Will the Wizards strike gold with Cam Whitmore trade? | Monumental Sports Network
All right, Bejon, this is take two for you and I. Of course, we recorded a video yesterday at the Wizards practice facility, going through their off season and the trades they made. We talked about Kelly Olen and then they made another trade and they traded Kelly Olen. So, all the irony of him playing for the Wizards after the history that he’s got with the franchise, it was all for not. I think Will Dawkins and Michael Winger have to be on Wizards Twitter to some degree because as soon as that trade was made, the entire Wizards Twitter world was like, “We don’t like this guy. Get him out of here.” And then they did like two days later. So, it worked. It worked. I mean, good good for Wizards Twitter for making it happen. You don’t have to root for Kelly Olen in a Wizards jersey. It was going to be weird seeing him in a Wizards jersey, but instead he joins a list of guys who are technically Wizards who never actually played in a game. That also includes Chris Paul, Zadrunus Algowskis, uh Leandro Barbosa. I threw this out on Twitter. People aptly mentioned Sadiq Bay is one of those guys. Uh Mike Bby, a lot of people said that he actually did play in two games, so Mike Bby does not count. He did suit up for the Wizards, but he was not here very long. But we wanted to talk about the other moves the Wizards made and we wanted to focus primarily on the trade for Cam Whitmore because Wizards fans were really excited about getting Cam Whitmore and I’m excited to cover him to be honest. I mean he’s a really entertaining player. He is a really good dunker. He’s a great shooter. Uh he’s super athletic. I think he is going to up the entertainment value of the Wizards and make them just more interesting to watch. So what was your reaction when you heard the news that they were trading for him? It was a really buy low highreward potential move for the Wizards because they only got him for two second round picks, right? And Chase, I’m sure you remember when the Ravens general manager, Eric Dcasta, said the way to build a Super Bowl contender in the NFL is to just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. Get as much young talent as you can, see what holds on. And the NBA teams are doing the same thing. And that’s what Will Dawkins and Michael Winger are doing. And with Whitmore, it’s interesting because he in DC is going to have a way bigger opportunity to actually play. You can’t really get minutes on the wing in Houston, the number two team in the West last year, unless you’re like an all-star caliber player, right? So, Whitmore didn’t really have an opportunity there. He started three games last year for them, and I have his numbers in front of me. They are unbelievable. So, in three games as a starter last year, he averaged 25 points, eight rebounds, two assists. This is what gets me. 58% shooting from the field, 55% shooting from three, and a true shoot shooting percentage of 70.6. So, he’s incredible, or at least he showed that he was incredible when he can actually be on the court. So, I’m really excited for him. I think having a young talent like that actually get to spread his wings in DC is a great thing. Yeah, you mentioned by low. Uh the Wizards only traded two second round picks to get him. He was a first round pick two years ago. And for Wizards fans who have not heard of Cam Whitmore, he’s a 67 wing. He just turned 21 and he played at Villanovavva and everyone thought he was going to be a top five pick in a year that the Wizards had the eighth overall pick. He fell unexpectedly. News broke the morning of the draft that he was probably going to fall and the Wizards ended up drafting Bal Koulibali instead, but they liked him and now they have both of those guys. So, it’s pretty cool. uh through two seasons in the NBA, he’s averaged about 9 and a half points per game, three rebounds, 44% from the field, about 36% from three. But what’s pretty incredible is that was I’m sorry, those were his numbers last season. For his career, he’s averaged 11 points per game in 17 minutes per game. So, this guy can really fill it up. And um I think it’s just a a smart move by the Wizards to get another young guy with a high ceiling with a lot of upside cuz you just never know when those guys are going to take leaps. Look at his teammate last year, Amen Thompson. Look at Dyson Daniels, what he did in Atlanta. And it always seems like a good bet to trade for a young player who’s already shown promise in the NBA as opposed to trading for a draft pick because you’ve seen that they have had at least some success in the NBA. You could build off of that. In the finals, we just saw Shave Gilders Alexander and Tyrese Hallebert. And those are two obviously very extreme examples of that, but I wonder if Cam Whitmore could be sort of like a Jarrett Allen acquisition for the Wizards. The Cleveland Cavaliers had a successful rebuild and they showed