Cam Whitmore

Offensively, Cam’s best attribute is his ability to collapse the defense.  We often talk about gravity when it comes to shooting; however, when Cam drives, he forces the defense to adapt and often for help to come over.  Whitmore has a very quick first step for a player his size.  Combine that with his highly functional strength and he can quickly get a step on his opponent and then become an absolute freight train heading to the hoop once he gets his momentum going.  Whitmore also has a pretty solid arsenal of dribble moves and can use his handle to set up his drive.  However, right now, it almost feels like he’s either already decided which move to use or is just reacting to the defense too slowly.  He can overdribble or at times, he even makes a move and seems to have his man beat, but then still cycles through a couple of extra moves.  Cam is actually at his best when he makes a decisive move and starts getting downhill.  When scoring inside, Cam has some pretty explosive athleticism if there is a seam or opening, but is a bit more human when he has to navigate traffic or congestion.  He doesn’t have the best hangtime or bend, which poses challenges; however, his functional strength and broad shoulders allow him to keep defenders at bay and find angles to get up clean looks.  And unsurprisingly, he has the strength to finish through contact.  This can also be a bit problematic though, as he leans on it too much at this stage.  Whitmore’s primary MO is to bully defenders and use his strength, which works a decent amount of the time, but he doesn’t have much of a plan B, which can lead to charges, wild shots, or trunovers when he doesn’t have a clear lane.  And while he has good handles (especially for a wing his age), they can be a bit loose and can lead to turnovers when he is trying to navigate traffic.

Another interesting aspect of Cam’s offense is his shot.  He’s active without the ball and will relocate to find passing lanes for his teammates.  And he’s good catching and shooting in rhythm (either stepping into his shot or off 1-2 dribbles).  The problem is his shot is a bit slow.  He takes a pretty decent dip and rises a bit slowly, but he does shoot accurately.  The issue is when he is driving, it still feels like he shoots the ball in slow motion getting into his shot, so a lot of his midrange shots end up getting blocked or heavily contested, despite him having the moves to get open.  This likely is what leads to his current gameplan that looks like it was ripped from the Morey Rockets, where he basically shoots threes or tries to force his way to the rim.  This lack of in-between game makes his offense a bit predictable, but also hampers his passing.   Cam doesn’t have great vision to begin with and most of his assists are very basic with virtually no examples of live dribble passing and very mixed touch and accuracy.  However, they are all swings around the perimeter or trying to find an angle in traffic, he doesn’t really give himself a chance to get opportunities from the mid to high post.

Defense right now is an adventure for Whitmore.  He has some good qualities.  He has quick hands which he can use to get some steals and strip ball handlers.  He does a good job fronting the post can make life difficult for bigs.  And his athleticism shows as he was able to make some one handed interceptions of passes that looked like a football DB.  There are some good tools.  However, his defensive awareness is still a major work in progress.  He’s not especially fast reacting to rotations and potential shooters, which given his lack of springy leaping ability and only decent length, can make it hard for him to really help and contest shooters.  And that’s if he made the rotation or wasn’t caught ball watching and losing a shooter in the first place.  He also tends to struggle on the perimeter.  He has poor footwork and takes poor angles, which takes him out of plays.  On the plus side, his feet don’t seem to “stick” or move slowly like some vulnerable defenders, but he is still very susceptible to fakes and countermoves.  He also struggles a bit with screens – both on ball and off ball – as he can get stuck on them (again, doesn’t take great angles) and then doesn’t have the greatest recover, as it takes him a second to get his momentum going again.  He can be completely taken out of plays by off ball screens, due to poor anticipation and navigation. He also tends to lean into on balls screens, making him very vulnerable to the offensive player rejecting the screen and just driving right by him to the hoop.v Now he does have good strength, so when a player doesn’t catch him on a fake, they do sometimes struggle to get outside his shoulders and if they try to drive into him, it’s like driving into a brick wall and Whitmore does a great job playing physically.   This also manifests in the post.  He is not a small ball center; however, he does have a strong base and can make it hard for big men to take advantage on cross-matches.  He also has decent lateral quickness, which helps on wings, but even some guards can just drive right by him.  Cam is a good defensive rebounder, his strength and great hands help a lot here.

Note: Whitmore was one of the youngest players in college basketball (he’ll be 18 still on draft night) and missed the start of the season due to a thumb injury on his shooting hand; while the awareness issues are legitimate, it’s certainly possible they might have been better if he had a full season playing with his team.