Cam Whitmore traded to the Wizards! Will Houston regret letting him go? | NBA News Reactions

Cam Whitmore traded to the Wizards! Will Houston regret letting him go? | NBA News Reactions

I want to start with Cam Whitmore. Okay. Because Cam Whitmore gets traded to the Washington Wizards. He’s getting thrown into what deal? Is Is he getting thrown into some sort of deal? Right. I did not see that. He wasn’t part of the huge one, right? He wasn’t part of the Yeah. No, he wasn’t. So, he’s thrown into uh the deal with the Wizards and Pelicans for I believe it’s uh CJ McCollum and Jordan P if memory serves. Okay. So, it’s basically Cam Whitmore for two second round picks is the reality here. And I feel like I’ve been trying to prepare Rockets fans for the fact that Cam Whitmore was probably going to be traded and that the return was not going to be as strong as what people expected. There was not a first round pick on the table for Cam Whitmore. That that’s just the reality, right? Like I can there has not been one that I have heard. like it is not it’s not a thing, right? And I I I feel like I’ve been like kind of trying to soft pedal this for people a little bit and I do I think it’s like smart for the Rockets to give up on Cam Whitmore. I I don’t know. You know what I mean? Like I I like the player. I like the upside, but for where they are in their team build, Cam Whitmore doesn’t make a lot of sense as like a scorer off the bench who does not defend and, you know, is who he is, right? But for the Wizards, it makes an immense amount of sense because it’s low stakes basketball. He gets to develop in the ways that he needs to develop. I like this deal for everybody and I like do I think the value is right for Whitmore? No. I probably would have preferred to get more. But I also understand them not wanting him on the team either given that they’re about to enter like a totally different phase of their like organizational development. Yeah, I I was a little surprised by the return, the value of just a couple second round picks, but I think especially because we talked about this. I asked you this question before the Dorian Finny Smith signing, you know, does this team need one more wing? Like, are they going to count on Kim Whitmore? Do they need to go get somebody else? I feel like when the Dorian Finny Smith signing happened and you still have Tari E coming off the bench, I’m not saying there’s no minutes for Cam Whitmore. There absolutely could be minutes for Cam Whitmore, but I think it made it a situation where this is a team that’s obviously trying to compete for a championship next year and over the next two or three seasons and don’t seem to have a whole lot of time for developing and letting a young player play through his mistakes and figure things out and they have the requisite players to not need that from him. And so to me, it just made a lot of sense after they went ahead and rounded out the wing room with Dorian Finny Smith. You also like a men is so versatile. We we talked about this roster is very versatile, you know, in the way they can do. So they they have enough rotation players. I love this for Cam Whitmore more than anybody, Sam. Like if he’s going to make it, I think a change of scenery, especially with a team who’s not necessarily trying to win next year or the next couple years that you can give a little bit of a leash to is a good spot for him. Houston, you know, gets a no matter what people think about Cam Wmore, he was the 20th pick. It’s not like he was a lottery like he ended up 20th that year and so Houston gets a couple second rounders back. Again, I don’t love the value, but if they’re doing right by Cam Whitmore, I kind of respect it a little bit and I like it for Washington as they continue to acquire young talent like this and you know, they have some vets around to hopefully so you can really see who is what and what they can be. But I kind of like the young talent that they have accumulated there in Washington. Yeah. Like I saw people connect the Wizards with Jonathan Kaminga and to me this is so much better of a bet than Jonathan Kaminga on the price point more than anything. I’m not saying that Kim Whitmore has proven as much as Kaminga has at this point in his career. But given that Kamingo was going to cost, I don’t know, he’s he seems to want 30 million or 25 million in free agency, like we’ll see what he ends up getting. G given that it was going to cost a significant price point, I would much rather just trade the two second round picks for Cam Whitmore and take the shot on the like scoring wing with passing issues and defensive uh infrastructure issues as opposed to Whitmore or as opposed to Kaminga at that significant number. Right? So, it’s worth just kind of laying out who Cam Whitmore is real quick. So, 10.8 points per game in 98 games throughout the course of his career. He shot 453671 from the field. In terms of like the per 100 possession numbers though, because he doesn’t play crazy minutes, he’s played 17 minutes per game. He’s averaging 30 points per 100 possessions uh throughout the course of his career, which if you reduce it down to, you know, what a normal game is. Like Whitmore, if he was to play 30 minutes in a game right now, would probably be averaging 20 points per game is the reality. Now, the question is, does what he takes off of the court actually help at the end of the day? Does it help your team win? And right now, I think that Cam is probably not good enough with the ball in his hands as a passer and as an overall decision maker in addition to some defensive issues in terms of his engagement away from the ball. I actually think like on the ball this year, he showed like