I also have a bad hunch about him .....but it goes another direction. I am just not sure they value him that much after Reed Sheppard and Amen got drafted. His Defense was not the problem in Preseason, it was his decisionmaking and execution other than dunking.
Decision making has always been his problem. That's why while a lot of people here are excited about his star potential, I've been quite reserved about it. BBIQ is one of the hardest things to fix, harder than shooting, handles, even physical limitations.
If Green shows he’s for real, I think Cam becomes a trade piece for a SF/PF star. He’s still very young and very cheap.
I don't get why that would be true. Fred vanvleet isn't going to grow taller; Jabari Smith Jr. isn't goign to get appreciably faster, but learning to make a more optimal decision through repeated repetitions of the situation seems absolutely like the type of the thing the human mind-body whole is designed for and basically how humans evolved. I know the rhetorical way out of this is to just define "BBIQ" as some nebulous "it factor" "je ne sais quoi" - but in reality, it doesn't seem like it's that hard of a thing to figure out if you work at it and unlearn past bad tendencies by doing new good tendencies.
I totally agree, If they resign Jalen, Cam will be traded. With Reed Sheppard off the bench before Cam as a backup guard and Amen off the bench as the first wing, Cam is in a Jam for playing time. If they extend Jalen, it will be for the rookie max or near max - because that is what he would expect. If they trade Cam, I would like to see them trade for multiple 2026 draft picks and not trade for a rental player. I also don't expect they would trade Cam as a piece in a consolidation trade for a star if they are keeping Jalen - unless they really do trade for Giannis and unload the boat. Under the new Salary Cap rules, having good young players is a competitive advantage because they get paid less. We don't currently have any 2026 draft picks and we should have figured out which of the core 7 players are long term keepers by then.
If Green is for real, I actually don't think we make a big trade. I'd rather us grow organically with Green, Sengun, and Amen as the centerpieces. Perhaps I'm wrong, though. Also, which SF/PF would you consider? Aside from the Giannis dream (which likely would require one of Green, Sengun, or Amen), I'm not sure who is realistic. Markannen can't be traded this season. Guys like JJJ and Paolo aren't going anywhere. After that, what? Jerami Grant? Kuzma? At that point, I'd rather just roll with Eason or Bari and keep our draft capital.
Yes, if March Green is real, the Rockets would probably stand pat. If he's not expected to be a Top 20 player, I think the Rockets still look at adding a Top 20 guy. Preferably Top 10.
Cam has been the biggest disappointment this pre-season by a mile. It started in the Summer League game where he was abysmal and looked checked out on the court. It seems to have continued into the pre-season. He has a ways to go in terms of mentality and general on court awareness. I thought he would be competing with JG for that starting spot but nope. JG is miles beyond where Cam is at this point. Cam doesn't look like he even knows what kind of player he wants to be. Some sort of Carmelo/Jaylen Brown hybrid but he doesn't have Melos knack for creating separation on his middies or Jaylen's ability to knife through the defense. I know it took Brown a bit to develop his handle. I'm at a point where I don't trust him on the court right now or with the ball in his hands.
the writing is on the wall for Cam, unfortunately. If we can get any value for him it would be a prudent move to recoup some value at the trade deadline.
On Cam's preseason, I liked that he made the simple passes to get assists this preseason. He made a lot of passes when a defender tried to help at the nail, but Cam just made a solid pass to the nail defender's man creating open threes or overly aggressive closeouts that were easily attacked. These weren't complicated passes. These were more created by the fear of Cam getting near the rim.
Dumping Whitmore for pennies on the dollar would be peak stupidity. It's better just to hold onto him and hope something clicks to break him of his AAU mentality. You don't give up on all star level talents in their second year unless return is substantial, and right now it won't be.
Cam's body language was piss poor all preseason long, he's got talent, but his character issues along with the hollow void between his ears could ruin his career.
