking care of business. Udoka isn't about the nonsense, especially come playoff time, so my guess is that Cam got himself deep into that doghouse and won't be coming out for a while. The writing is very much on the wall. My guess is that he's done in Houston, but not anywhere close to being done in the league. Dude is way too talented.
