it's interesting, by measurements, whitmore is about an inch taller, with a shorter wingspan but higher standing reach. 15lbs heavier. i guess what i'm saying is whitmore maybe doesn't quite fit the big wing mold. lewis is actually longer, for example. whitmore's powerful, though, and a better shooter. i'm surprised he dropped, even with the various concerns.
Dr. Buss would have made that Whitmore pick. He would have gambled and deal with the consequences later.
Well, it would have come down to Jerry West really. Would he have taken Whitmore? Maybe so. Hard to say. But the Buss kids have been doing a spectacular job on the scouting end of things for the Lakers. It's probably the best thing we have going front office-wise. Look at their track record.
It seems throughout the years they have some disagreements on who to draft, Moncrief instead of Magic for West, McGee instead of Nance Sr for Doc, both of which Doc Jerry’s decisions were followed and I’m sure there is more. The Buss’ kids record is impeccable on late draftees and unknown players but they are not infallible, they also went on record that they considered drafting Whitmore but went with one of the guys they worked out and interviewed. Playing safe is not the Doctor’s way. It’s always bombastic and the biggest impact, for better and for worse and I miss that after he retired.
Comes down to even our vaunted scouting staff lurks on LB. They saw @Kobe Bryant 8’s pick at 17 to take Max Lewis there and not look back. So they put in motion plans to steal him instead at 40 by moving up and took JHS at 17 as another high potential big guard pick, and Max over Cam. Seems clear to me …. well done.
Yeah I imagine the Whitmore situation is exactly what you say there. There's teams within the 11-20 range that likely haven't worked out or interviewed Whitmore and when seeing all teams that did that passing on him, they thought it was better not to make a blind bet. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure scouts have reports on all guys that are supposed to go earlier because you never know if someone drops or if a wild trade appears where you move up. But even then, we were very unlikely to move up so I can understand that the lack of info on Cam made us trust our process. It would have been nice that gamble because the ceiling was higher, but I trust completely our scouting department even if they get this one wrong. I'm also sure it wasn't an easy decision
the other thing that i keep not hearing much about is that the attitude stuff was just part of why whitmore dropped. the other part was troubling "medicals". obviously, that can't be shared, but for all we know he's got a degenerative knee condition or something. we don't have all the info. i'm trying to think of a time a guy dropped as far as whitmore and ended up being as good as initially projected. i think people keep saying mpj, and i'd argue that that's not a good example. had he not played with jokic, people would be talking about how disappointing his career's been so far.
Warriors and Heat also passed on Whitmore, I think that's even more telling. Rockets can afford to take that risk.
Just read in Sam Vicenie’s all teams draft rankings for The Athletic (Lakers got a B and some nice words posted in Pelinka’s thread) …. that it “is” a knee thing with Whitmore, though it might be a long term issue and not serious enough to affect him short term to see how well he does. He did give mixed impressions with tending to short answers in interviews and was good and not as good in workouts.
I read that Whitmore's camp pre-warned teams before his interviews that he's a bit of an introvert and trying to cushion him being a bad interview.
I need to say it now - this pick worries me a bit. We're gunning for a title and the short term profit may not be there.
got kind of a weird shot. good balance and follow through. like our other pick, he brings it down too low i think, little hitch. like he's shooting a ft or something. he clearly has the coordination to do it, though, imo.
I like his strength when he attacks. Needs to develop a floater and obviously a three ball. He looked much more comfortable tonight in game two.
I like him. Just turned 20 June 19. Body is already NBA ready enough and only gets stronger and more effective going forward.
it's all on whether you believe he can improve his shot. if he can, his strength and coordination will outweigh the need for elite burst. although, again, i feel like in some of these clips he's dusting guys.
Yeah in the first game it was the same. Me and Slick were discussing it in Game time. I called him quick because of a couple drives and a chase down block but indeed during the game you could see him unable to surpass his man. Maybe it's the spots he chooses and that first step. When he gets it right it works, but more often than not it doesn't
