Cam Whitmore looks like a rising young star for the Houston Rockets. We explore three teams who have to be kicking themselves after passing on Whitmore in the 2023 NBA Draft.
Cam Whitmore was one of the more surprising draft fallers back in the 2023 NBA Draft. Many viewed Whitmore as a consensus top-10 pick, but a lottery pick nonetheless. Whitmore fell in the draft due to underwhelming interviews, inconsistent draft workouts, and health concerns.
Many teams had the opportunity to draft Whitmore. However, Whitmore remained on the board until the 20th pick, when the Rockets took him and stopped his draft slide. Funny enough, the Rockets were thought to choose Whitmore when they were on the clock with the 4th pick. He found his way to the Rockets regardless.
Whitmore has been on fire recently. It looks like Rockets head coach Ime Udoka is willing to start giving Cam more minutes to prove himself. With the increased minutes, Whitmore is taking full advantage of the minutes increase and really putting together some highlight reel performances.
In his last four games, specifically, Whitmore is averaging 20 points and seven rebounds on 48 percent shooting from the field and 41 percent shooting from 3-point range.
This begs the question, what teams should be kicking themselves by not taking Whitmore while he was available? There is no doubt that he can be a future star in this league, but he's showing that even as a rookie he can have an impact. Let's dive in!
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz drafted Taylor Hendricks over Cam Whitmore
The Utah Jazz are regretting that they didn't draft Cam Whitmore. It would be understandable if they only had one shot to get him on draft night, but they were able to select him twice. Armed with the 9th and 16th overall picks, Whitmore was available to them both times. The Jazz selected Taylor Hendricks and Keyonte George, respectively.
George looks like a promising young guard, but Hendricks, who plays the same position as Whitmore, was a misfire. The Jazz are sort of stuck in the middle. They are somewhere between good enough to make things interesting, but not good enough to contend. A glaring hole resides in their wing department where players like Ochai Agbaji and Simone Fontecchio are asked to soak up most of the minutes.
Imagine Whitmore at the wing position instead. The Jazz instantly become more athletic and have a much higher upside. Whitmore slots in at the small forward position, between Lauri Markkanen at the power forward slot and Collin Sexton at the shooting guard position.
Whitmore has more upside than Hendricks, and he is already the better NBA player. There is no doubt that the Jazz would rather have taken Whitmore, seeing as though he is already producing legitimate on-court results. The Jazz would have a young core of George, Whitmore, and Walker Kessler for the foreseeable future, setting them up for a potential decade of success.
No doubt about it here, the Jazz are kicking themselves for not taking Whitmore.
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors drafted Gradey Dick over Cam Whitmore
The Toronto Raptors, in hindsight, have to be kicking themselves when looking back on the series of decisions they've made up to date this season. The team is in a rebuild, one highlighted by a couple of interesting young pieces. One of those young pieces could have been Villanova wing, Cam Whitmore, but the Raptors botched that one.
"With the 13th pick in the NBA draft, the Toronto Raptors select... Cam Whitmore, forward, out of Villanova University!" That currently sounds wayyyy more preferable than the Raptors selecting Gradey Dick. No offense to Dick, but he is struggling this season.
The Raptors regret not taking Whitmore with the 13th pick, with the main reason being that he would be an excellent fit on this new, rebuilding roster. Imagine a starting lineup of Immanuel Quickley, R.J. Barrett, Cam Whitmore, Scottie Barnes, and Jakob Poetl. That lineup is oozing with potential and can potentially get the Raptors back in the playoff hunt as soon as next season.
Dick and Barrett both play the same natural position, shooting guard. Whitmore frees up the small forward spot with a 6-foot-7, 232-pound frame that will allow him to better defend and battle opposing forwards. The Raptors are now stuck with an unknown commodity in Dick, while Whitmore is currently blowing up for the Rockets.
Hindsight is 20/20, but the Raptors had an easy opportunity to bring in one of the more polarizing players in the draft. They didn't and now they're stuck wishing that they had.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers drafted Jalen Hood-Schifino over Cam Whitmore
The Los Angeles Lakers robbed us fans of LeBron James throwing crispy clean passes to Cam Whitmore for a highlight reel dunk. The Lakers robbed the fans of a budding star in one of the biggest basketball markets. The Lakers robbed the fans of hope this season in regards to any postseason success. The Lakers did this all when they selected Jalen Hood-Schifino with the 17th pick, rather than take Whitmore.
This is a tough pill to swallow. The Lakers had the opportunity to bring in a potential top-5 pick who was sliding on draft night. He was right in their grasp, but they decided to let him fall a bit more. Boy oh boy do the Lakers wish they had Cam Whitmore now. This team is in free fall. They are 24-25 and right on the bubble of the play-in tournament. The Lakers could use another impactful rotation piece. This is where Whitmore comes in.
While the Lakers don't necessarily need another forward on their roster, there is no denying that Whitmore would be much more adept in helping this team reach the postseason than Hood-Schifino. Hood-Schifino needs many more reps to even remotely begin to help this team. The Lakers must do everything in their power to win NOW. LeBron is not getting any younger, AD is not getting any healthier, and this team's priority should be to win now.
D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Cam Whitmore, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis are a pretty gnarly starting five. Whitmore would be able to learn from James, potentially expediting his on-court development. With the season slipping away from the Lakers, any additional help would be welcomed to help bring LeBron and LA another championship.
The Lakers missed the mark on this assignment and failed to provide LeBron and co. with the best-supporting cast they could. Again, this team had the opportunity to grab a franchise-altering talent but decided to go with a relatively unproven bigger guard in the hopes he'd be ready to help this team compete. That hasn't happened and now the Lakers are left wondering, "Why me," as they look back on their fumbled draft choice.
There is no denying that the Lakers are the biggest losers regarding the teams that missed out on Whitmore. A big swing and a miss here.