Cam Whitmore to the Washington Wizards

[tsherkin]

Cam Whitmore is in a prime spot to win MIP next year.

Win, yes, potentially. Deserve? Probably not.

Whitmore is a complicated piece. I loved him in the draft and thought of him as the SG version of Amar'e Stoudemire: unstoppable athlete with nice jump shot counter.

Is it complicated? He's an athletic chucker with weak on-ball skills who doesn't do much very well, and does a bunch of things VERY poorly... including his overall impact and scoring profile. He SHOULD be better, but he lacks a lot between the ears and in terms of broader skills.

[Optms]

To be clear, my issue with the offence minus Green and Whitmore is that they were the team’s only shoot/drive threats, regardless of how efficient people think they were. They are suddenly a team that doesn’t have anyone who threatens the rim from the perim, and that will make some aspects of defending them easier, and will probably require more movement. I was kinda ok with Green’s departure specifically because we had Cam to maintain that element, and now we don’t. I just don’t get this.

Yeah this move is better for Washington than it is for the Rockets for all the reasons you mentioned.

A lot will depend on Reed Sheppard to carry the scoring load off the bench now. The Rockets are still elite but this sort of takes a blow out of their depth.

[Karate Diop]

Casuals really don't understand how not good this guy is. His attitude alone is problematic.

We have 50,000 future seconds the next 7 years, throwing 2 of them at Whitmore, a guy top 8 in the last Espn and ringer mocks from 2 years ago, and top 3 overall on the athletic big board is more than worth it. He sucks, he's gone, he hits, we've got him.

We literally have, I believe, 14 or 15 more seconds to use between 2026-2032.

So it's not about how good or bad he is right now, or yesterday, it's about the cost of acquisition, and the chances of us actually hitting on something of value from said cost. He cost us virtually nothing, we've been throwing these darts for two years now at AJ Johnson, at Colby Jones, then flipped Colby Jones for a 2nd and Dillon Jones, now 2 seconds out for Whitmore.

We are drafting guys, and acquiring other teams draftees that they can't afford to save a roster spot for in the hopes of gaining added value. So far, no big hits, otoh, at bare minimum, the bucks are regretting their trade for Kuzma, and we have a future pick swap, and AJ Johnson (23rd overall in '24) in that deal and Middleton, we acquired Colby '23 (34th in '23), and then as mentioned earlier, flipped him for an extra second and Dillon jones (26th pick in '24), now 2 seconds out the door for Whitmore (20th in '23, ranked inside top 10 on every mock I saw).....

For me anyway, these all appear to be dart throws for added value to augment our chances on hitting something, anything, at little cost, as we continue to tank, and get hosed in the lottery. The hope I imagine is we land a top 4 pick in '26, a lottery pick in '27, and content in '28, and that all these dart throws, and draftees like Coulibaly, Bub, George, Sarr, Tre Johnson, Riley can form the surrounding talent around them, and who knows, maybe one or two of them turn into a second star, and we've added a pile of pick swaps and future picks to keep swinging which will help if we draft busts, and will help augment the roster with cheap value options if we do find our stars in the next year or three.

It's elaborate and yet simple: this is an unblindfolded dart throw from 10 feet away, hoping to land something of more value than two picks likely to be between 35-45 in '26 and '29. Well worth it when you consider his evaluations, and the fact that we have another 15 or so picks between '26 and '32 to work with in that zone or the second round in general.

I don't have an issue with what the Wizards gave up. What they gave up was fair value, given all of Whitmore's issues. My point is that people pretending like Whitmore is this star ready to explode haven't followed the NBA long enough... Headcases come and go. If you don't have professionalism you won't last long.

[tsherkin]

If you don't have professionalism you won't last long.

Counterpoint...

Ricky Davis and Nick Young. And Gilbert Arenas had an 11-year career which would have been longer if not for injury.

