Analytics Insight: Cam Whitmore has Major Potential for Houston Rockets

An analytical breakdown into Rockets' forward Cam Whitmore ahead of his rookie year.

Whitmore's Summer League Overview

Ahead of the draft Cam Whitmore was projected to be a top 10 pick, with some scouts having him ranked as high as a top five pick.

The former Villanova Wildcat ended up getting drafted No. 20 overall by the Houston Rockets. Despite this Whitmore averaged 20.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.0 steals during Las Vegas Summer League leading many people to question why Whitmore fell to the mid-first round.

Whitmore’s Offense 

Whitmore's Play Type  (Summer League)

Strength 

A common strength both at Villanova and in the Summer league for the Rockets is Whitmore's ability to be an off-ball player.

He shot around 40% from three on open catch-and-shoot looks. When he’s not rushed, his mechanics look fluid and he's a threat from the three-point line. The majority of his drives are based on a catch-and-drive to the left side. Pairing this with his left-side step-back, where he is shooting over 46% of three in those situations both in the summer league and at Villanova. 

At Villanova, Whitmore had 29 dunks in 26 total games leading to 1.34 Points per possession in transition. (92nd percentile in NCAA) which translated to 23.6% of his offense in the Summer league being in transition. 

His athleticism as a cutter was on full display at Summer League. Being bigger and stronger than most defenders in college, he was able to use a shoulder bump move on a drive to carve out space to attack the rim. Whitmore's ability to adjust his body when bumped off his spot is also noteworthy, he possesses the ability to change and convert shots at different body angles. 

Whitmore's Shot Chart (Villanova)

Whitmore's Shot Type (Summer League)

Areas of Improvement

At Villanova, a total of 102 Possession or 31.1% of Whitmore’s actions are operated by a pick-and-roll. Despite the high usage, Whitemore struggles when the strong-side defender rotates over to help. He tends to settle for a tough fadeaway shot, which leads him to get blocked on 27% of his attempts when shooting from this action.

At times, Whitmore stops the flow of the offense with his isolation attempts, over-dribbling in the majority of his attacks in those situations. Out of the 131 isolation attempts both at Villanova and the Summer League.

Whitmore dribbled more than seven times in over 70% of his isolation attempts leading to a 58th percentile in isolation efficiency in college and 49th percentile in Summer League. As highlighted above, when Whitmore plays off the flow of the offense and attacks right after the catch he is averaging an incredibly efficient 1.27 point per possession. As explosive as Whitmore is offensively, he tends to play at one pace and struggles to decelerate at times.

Whitmore's shooting mechanics are solid and fluid when he is left open and has time to set his base up, but when he is rushed to shoot his slow mechanics can be inconsistent and lead to an influx in consistency in his shooting.

As a player who is looking to score, Whitmore had a 6% assist rate both at Summer League and Villanova. Which is in the bottom 10% of all players drafted in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Whitmore’s Defense

Pairing his size and athleticism, Whitmore has all the tools to become an outstanding defender in the NBA. He utilizes his speed and lateral quickness to keep up with guards, as well as utilizing his size and frame to be a nuisance for bigger guards, and forwards. He is great going up against bigger players in post-up situations. Knowing where to position his body as well as the awareness to go for a steal from a post-entry pass.

Where he struggles however is his lack of awareness, sometimes he is not engaged in the play, especially in pick-and-roll situations. He likes to gamble and go for steals, which led to the team scoring over 1.18 points per possession when Whitmore was guarding the pick-and-roll. Whitmore also gambles too often on the defensive side, trying to go for the steal or block instead of staying disciplined. 

Conclusion

Whitmore is an incredibly talented player with a ton of potential to grow. The combination of his size, strength and athleticism will be in full display for the Rockets this upcoming season, but whether he can iron out his game will be something to look out for. 

Data - https://synergysports.com/ , https://www.nba.com/stats, https://kenpom.com

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