some real switchability and when they used him in that way, he was a little bit more effective. But he absolutely like gets lost off the ball and is still clearly like learning how he has to function within the context of a team defense right now in terms of his rotations, in terms of everything like that. So Cam Whitmore was not actually like a valuable player on the court yet. The thing is though that he is 20 years old, he turns 21 in a couple of days. There is still a ton of upside here as a scorer. And this is why I loved him pre-draft. Like he is a joke athlete. Like the way that he combines explosiveness and power is genuinely like pretty special on top of being able to shoot off of the pullup. But again, like it’s very limited to that right now. Like he is not a guy who sees the court well. He’s not a guy who really knows where he should put the ball uh within the context of the team. So, all of those things being equal, you understand why this didn’t quite work for Houston, who just acquired Kevin Durant and is taking this next step forward. But you also see where this could really work out for Washington. And I think I would bet on it working out, at least in some respect for Washington. He he’s too talented to not be a really good basketball player at some point. Yeah. I I just want to reiterate some of the points you made because they were some of the ones I bolded whenever I went back through my notes. And the first and foremost is he was underrated as an athlete in that draft class in my opinion because that was the that was the amen and assar draft. And so if you weren’t a men and a SAR in that draft class, you know, if if you weren’t one of those two guys, I feel like we didn’t talk about your athleticism enough. or like when I say we, I mean collectively in the NBA draft world, you may have um he’s a different type of athlete of those. I feel like like he’s just like this two feet explosive athlete. I think he can really score. Just for just for context, like would he be the best athlete in the 2025 NBA draft? Um so what we’re talking Adoo is probably a little bit better of an athlete. Maybe him and Adoo are probably on the same level. I think Fiero is probably a slightly better athlete, but Theierro like never stays healthy is the issue. Fiero to me like has a little bit more fluidity in his movements than what Cam Cam is a little bit boxy I think is is that fair? Um yeah, for sure. VJ’s probably a little bit better of an athlete. Um so so that’s one where like the strength really matters to me. That’s fair. Sure. like him being like way more like VJ is a lot more like uh elastic in his movements athletically whereas Cam is a lot more boxy but like the strength and power to be able to move him to move guys and everything like does matter in a real respect. We see it with VJ, right? Uh so like they’re on the same level to me. Like Drake Powell’s another one that’s like a super athlete obviously, but he’s like more of a testing athlete than like a this translates to the NBA, you know, athlete right now. So he’s in that group though for sure. Yeah. And then the other the other thing I agree with wholeheartedly. I think my biggest concern and and this is where I think Washington really has to like lock in on this if they want it to be successful. I think my biggest concern is the offthe-ball defense. Like, yes, there are passing concerns going back to college and I get it and people are always going to bring up the assist percentage and all of that. Like, I understand it. I think I’m more worried about him ball watching, him understanding scheme situations, him navigating offball screens, seeing weak side rotations, box outs, those type of things than I am with any other aspect of his game. I I know he can guard on the ball when he’s locked in. I’ve seen enough of it that if you can get it consistent that it it will be in a decent place. I know he can score the basketball. I know he can get out in transition. I know he can move off the ball offensively and do those things. I believe that you can eventually get him where the passing is good enough for a scorer, right? Like probably an off the-bench scorer, but a score. I think where and why it wasn’t going to work in Houston, why it wasn’t working in Houston and definitely wasn’t going to be this year is the offthe- ball defense is the biggest area of growth for him. And he will be a very interesting player to track to see if that is something he can grow and improve throughout his career or it’s just never something he’s able to latch on to or do consistently or or take and value as much as he needs to. But in terms of the bets or or the the risk, whatever, I’m all about it for Washington. Two second round picks for this level of talent and you’re still a couple years away from having to pay him if it does hit in a positive way. I think that’s a really smart bet for the Wizards with where they’re at. Yeah. No, I I completely agree. Uh I I like the move for the Wizards to be clear. Uh this is the kind of move that a team in their position should be going for in my opinion. And you look at their wing room now. Bali, Trey Johnson, Cam Whitmore. Uh you know, obviously Bub Carrington in the back court. Will Riley is more of like a two guard to me right now than you know like a true wing even though he’s a little bit bigger. And then obviously Keshan and George. I love that they’re just loading up on athletic long wings and kind of seeing where it goes from here. This is an interesting, intriguing way to build a roster. Now, one thing I will note with the Washington team build, not a whole lot of passing there, right? Like I think Alex R is a really good passer for a big man. I think