yeah, i guess i thought the whitmore crying was something of a bit. anyway, he had 15 points on 15 shots (1-7 from three, 5-15 from the floor) against the spurs' back end players. the next kobe or even next anthony edwards stuff is pretty comical.
It’s not that serious just a reminder that the so called geniuses in the front office are not infallible. I’ll take that 15 pts on 15 shot from JHS any game though…
LOL Kareem. You are jumping the gun a little. So called geniuses have receipts. Cam has done NOTHING to prove your point. Perhaps medication :wink:?
you can't judge draft picks until a couple years have passed, imo. guys have different levels of readiness and different developmental rates. pg and center tend to be tougher spots to make the jump into from college.
Yeah! Let’s see Cam God try to run the point with all those jerks trying to take the ball away from him.
Right. Plus guys can’t forget that the lights shine much brighter here than elsewhere. A guy with red flags can slide under the radar for a bit while they get themselves together with other franchises. Thats just Not the case when you play for the Lakers and JHS is shaping up to be another example of it. We will see what happens but the anointing of Cam and burial of JHS is just happening way too fast. Our scouts saw something and yes, I’m willing to give some time to see if it pans out.
Cam looks a LOT more NBA ready than JHS. JHS has a skillset that hopefully can develop as he adjusts to the speed of the NBA game (a process that will take at least a few years). The Rockets are a young team with low enough expectations that they can throw a rookie into a significant rotation spot and let him have a long leash. We have a very crowded rotation that doesn’t have a spot for JHS, but also doesn’t need JHS. He’s surrounded by veterans that he can hopefully learn from over the course of the year. I really think this is the best situation for both respective rookies. We wouldn’t have been a good spot for Cam. He’s ready for immediate playing time, not sure how well he’d take to be completely out of the rotation. IMO slowly bringing along a rookie who is NOT ready to be thrown into the fire yet can be better for their development, but when you have a rookie who IS ready for the fire then keeping them off the floor can stunt their development.
Plus as much as I poke fun at Ham he is building a hard working team first culture here. The Lakers are pretty much going to be contenders or favorites the next two decades while Ham is coaching. Rob and the scouts have to supply him with players that fit in that culture. They have a lot more to go on than we do as fans. They aren't oblivious to his talent. They had a reason they felt was substantial enough to pass on him or they believe JHS is going to be that good.
as good as we have done with acquiring young talent, most of those players have been traded. However, those trades built this team, and we can see much of that talent has carved out a nice niche in the NBA. Gotta think we have some of the best assessors of talent in the league. That does not mean they will hit it every time but they already have an impressive track record. I am not going to question that success. Sure they are going to have some busts, everyone does. Just looking at how this team has been built is kind of amazing, when you look how many 2nd round picks and undrafted talent we have. I don't think any other team in the league would look like this team, in that regard.
yeah, everyone assumes it's the latter, but the other teams passing tell me it's the former. and maybe they're all dumb or got some bad intel or something, but that's rare. it's not like what whitmore is doing in the preseason wasn't on display at villanova or anything. we're talking about kpj in the other thread, and maybe teams were legitimately worried that they'd be dealing with stuff like that and didn't think the talent was worth it.
I know we’re just having fun here, but if JHS went 5-15, all we’d be hearing is how he’s a bust that can’t shoot and the +24 is just a product of the other guys on the floor.
yeah, i'm curious as to the nature. did it happen on a play? how long has it been an issue? we have the luxury of being deep at his spot, though, so let's just let him rest if need be.
Yeah that's a very good point too (to join others in the thread, glad to see almost everyone in the same page year). I was going to mention that, if Cam balls out in Houston doesn't mean the same would happen in LA. For the reasons you stated and the fact that him being passed by so many teams might be something (whatever it was) that could be even bigger in LA, where the spotlight, media coverage and non-basketball opportunities are in a whole other level. I think we probably also focused in drafting someone less ready because we knew the type of roster we were building and we preferred having someone that can break out in 1 or 2 years. In any case, with the amazing success we have been having in the draft, our guys have a LOT of credit that they can miss a few hits. Maybe even Castleton pays out this whole draft. Like abeer said, it takes at least 2 years to get a good understanding of a player potential in the league. Btw, I liked Podz too from GS, I think he'll get playing time there this year
If JHS shot 5-15, forum would be saying look how he is improving! And I'm not joking: I don't think people realize how dismal his shooting has been - 5/15 is 33%. JHS is currently shooting 17.8% from the field thru pre-season and his best game he shot 27%. Small sample size and all but then you also consider he shot 31% in summer league as well, which is still worse than 33%! The Cam Whitmore comparisons are drawing sympathy for JHS and as a young player who seems like a good kid, I don't think this precludes him from being good down the road. However, his shooting numbers are really really bad. Take Whitmore out of the equation and if you look at his ability to score or even be a threat, we're talking Westbrick levels of anti-gravity without Bricks diminished but still present explosiveness.
but he played more team defense in 4 seconds than westbrook played in his 100 or so games here. so there's that. seriously, russ wouldn't have been such an anchor if he played a lick of defense off the ball. i don't even want to talk about it... anyway, he wasn't drafted as a shooter. he was drafted knowing he wasn't. cam better shoot, because he doesn't set the table at all. and as i've said, i'm just not interested in making big judgments after a handful of summer league and preseason games.