[Rainwater]

Anytime a team trades a player so early in his career - especially when he seemingly has solid potential - there’s always more that meets the eye (such as he requested trade, bad locker room presence, not buying into team philosophy etc)

You mean like when the Clippers traded Shai? Kings trading Hali?

Could also be that those teams trading away young players don't know what they have.

Those were different cases, lol.

[tekkon]

Count me in as one of those who really likes this move for the wizards. Doesn't really cost them anything, and who knows, maybe he will improve. I will want to see how the wizkids develop.

Kudos to the Rockets if they really tried to move him to a spot to help his development instead of taking the best offer.

[TGW]

Count me in as one of those who really likes this move for the wizards. Doesn't really cost them anything, and who knows, maybe he will improve. I will want to see how the wizkids develop.

Kudos to the Rockets if they really tried to move him to a spot to help his development instead of taking the best offer.

They took the best offer. I'm pretty sure they don't care about Cam Whitmore's development.

[NO-KG-AI]

Teams don’t seem hot on this guy like the net does. They keep getting chances to get him for not premium draft capitol and keep passing on him. Feels kind of like Christian Wood.

[ChuckChilly]

The Rockets need Bradley Beal.

PG - Van Fleet - Holiday
SG - Thompson - Beal -
C -- Sergun - Adams
PF - Durant - Smith
SF - F-Smith - Eason

Not sure why Beal is still high regarded. He looked like a mid level role player out there most games last season.

[jangles86]

Casuals really don't understand how not good this guy is. His attitude alone is problematic.

We have 50,000 future seconds the next 7 years, throwing 2 of them at Whitmore, a guy top 8 in the last Espn and ringer mocks from 2 years ago, and top 3 overall on the athletic big board is more than worth it. He sucks, he's gone, he hits, we've got him.

We literally have, I believe, 14 or 15 more seconds to use between 2026-2032.

So it's not about how good or bad he is right now, or yesterday, it's about the cost of acquisition, and the chances of us actually hitting on something of value from said cost. He cost us virtually nothing, we've been throwing these darts for two years now at AJ Johnson, at Colby Jones, then flipped Colby Jones for a 2nd and Dillon Jones, now 2 seconds out for Whitmore.

We are drafting guys, and acquiring other teams draftees that they can't afford to save a roster spot for in the hopes of gaining added value. So far, no big hits, otoh, at bare minimum, the bucks are regretting their trade for Kuzma, and we have a future pick swap, and AJ Johnson (23rd overall in '24) in that deal and Middleton, we acquired Colby '23 (34th in '23), and then as mentioned earlier, flipped him for an extra second and Dillon jones (26th pick in '24), now 2 seconds out the door for Whitmore (20th in '23, ranked inside top 10 on every mock I saw).....

For me anyway, these all appear to be dart throws for added value to augment our chances on hitting something, anything, at little cost, as we continue to tank, and get hosed in the lottery. The hope I imagine is we land a top 4 pick in '26, a lottery pick in '27, and content in '28, and that all these dart throws, and draftees like Coulibaly, Bub, George, Sarr, Tre Johnson, Riley can form the surrounding talent around them, and who knows, maybe one or two of them turn into a second star, and we've added a pile of pick swaps and future picks to keep swinging which will help if we draft busts, and will help augment the roster with cheap value options if we do find our stars in the next year or three.

It's elaborate and yet simple: this is an unblindfolded dart throw from 10 feet away, hoping to land something of more value than two picks likely to be between 35-45 in '26 and '29. Well worth it when you consider his evaluations, and the fact that we have another 15 or so picks between '26 and '32 to work with in that zone or the second round in general.

I don't have an issue with what the Wizards gave up. What they gave up was fair value, given all of Whitmore's issues. My point is that people pretending like Whitmore is this star ready to explode haven't followed the NBA long enough... Headcases come and go. If you don't have professionalism you won't last long.

I’m interested to know where you get your information that Whitmore is a headcase or unprofessional? Or are you just throwing out garbage to sound knowledgeable?