that it’s really hard to do that solely through the draft. If you can be nimble and aggressive and acquire pieces in other ways, as they did with Jared Allen and as they did to a greater degree with Donovan Mitchell, that could really help your cause and sometimes speed things up. Absolutely. And it’s kind of interesting that the Wizards now have a log jam on the wing, not just of wing players, but of young wing players who need to develop, right? They got Keshan George. They have Cam Whitmore now. They have Chris Middleton who’s going to take up a couple of minutes at the veteran spot. He’s on an expiring deal. But you have a bunch of these guys. AJ Johnson’s a guard. He’s another guy who’s going to need to get minutes. You have a bunch of these guys who I’m really excited to see how they perform together just as much as how they grow individually because what if Cam Whitmore and Keeshan George really work well off together work well together off each other on the court. It’ll be interesting to see how these young pieces on the Wizards uh kind of grow together this season. Minutes are going to be hard to come by, but that’ll breed a lot of really good competition in the locker room. And these guys are competitive. Like Bub Carrington is a competitive guy. He’s going to be handling the ball a lot. He’s already had a really good relationship with Trey Johnson as you and I saw yesterday when we were there. So, it’ll be really fascinating to see how Cam Whitmore fits into that puzzle and I’m really excited to see him actually get an opportunity to show Houston like, hey, if you would put me on the floor a little bit more, this is what I could have done for you. But he’s returning home. He’s returning back to Odinson, Maryland, where he came from. So, it’ll be interesting to see how he develops this year. Yeah, there are a lot of people in Houston who think he’s got a ton of potential. They just didn’t have minutes for him. Um, I was at the summer league last year talking to a Rockets reporter and they said that they think he’s like a Tracy McGrady type talent where Trace McGrady began his career in Toronto and uh had shown promise, but it wasn’t until he left Toronto that he really became a superstar. So maybe Cam Whitmore can follow that track. I mean, we probably got to keep his expectations uh in check to a certain extent. He just got traded for two second round picks. uh he scored a lot when he’s been given an opportunity, but you know, question marks for him coming into the draft where can he playmate, can he pass, can he defend? You know, he’s probably going to have to do those things to keep his role in the Wizards rotation, but certainly there’s a path to minutes because he’s not behind Amen Thompson and Tar East as he was in Houston. He’s not on a team that’s expecting to go on a deep playoff run and therefore the stakes are higher. And also, he has as much offensive talent as anyone on the roster. The Wizards really focused on defense to lay a foundation through the draft, right, with Michael Winger and Will Dawkins since they took over the front office in 2023. So Cam Whitmore could end up being one of the more talented scorers on the roster. So what do you think are reasonable expectations? Like not not to give Wizards fans a reality check, but just like set the scene for what they should expect. I think it’ll be tough for Cam Whitmore to dominate the wing room off the jump because Keshan George is here. He’s already built a rapport with Brian Keef in the front office. That’s a rapport that Cam Whitmore is going to need to build going into the season. I’m sure Cam Whitmore’s already been on the phone with Brian Keefe and getting to know each other and everything like that. So, it’ll be fascinating to see, but I think reasonable expectations would be give Cam Whitmore until like December to really pop off of the scoring sheet because like you said, the wing room is just so crowded already. Keshan George is going to need minutes. Keshan George might start off the jump because he’s already been in DC. Him and Chris Middleton could be that forward room, but all Koulali is another guy who’s going to need a lot of minutes. So Cam Whitmore is going to come off the bench to start. After that, it’ll be interesting to see how he pairs with that second unit because to me that second unit is going to be guys like AJ Johnson, Keshan George, Cory Kissird will probably be on that second unit. So how does he work in tandem with those guys and if he does do well? I can see double digit scoring for him by the All-Star break. It’ll just depend on how uh many minutes he gets and that’ll entirely depend on how well he works with that second unit. Rebounding will be a big thing for him. You and I talked about this yesterday in our now tossed away Kelly Oolen analysis where Alex Sard needs to work on his rebounding and Kelly Olen wasn’t that solid of a rebounder for a center. Cam Whitmore is a good rebounder. He