Have thought this too, the rest of the bench is always in such a good vibe when he’s sulking. This team is full of players who cheer for each other through thick and thin, his character is very out of place. I don’t think they dislike him but sometimes one person’s energy can make the rest feel awkward about celebrating things.
Cam and Reed are both work in progress, no doubt about it. Cam's talent is undeniable, but his attitude is a real sticking point, and I doubt it'll change anytime soon. That's why he dropped to the 20th pick. I'd wait one more season to see what happens, but it seems like the front office and Ime aren't into waiting. He'll probably be out the door this summer.
Next year's options already accepted. The Rockets have already decided to exercise his option for 26-27, but will wait until October 30th (2nd to last day) to exercise it as long as he isn't traded, injured, or has some off court issue completely unlike anything that has been reported.
If it was up to stone, cam would be getting at least 25 minutes a game. He knows you need talent to win. He gave Kevin porter jr a horrible contract and he sucked.
Stone is right though, he has the bigger picture in mind, the chances of the Rox doing anything in the playoffs this year is low, though we will be cheering for it, we should also be developing players so we know whom to keep and whom to move on from. DD
Stone & KPJ were Seattle boys. He had feelings for KPJ. (And the off chance for KPJ to be Stone’s dollar store Harden) I doubt Stone cares about Cam. Spoiler “Rafael Stone has a lot of emotional equity in him. If he pans out, Rafael looks like a genius. Rafael really likes him. Both Seattle guys.” — MacMahon “Rafael Stone has a lot of emotional equity in him. Didn’t give up anything to get him (top 55 protected 2nd). If he pans out, Rafael looks like a genius. Rafael really likes him. Both Seattle guys. The trauma in his life has been well chronicled as has his off-court issues in the NBA, which is why Cleveland gave him up for nothing. Everyone I talk to about him says he’s a good guy, he’s a good young man.” — MacMahon
I get that this is not evident of his ability to be a solid player, but it says a lot that he throws up so many shots and even a simple lay-up or dunk he tries to get fancy. No chance he has a future here and he shouldn’t.
He's looking more like a rookie Jalen with his lack of self awareness. Last night it was almost like he was trying to break down Udoka's team concept and play just for himself. He flung up his shots as soon as the ball was in his hand. Doesn't look good nor play well.
He should have played in the 2nd half....6 minutes is not enough, plenty of people start slowly and rebound he was a -2 overall - pretty much a neutral player, he needs time to play through it. DD
I've supported every single member of this core as long as they appeared to be trying hard, even if the effort is dumb. I try to be optimistic about every one of the young guys. That includes Sengun looking aloof off the bench at times in the Silas years, it includes Jalen running around like a headless chicken and taking infinite stupid shots, it includes Jabari looking like he doesn't know what he's doing out there, it includes even Sheppard stinking up the joint. It even included Usman doughboy Garuba, Josh Chritopher and Tyty. The big difference: no matter what, they all always cared, they all always supported their teammates, they all worked hard for the most part according to coaches and previous coaches. We haven't witnessed Cam’s style of negative behavior since KPJ and Christian Wood. Cam is not like our guys who have made it this far (at least so far). Cam Whitmore is more like KPJ. Right now I would bet on finding out he's a mess at home too, more than I would bet on him improving his attitude. I wanted this team to have a good culture exactly to prevent players like this from getting in. He's been an NBA player for 2 years now, we can't still be talking about whether he wants to be coached or not. Stop comparing him to Jalen, that's utter bullshit. The worst thing that ever happened to Jalen's career is that for his first 2 years they let him take infinite bad shots and didn't hold him accountable for defense so you're not going to convince me that what Cam is missing is for us to reward him for his resting b*tch face. Every coach since HS, G League, Silas and Udoka has noted Jalen's mental resilience, hard work and overall fortitude. Cam has been the exact opposite. Cam is the worst at these things and Jalen is the best on this team at those particular things, even if he sucked at everything else. Alpi was probably the best player on the team when drafted and Silas kept him on the bench for 1.5 years and Sengun kept showing up motivated, the only thing that hurt his motivation was when we were losing too much and he needed to seek guidance from his teammates and coaches to not get depressed about losing. Be honest with yourself, he's just being a spoiled baby. YEAH the NBA is hard and you got drafted by a team interested in winning. If 19 year old Jalen had joined Udoka's Rockets, he would get benched to holy hell too if he played the way he did under Silas. The difference? Day 1, Jalen to Udoka: I will do anything it takes to win, I heard you don't play bad defenders so I will work my ass off on defense, even if I have to become a catch and shooter for Alperen Sengun. Sorry we ruined your dream of taking 20 shots on the Wizards, Cam. Guess what though? You have a guaranteed NBA contract, a hell of a developmental coaching staff, excellent mentors, a winning culture and amazing teammates. Plenty of people proved their coach wrong in the NBA by looking like a professional in those 5-10 minutes and in practice. Maybe if you had taken garbage time seriously, Udoka would have slipped you in when Amen went down. But you didn't. 19 picks passed on you and Udoka and Stone were the first to believe in you. If that's not enough to motivate you to just stay ready and bring good energy to the team, tough luck. Udoka has every right to be upset, he championed this guy on draft day and he's making Udoka look like a fool for believing in him. He's showing exactly the behavior the rumors insinuated. Hate this situation. I hope he changes his mind. Just do better Cam. I don't need you to be a good defender or passer or even scorer. Just try harder on the court and find something you like about your situation so you can show up with a smile or with concentration for the moment in front of you. I'm this close to done with him. He gets one more game of support from me. Literally one more bad garbage time performance and I'm done for this season, even if it's another 5 shots in 3 minutes while looking bored performance. I'll be a cheerleader for him if he changes and I know his teammates will too, but as things stand he doesn't even deserve garbage time minutes. He better appreciate them if it comes. Good luck to poor Cam Whitmore, his life is so hard he can't enjoy a team win and play 5 minutes professionally when we're resting the exhausted players who built this record with hard work. One of those parents f*cked this kid up, and that's the nicest thing I can say about the situation.
His missed dunk yesterday shows that he still prioritizes flash over winning. He had an easy layup or basic dunk, and tried to turn it into a sportscenter highlight. Very frustrating... So right now in my book, he's the "filler" portion of our major trade this summer.
