If you watch games and understand basketball you wouldn't say that Cam is a better prospect. There is no longer leash for Jalen. Jalen plays 30+ minutes a night and doesn't do the lazy stuff that Cam does in his spot minutes. Cam is also not asked to score against point of attack defenses.
I don't get what all the fuss is about - a 13 page thread in like 12 hours for THAT interview? Cam is low key, soft spoken, and has never been a great communicator. He's like that on and off the court - my brother in law has worked with Cam a few times over the last year and confirms the same. Ya'll are putting wayyyyyyyy too much context into a brief interview with a 20yr old kid who expresses frustration with his play this year(all fair) and lacks the words(or frankly desire) to explain his feeling to the media. I guarantee you "I don't know" was just shorthand for "get me out of this interview so I don't get baited into saying something that gets me in trouble - intentionally or unintentionally". He's not trying to send messages that he wants out, he's not trying to criticize Udoka - he's a young kid with a natural basketball talent who wants to get better but who is being forced for the first time in his life to be more thoughtful about what that looks like. Let's take this for what it is - a great (re)start for Cam this year(especially for a team who is struggling to score) and signs that he knows he needs to improve to be more useful to his team...and let's hope Udoka and his assistant coaches can give Cam some clear guidance on what the big pillars are for his growth to be in the rotation because I'm sure there are a lot of things he is hearing he could work on but for the inexperienced, sometimes you gotta simplify down to a handful of things so as to not overwhelm them.
First of all, it's better than Jalen's has been since his rookie season.... and Cam's rookie TS% was better than Jalen will likely ever do. Also, most of the full season TS% is noise caused by the way he got dicked around by Ime at the start of the season. Since he's been back and getting more consistent playing time, his TS% has been 63.8... something Jalen can't even fantasize about doing.
You can use Jalen to bring the ball up the court. Play through Sengun or Amen, because it's just a matter of passing and scoring at the basket at that point. The man point I'm making is the Rockets have the athletes to play faster; Amen, Jalen, Jabari, Cam and Dillon. That lineup gives you everything, defense and scoring. Cam takes pressure off of Jalen on the wing, Jabari scoring down low on turnaround, Dillon can also score on the wing.
Did you listen to his who Q & A with the media or only the small blurt? He was saying he needed to do better, he explicitly said he needed to do more to get consistent minutes. Maybe Cam is trolling everyone like Rasheed Wallace did - and Cam fell in the draft in part because teams that spoke to him could not figure him out, but I found what he said to be quite mild.
Why did you quote me to say this? When I said it seems like Jalen and maybe Fred are the only guys not held accountable I noted there’s no other option besides Fred. It also seems like Cam got annoyed that in addition to everything else he didn’t get “consistent” minutes tonight by not playing a minute in the third after a blistering first half. Or maybe annoyed isn’t even the right word but disagreed with Vanessa phrasing that his minutes last night were “consistent.”
I'm dissappinted in Green. I thought he was going to be better. I so like his improvements on defense. To me, Cam just isn't it as a starter. He can prove me wrong and I'll be happy if he does but right now he's a selfish player in my eye yes. No matter what we still need a 1. Semgun is a very good 1B
The fact that you are excluding the Rockets best player from what you want to run and keeping one of their worst makes me discount it outright.
At one point Dusty Baker felt that way about Yainer and kept playing Maldonado who was "disappointing". Green over Cam is the basketball equivalent
Finally - someone with some common sense in this thread. He's just a kid who is soft spoken and likely doesn't necessarily want to speak to the media but he's gotta say something and "I don't know" is the least offensive response. People are reading too much into his responses.
Not untrue. Alot can be said about how much Jalen has improved defensively and even if he is out muscled, he's at least giving pretty good effort on a nightly basis. I get it that people don't like Jalen, and think he's a risk to extend on a max contract long-term. I also get it that Cam is a uniquely gifted prospect. But I don't get the conviction that people have here that he's by far the better bet, and that what they have seen so far is evidence that Jalen should be traded for scraps and Cam should be given the keys to the kingdom to be anointed as our next superstar. In terms of data, and evidence goes it's a clear decision at this point... even though I understand the impulse to look at what we do see from Cam and want to kick the tires on that. The only problem is you can't go back once you take that plunge, and Jalen Green getting traded to upgrade Cam Whitmore is the type of move that gets GM's fired 8 months later. Sometimes it pays off to take a gamble (see trading Aaron Brooks, and upgrading Lowry) but most times it does not. I do think Cam needs to be in the rotation, but you gotta ask yourself whose minutes he's taking, and what data you have to support how much that helps the team win games??
And Jalen plays better defense while also not being a black hole. He actually keeps the offense going and makes the pass. The ball gets sticky when it gets to Cam. It disrupts the whole offense. Again maybe if Cam had a full 5 games in a row playing well he has a point. But all this complaining after one game because he didn't play in the 3rd? That's why he's a malcontent with attitude issues. It doesn't matter how well you play if you are bad for team chemistry. If ime puts cam back in the dog house for this I understand
Both parts of this is false. Jalen is the worst defensive player when he's on the court, but he's surrounded by guys picking up his slack.... and he's always been a black hole on offense. Jalen can't shoot, isn't a passer, can't reliably create for himself or others..... but he does dominate the ball and chuck more shots in the general direction of the rim than anyone on the team.
This exactly! People creating drama out of nothing. I would have hated doing interviews if I was a pro baller.
Maybe it's nothing, but maybe a player who was disrespected by the league at the draft and disrespected by his own team by getting sent to the G League was frustrated by watching awful players like Jalen and FVV, who make 5 to 10 times as much as him, never having to earn anything.
Eh, that's not a good comp. Maldy was one of the worst, if not the worst, hitters in the entire MLB. Jalen is no where near the bottom of the league as a player...he is inconsistent, but he is not a scrub. If a comp of that type is going to be made for the Rockets at all, then I'd say it's Ime playing Fred 40 mins a game over basically anybody else.
The whole interview should be listened to and it makes more sense. The media wants to drive a wedge (kinda like when Feigen kept asking Adams if he's a starter or not before the season started). Either way I'm sure Ime and Cam will talk. Definitely sounded bad in the clips but ultimately it was bait. Even Vecenie felt like chiming in.
No player has a single “job,” aside from playing winning basketball. There’s a reason why guys like Carmelo never win anything. If you build around that archetype, then you are easy to defend against as every defender knows what’s going to happen the moment you get the ball. Now, guys with that profile can be fantastic sixth men. But if Cam wants to be a core piece averaging a lot of minutes, he can’t be a black hole. He just can’t.