averaged eight rebounds a game on the wing in Houston last year as a starter. So, if he can be a good rebounder, that to me will be the biggest pathway to him to getting more minutes. It’s like they say in the NFL, uh you get on the field via special teams and in the NBA, if you can be a second unit guy who can defend, score, and rebound, you will get minutes. Yeah. Well, one thing we know won’t be an issue for him is his motor and aggression on offense. That guy attacks the basket. Um, like he plays angry and that’s one of the reasons why I really like watching him play is because he’s so athletic and he’s so aggressive that if you’re like, you know, slowooting it one night, he’s going to catch you by surprise and probably throw down a poster dunk. So, I think again the entertainment value for this team is going to go up. It’s going to be fun to watch. But, you alluded to the fact that he’s also a local guy. He’s from Odenton, Maryland. He started at Archbishop Spalding High School and uh grew up around Annapolis. And as he explained at the draft combine two years ago when we thought he was a possibility for the Wizards, he actually grew up a huge Wizards fan. This is from the archives. Watch this video and what he told Chris Miller about growing up a fan of the Wizards. The crib. So, I mean, I’ve been going to the game since I was a little kid. Just um having that memory is definitely a special place, you know, I have in my heart, you know, just going to games with my dad. But um I mean that’s the crib. So I got to got to represent and just um just know that watching the Wizards, you know, still have, you know, such special play to my heart. I think was you said you used to go with your dad, you have fond memory of a game or a player. Not games like it was just like after school he would just buy the tickets, be like surprise with the tickets, just you know go to the game, stuff like that. It just any game doesn’t really matter. Who’s your favorite player growing up? Growing up, Braun. So, yeah. But, um, yeah, I used to watch John Wall going to the games. Um, when Darren Williams was in the league, I asked how how long ago I was going to the games. Uh, the Wizards game. So, I mean, Darren Williams um, he was one of those guys I was uh, looking at, too. I thought he was uh, pretty good. It’s I mean, it’s play for anybody. Yeah. Have you ever even thought of putting on a wizard before, playing for a team, you’re worth watching? Yeah, of course. That’s home, DMV, the MV, and um it’s nothing like playing at home. So, I mean, the fans uh definitely I hope so will be excited to have me. Maybe we’ll see if they pick me, but um yeah, we’ll see the time goes. Only God knows. So, first of all, the dad angle there is really cool, right? Surprising your kid with tickets after school. And that’s not the only evidence we have of him being a Wizards fan. He also uh tweeted this picture of him actually getting an autograph from March and Gortat which retweeted too which March and Gortat retweeted and it’s funny we were we were talking to people who work for the Wizards trying to sort of nail down when that was and they were guessing it was like 2015 2016 based on the jerseys and that sort of clicked in my mind like I wonder what Cam Whitmore thinks of Kelly Olen if he was that age and he was a Wizards fan then what happened against the Celtics probably affected him, but we don’t have to worry about them being teammates uh anymore. Um so yeah, what do you think about that Gore picture? And as a second question, both you and I grew up Wizards fans, so I I know you went to, you know, certain events and got autographs from Wizards players. Um who were some players you got autographs from as a kid? And then I’ll share some of mine. Great question. So the first of all, the first question, the Gort picture, I thought it was awesome. I thought it was great that Marching Gort actually acknowledged it and was like, “Welcome to DC.” cuz Wizards fans are just enamored with Marching Gortad. They still love him to this day. And it’s kind of funny because that era of Wizards, 2014, 15,6 where that picture was taken, that’s right when I was ending high school, going into college. And that’s when I was going to a lot of Wizards games. So there’s a chance that me and Cam went more past each other in the concourse at Capital One Arena than the Verizon Center. So that’s kind of funny to think about. And he probably saw a lot of really electric like John Wall Bradley Beal era Wizards games back in that day. Uh and then to answer your next question, great question on the autographs. I went to a Wizards draft party one time when I was like 10 years old, I think, when they unveiled those gold jerseys that I still have a very soft spot for. If you want to bring that back, Will Dawkins, if you ever watch this video, it’s a good jersey to have. I liked them, too. A lot of people didn’t, but I like the gold jerseys. I thought they were cool. And then