Cam has undoubtedly areas he needs to improve, but at 21 years old and the opportunity to create an identity on building roster he could easily find his spot at Wizards.

[Bologna Smasher]

If this guy can get the right coaching with someone who is patient, he can easily become an all-star caliber player. Middleton and McCollum are the perfect veteran influences for someone like him to have.

Even though Kuminga is currently better and further along, it's interesting comparing the two situations since I don't think they're really that far apart. One just went for two second rounders and the other is currently trying to get $25M+ a year.

[cupcakesnake]

Cam Whitmore is in a prime spot to win MIP next year.

Win, yes, potentially. Deserve? Probably not.

Whitmore is a complicated piece. I loved him in the draft and thought of him as the SG version of Amar'e Stoudemire: unstoppable athlete with nice jump shot counter.

Is it complicated? He's an athletic chucker with weak on-ball skills who doesn't do much very well, and does a bunch of things VERY poorly... including his overall impact and scoring profile. He SHOULD be better, but he lacks a lot between the ears and in terms of broader skills.

By complicated, I mean he's complicated to fit into lineups, because his passing is so poor it's hard to run your offense with him.

Whitmore is very very very athletic, and capable as a shooter. I get what fans see in him, but I also get what NBA teams have clearly always seen him: he does too many things poorly. It's why he fell in the draft, and it's why he was just sold for pennies (plus there's that report Phoenix could have had him in the KD trade and said they'd rather not.)

[tsherkin]

By complicated, I mean he's complicated to fit into lineups, because his passing is so poor it's hard to run your offense with him.

Yes, I was being a reductive pest and saying "it's not complicated, he just sucks." xD But I take your point, certainly.

[doogie_hauser]

Although they got unders for him in a trade, I thought it was downright decent of The Rockets to move Whitmore to the team the player most wanted to go/feel like a good fit in.

That is a nice PR move for The Rockets, which will endear them to other players and agents not named Rich Paul.

[Upperclass]

Wiz are going to endup cutting him by next offseason. He seems to think hes going there to compete for starters minutes.. but hes blocked by a better shooter in Tre and a more wellrounded player in Bilal. He also doesnt seem like the greatest locker room guy if things arent going well.

His game fits a more mature environment imo.. where a good team can use what he does well in small spurts.. ie Nuggets, Knicks etc.. Scoring, changing the pace.. on a bad or mediocre team the more he plays, the less impactful his type of game is. Similar to a Westbrook.

[ChumboChappati]

Really surprised nobody offered more.

Apparently Suns could have had Whitmore in the KD trade but decided to instead get SRPs.

[magee]

It's a win-win for the Wizards. If he blossoms, a team will send draft capital to the Wizards, which would take more than the second round picks they used to acquire him. If he fits in, they can sign him to a decent extension and bring Tre Johnson along slowly and be a bit more patient with him.

If he doesn't show any improvement in his game that gets others involved, they can let him walk and a he can go try to get minutes off the bench for someone else and all it cost were a couple of second round picks.

Personally, I think the Wizards already had their future starting shooting guard on the team in AJ Johnson. Think he's going to surprise a lot of people this season.

[Chokic]

Cam Whitmore is basically a worse version of Jalen Green yet ppl think Green is a glorified scrub and are high on Whitmore make that make sense. Lol

[GreatWhiteStiff]

every scout hated him in the draft, now every gm hates him after 2 years in league and offered nothing for him

so you gotta ask why the nba hates this kid so much really?

is he a pure chucker?

Basically, yeah. Useless on-ball, mid from 3, not good inside the arc, not good at drawing fouls... poor attitude. Not much there besides the physical tools.

Not bad for a inefficient chucker. He’s going to average 25/5/3 as a starter one day.

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Help parse this out for me: 25 (points) / 5 (rebounds / 3 (?????)

[Wizardspride]

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