WRONG! Every aspect of the team's play must be improved immediately, all at once! Anything else requires us to come here and complain.
The thing with Cam is that when he plays extended minutes, he lessons his shooting, doesn't take as many and does other things like pass and rebound and play D. Cam at 19 is better than Jalen at 22 - it's ok.....it is a competition, best man should start. Cam is the better player. DD
This is why Cam will be starting fairly soon. He needs to gain experience playing within an offense where he isn't always the focus. He's completely mastered the "gun off the bench" role, almost too well. If the Rockets were competing for a playoff spot, there is rationale for keeping him there. Now that the season is lost, it's time to prep him for 2024/25 in the starting role.
Not saying that Cam won’t be better in the future, but there are a lot of things that Jalen does that Cam cannot do. Their roles are very different. It’s easy to be the run and gun guy off the bench, but to be the focus of a team’s defense and having to break the defense down and score or find teammates to score is more difficult. He’s also a better defender and rebounder than Cam.
I debate the defense, I don't think JG is a better defender. Rebounds I would like to compare with equal minutes, which Cam didn't earn so far.
Look at the times where there’s a little bit of pressure and how he loses the ball. He cannot break down defenses and run pnr like Jalen. He has not been a focus of a defense at all.
He has a much better handle than Jalen and a left hand - I watched him in the Gleague and he was running some point, he has a fine handle.... You are correct he has not been the focus of the D, but his movement off the ball when the defense isn't paying attention is elite - Jalen stands there with his thumb up his ass and makes it easy on the D. This team would literally be BETTER if Jalen wasn't on the roster. DD
Like I said, now that the season is lost and the realization Jalen most likely won't be with the Rockets next season, Cam needs to learn the starter's role. Jalen isn't the focus of opposing defenses; it's Alpi. When Jalen breaks down (defenses), he goes solo and destroys any semblance of teamwork. There is very little creation for others. Jalen does rebound better but I don't think he's a better defender than Cam. Both of them are clueless on team defense concepts. At this point in the season, it's about what is best for the Rockets, not Jalen. He's had his opportunity and blown it.
I'll use the same argument here that I used to defend Jalen vs. the "Head Honcho" lovers: We are comparing Jalen to a rookie, which shows you just how little he has developed. The team desperately needs outside shooting, which Cam does better than anyone on the team and Jalen is pathetic at. Cam needs reps with starters. Period!
To be fair to Jalen, I think he has learned to be a better play maker. At this point, he is better than Cam in that aspect. As someone pointed out, Cam still need to prove himself to be able to score at a high level as a starter. Even though he is a much better scorer than Amen, Udoka seems to trust Amen more then Cam to play within a team concept. This is why my bet would be on Amen and not Cam starting in place of Jalen when Udoka decides to make a change. A month or so ago, I still hold some hope that Jalen would break out. But in the last two weeks, my hope dwindled with each game we played. The chances of him being a star player aren't looking likely. My hope has changed to him becoming a useful scorer off the bench. He still needs to fix his shooting. But I want to see how he plays in shorter stretches, like Cam is doing now.
It seemed that rather than trying to improve and grow within the team concept, Jalen decided a few weeks ago to be defiant and "get his" and go back to playing like he was allowed to under Silas (one thing he did was try to get more counting stats in addition to points - assists and rebounds - but he never boxes out for others or screens or gets the hockey assist). My impression is that the team tolerated it temporarily in advance of the trade deadline, perhaps in the hope of him boosting his numbers and being able to find a taker. Since that hasn't happened, I don't think he will be allowed to continue playing as if he is "the man" and has the green light to hog the ball and shoot no matter what. I also don't think it is a coincidence that Alpi's game suffered somewhat (and with that the overall team success), at the same time as Jalen deciding he was going to do whatever he wanted, and FVV and Tari being out. It's time to rein Jalen in and strictly prioritize team success and growth of our young core (Alpi, Tari, Amen, Cam, Bari) from here on out.
I just watched Gatlin's show in another thread. I am worried about Jalen's attitude. Like Gatlin said, the impression had been that Jalen was a coachable guy and was willing to do what was asked of him. Now it seems that he has flipped. Maybe all the criticism in social media is getting to him. (I wonder if he reads CF.) The "I'm not a 6th man" comment sounds eerily like the Carmelo thing. And as much as I dislike Melo, he still was an established star. Jalen hasn't done anything that warrant that kind of attitude.
As much as I love Amen, the Rockets can't roll out a starting lineup with so little outside shooting. Cam is the only replacement for Jalen right now. Better for him to begin the learning process as a starter now that wins and losses no longer matter. IMO, surrounding Alpi with non-shooters is a recipe for disaster. Opponents would adapt to that starting lineup very quickly. That said, I must admit to being very excited if Amen is the guy instead of Cam. I love him getting 35+ mpg recently. Perhaps he could play the CP3 role, get pulled after 5 mins for Cam and Cam gets more mins in the 1st quarter with the starters.
Cam and Amen are oddly better than most of the rest of the team when it comes to moving off the ball. Everyone else just stands there.
My problem is is he is working out a lot how come we haven't seen anything translate on the court? I think it's crazy that Cam Whitmore who was known more for driving and dunking now has a better 3 pt shot than Jalen,not to mention the weak handles and lack of strength.
This is pretty much where I'm at, but I do think that Jalen still has potential. He might do much better in a different/faster system. He doesn't appear to be a good fit with this team and that's ok. We should look for a trade partner (after the season) that believes they can unlock his potential and combine him with other resources to get a better fit for what Ime's trying to accomplish.
