doclinkin wrote:DCZards wrote:Cam’s age and years of experience were probably also well below average.payitforward wrote:Just for clarity, last year...
Cam's TS% was 54.9% -- well below average for a 4.
All 3 shooting percentages -- 2 pt, 3 pt, & FT -- were below average.
His rebounding rate was a bit below average.
His assist rate was well below average.
He committed more turnovers than average.
He had fewer blocks than average.
As was his height for a 4. Because he is not a 4. He's an outside shooting wing. A 2/3 combo forward. The majority of his possessions started above the three point line.
We fall back into the discussion of arbitrary position designations vs roles played. This commonly is where PIF's definition of what makes a good or bad player gets a bit wobbly. A player whose possessions are mostly outside will post lower rebound totals. Especially on offense. PIF prefers Win Score (not wins produced) which weights rebounds heavily, and offensive boards a notch heavier than most. Sometimes an outside shooting player contributes highly to wins since they force teams to chase them and abandon the boards on the interior.
Granted Cam is not a floor bending threat from outside. He's pretty much exactly average for a SF.Posting a career .357 from 3. Small forwards hit .354 from 3 last year. Not great on his behalf, but given his 75% from the FT line there is hope that his outside shooting improves. One would think, considering the great Justin Champagnie hit exactly .357 in his own age 20 year. Want to know something bizarre: in their rookie seasons both Champagnie and Cam Whitmore hit .538 from 2.
Point being Champagnie broke out when given consistent minutes with the Wizards (and in the G League under the training regimen we share with the GoGo). He was nearly out of the league when we refurbished him. Here the team has an opportunity to do the same with a talented player in Cam Whitmore. I'm not the greatest fan of Whitmore's game but I do think he will play more minutes this year than JC does. Reasonably so. We are not yet in the meritocracy portion of team building. We are in the potential and upside portion. Cam has the potential to be a foul magnet on offense given his play style and athleticism. Highlights sell seats, buzz influences referreeing, star power draws attention. We need players who can score through contact and get fans standing up out of their seats. IF we can turn around the narrative of a player like Whitmore, we can continue to build the rep as a team that has a good training program and is headed in the right direction. We saw how that narrative has begun to influence players like Ace Bailey in the draft. Hell that growing narrative actually landed us Whitmore on the cheap, according to the story put out by Houston.
I like JC. After this year if he manages to seize a starting role or siphons minutes from any of the other forwards, cool. I just don't see him doing so this year. I think they will invest more heavily in building value of the younger players whose production may be lesser than their potential. Cam, sure, and also George, Bilal, etc. I think he will start fewer games, play less minutes than all of these guys. Just my read of the situation.
Also to add that Cam TS% of 55 were above any of the Wizards' players including Sarr, Carrington, George, Bilal, and AJ Johnson. Granted his team circumstances were different (ie not having to play with Kuzma is an advantage) but will be interesting to see how he does in a Wizards uniform along with everyone else.