the Zephers jerseys were also pretty cool. But I got Gilbert Arenas. I got Antonio Daniels that night. Brendan Haywood. They had a couple of uh Wizards legend there, like Bobby Dandridge was there. Uh Phil Shaneer was there, so I got him. One time when I was at a game, actually when I was like eight, I went to uh like courtside after the game because my dad was like, “Let’s just go down to the court and see if like any players are hanging out, maybe you can get an autograph.” And I got my ticket signed by two people. One of them was then Wizards playby-play guy Steve Buckance. And then on the other side of the ticket, I don’t want to butcher this name, but it was that 7 foot center from China named Yan. Yan Lan. Yeah. Ean Lan. So I got a ticket at my house in MLAN, my parents house. That’s Steve Buckance and Yan Lan on both sides of it. So, that’s one of the like kind of throwbacky kind of funny references to Old Wizards. That’s hilarious. Uh, I’m a little bit older than you, so I can go back to getting autographs from like Jawan Howard at a heckinger and like Brent Price and Calbert Cheney uh when I went to go see a Bullets game. But then, you know, I was a fan of the Wizards. I got Antoine Jameson’s autograph one time. I think it was at the Washington Auto Show and Brennan Haywood and Juan Dixon. And I ended up working with Antoine Jameson and Brendan Hayward Haywood later on. So that was uh pretty bizarre just full circle for me. I’m sure it’s been the same thing for you growing up. One more one more story for me is that one time I got tickets to a a then Charlotte Bobcats game down in Charlotte when I I think I was like 12 or something and uh I went down to the court during halftime like during warm-ups at halftime and the security guards were cool with me like standing under the basket even though that’s not where my seats were and Karan Butler was like st like shooting some free throws by himself before the rest of the players come out came out and Karan Butler noticed me and he was like hey what’s up cuz I was wearing a Wizards jersey and I think I had like some Wizards face paint on or something and he came over and he signed my like notepad before continuing doing his workout and I was like, “Wa, that was so cool.” And then I got to meet him later in life. So, it was cool. It was a good moment. Such a nice guy. He was my favorite player at the time. And then like 10, 12 years later, I’m actually hosting the Wizards pre and postgame show. Phil Shaneer’s next to me and Karan Butler’s on the screen. We’re talking to him. It was absolutely surreal. Um, a few stats before we move on from Cam Whitmore. Few analytics. You can check out my story on monumentalportsnetwork.com and in the Monumental Plus app. Um, last year he was fourth in the NBA in points per touch. So, he was very efficient at scoring once he got the ball. The only guys ahead of him were Norm Powell, an all-star, Chris Sporzingis, and Jiren Jackson Jr., three guys who have either been allar stars or were all-stars this year. And then this goes back to the entertainment value. Last year, he had seven dunks where he jumped at least 35 in off the ground. And that is more than every player on the Wizards roster combined. and he only played in like 51 games last year in 827 minutes. So like the guy who led the Wizards in those types of dunks was Bal Kulabali. He played like,00 more minutes than Cam Whitmore did last year. So you just never know when this guy’s going to throw down a big dunk because he can absolutely jump out of the gym. Um, before we wrap this up, did want to address CJ McCollum and Dylan Jones as additions because, you know, knock on wood, unless they’re traded an hour from now, uh, we expect them to I don’t want to do this video again. The two is enough. So, uh, why don’t we start with CJ McCollum? What was your reaction when you heard that he was coming to Washington? Good pickup and I thought it was interesting because he does sort of fill in that production that Jordan Pool leaves behind in that trade. You got a vet leading the back court. Really good outside shooter. Shot close to 38 39% from deep this past year. Another veteran to mentor the young guys. I’m really excited for him to mentor specifically Trey Johnson because you got two shooting guards. One going into year nine, I believe. One going into his rookie year. How does that mesh in the locker room? Trey Johnson, if I were him, I would be taking notes on everything CJ McCollum says as a bonafide scorer in this league. So, a good pickup and he picks up a lot of that production left behind by Jordan Pool. What did you think about it? Yeah, a lot of the same things. I mean, the shooting percentage, that’s really going to help. The Wizards were the least efficient offense in the league last year, 30th in offensive rating. They take a lot of threes, but they don’t make a ton of them. So, Jordan P had a good shooting year last year, but C.J. McCollum is basically a 