that uh Trey Johnson certainly showed flashes like especially near the back half of the year for Texas this year and I think he will continue to improve as a passer. Uh I think Will Riley like showed some occasional flashes here and there as a passer at Illinois. Keshan George like showed a couple of flashes here and there. He grew up as a point guard playing, you know, in the French league being from Switzerland and everything when he was young, right? But like there’s not not like a there’s not an emphasis on passing and playmaking, I guess I would say, here from this team build. And that’s okay. Yeah, it’s still early. Every everyone score first, I guess, is my point. As opposed to like all of the guys we’re talking about passing is the number two option or like number three option in some cases. But what’s interesting is most of them are offthe-ball players in some capacity at least to start a possession. like it it is kind of unique in regards to that where I think they’re still looking for their like primary number one onthe- ball guy that kind of creates everything for the offense and and that’s okay like figure out what some of these other guys are. Maybe you eventually package them all together. The other thing is like I’m okay with their veteran situation right now. We’ve talked Chris Middleton. We’ve talked Marcus Smart, CJ McCollum. Like I’m okay him coming in there so that way some of these other guys don’t have to be gunners. I like Kelly Oolen in terms of a floor spacing big. Like defensively it’s going to be probably pretty bad because none of those vets other than Smart obviously. And even Middleton at this point in his career like that’s not something he’s necessarily known for. But I think offensively you have an infrastructure of veterans, a floor spacing big with KO, like those type of things where you can put these guys in position to see what they are and see what kind of success they can have. But but I’m with you that the ball could could be a little sticky at times. Um it it will be interesting, but in general, I don’t mind what they’ve tried to do here in terms of obviously they’re still very much in the rebuild process. So, here’s my here’s my final question here. We’ve mentioned a lot of wings between all of the guys we just talked about. Trey Johnson, who just went sixth overall, Loali, who went seventh overall two years ago and is very clearly their best defensive player right now in my opinion. Yeah, sure. Uh we’ve got Keshan George, AJ Johnson, Will Riley. We’ve got Corey Kissper and Chris Middleton as well. And like Middleton’s going to play. Like Chris Middleton’s better than these guys right now. Like he is going to play. That’s a lot of minutes in the wing room. Yeah. And I do think we might see another shoe to drop in a trade here would be my guess. Like like people can say like AJ Johnson is a guard. AJ Johnson’s a two. He’s not a point guard. Like he’s going to be playing, you know, ostensibly on the wing, right? I wonder if Corey Kisspert comes available is kind of my question, but I like the idea of having like a floor spacing shooter. Yeah. Too. So, he’s just the one that’s expensive already and you can make the case for moving him. And I think that there are myriad teams that would be interested in Cory Kiss just because he’s a real shooter on a really good contract who, you know, his contract declines from 13.9 million over the next two years to 13 million in 2027 28 and 2028 29 where that final year is a team option where he’ll be making 6.6% of the salary cap projected right now. like that. That’s a that’s a really good contract for somebody. So, I I’m very interested to see how the Wizards handle all of this. It’s more just they have so many wings that it’s going to be hard to get all of these guys time, I think, than anything. It It’s a fair point because I’ve come on here and kind of crushed the net for their process of trying to develop three guards that are mostly at their best playing on the ball. I do trust or like I I don’t say trust, but I am more okay with leaning into multiple wings because you can play theoretically you could play three of those guys depending on the opponent and who those three guys are, but there’s enough variation in all of those guys. You can play three of them at the time. I I just whenever I count through the roster, I think there’s 12 or 13 guys if you include the veterans that probably want to play slash you want in the rotation and and I want those vets in the rotation, Sam. I I don’t necessarily want them running out five young guys at all times. Every once in a while it’d be fun, but I think Middleton being on the floor at times is important. I think KO being on the floor at times is important. McCollum, Marcus Smartiff. Now, how healthy are those guys? Those type of things. And maybe you start the season with this and it’s like, hey, you know, Cam is really knocking down shots. Trey is really knocking down shots. Balile has improved. Sar’s knocking down shots. You know what? We can go ahead and move Kiss now because we think we have the floor spacing we need. You know what I mean? And so that’s what they need to see first cuz as we’ve talked about, as I watch for four seasons, not having floor spacing around a young team is the quickest way to find out nothing about your young players. No, it’s 100% true. It’s 100% true.

Cam Whitmore traded to the Wizards! Will Houston regret letting him go? | NBA News Reactions

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Sam Vecenie, a Senior NBA Writer at The Athletic, talks all about basketball. From the NBA, to the NBA Draft, to college hoops and even some high school, Vecenie has you covered in this show.