40% shooter from three for his career. He’s also like Jordan Pool, a combo guards, you got that versatility, and he’s also pretty durable. He missed 26 games last year, and he’s going to be 34 when training camp opens. But that was an anomaly for him. usually plays the vast majority of games and that’s always a great skill to have and I just like the fact talking about the influence on the younger players that he’s just a smart crafty player who has had a long successful career without ever really being the biggest guy at his position or the most athletic guy at his position. Like he’s always had to know sort of the tricks of the trade and not necessarily have like an old man’s game, but you know what I’m talking about. like someone who just like knows how to score even if they’re going up against a physical mismatch. And that’s something that I think the young guys will have to learn through experience, but maybe they can learn just by watching CJ McCollum. Did you see that picture of CJ McCollum when he was in like high school or something when he’s like yay big and he’s playing against guys who are gigantic and he’s just like dribbling around? You know that picture I’m talking about? Yeah. And you know who might be able to relate to that is Bub Carrington because he was like 5’8 5’9 I think going into like his junior year of high school and then he had his gross spurt and then we asked him about that yesterday. We said, “Has anybody gotten bigger?” And he said, “I’m big as blank now.” So, a bunch of players in the locker room were getting bigger this year. There you go. That’s uh that’s what happens when you get young guys who haven’t fully grown or or filled in. Um how about Dylan Jones? Uh kind of like Cam Whitmore, a recent first round pick. Wizards bring him over from the Oklahoma City Thunder, add another young guy to the mix. I’m losing count at how many first round picks of the last three years they’ve got. I believe it’s nine. And then they just added a couple from the Spurs from the year before. So, it’s like 11 out of the last four years. But Dylan Jones, what stands out about him? I mean, just keep throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. Dylan Jones is another athletic wing who can probably get some minutes maybe in the third unit because he’s going to be behind guys like Kispert and Whitmore on the wing. Um, it’ll be interesting to see. And uh, you know, I’m not I don’t I’m not I’m not looking forward to him maybe scoring double digits or anything this year, but the Wizards will give him an opportunity to play unlike he did on the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. And another thing to remember is that the Wizards sort of have one hand tied behind their back this year with the top eight protection in the first round of the draft next year. So they need to have a top eight pick in order to retain it without conveying it to the Knicks. And if that’s the case, let young guys get minutes. Let Dylan Jones get minutes. Let Cam Whitmore get minutes. See how Dylan Jones works in conjunction with the rest of the rest of the roster and seeing where that goes. What do you think about it? Yeah, not a whole lot to go off of so far with Dylan Jones in his career. I mean, he played in 54 games last year, but only averaged about 2 and a half points, two rebounds, didn’t shoot particularly well. He’s 6’6, 235, 23 years old. He played four years in college, but in college, he was like a 20 and 10 guy. 20 points, 10 rebounds, even though he’s only about 6’6. What I like about him is obviously the upside of another recent first round pick, but also he’s got a physical build, and the Wizards had been building a team with a lot of guys who are tall and long and have long arms. I don’t think it’s the worst thing to infuse the roster with a few guys like Jamir Watkins who is their second round pick this year. Dylan Jones who have more of a physical build that can maybe turn them into more of a physical team long term while they wait for some of their other young guys to sort of fill out and become stronger. So I I think it could change the nature of their defense in particular and perhaps in a positive way. So we’ll see what else the Wizards do this offseason. you look at the amount of young players they have and the roster spots, like more moves are going to come, right? And we got summer league coming up. That’s going to be really fun. We’ll both be out in Las Vegas. So, if you’re a Wizards fan out there, make sure you subscribe to our app, Monumental Plus, and our YouTube page, manportset. We got a lot of Wizards coverage coming your way this summer and into the fall.
Chase Hughes and Bijan Todd react to the Washington Wizards acquiring DMV native Cam Whitmore and discuss what this move could mean for the team’s success in the 2025-26 season.
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Will the Wizards strike gold with Cam Whitmore trade? | Monumental Sports Network
