Early Returns on Cam Whitmore Have Lakers Fans Questioning LA's 2023 Draft Decisions

Early regrets.

With the 17th pick in the 2023 NBA draft, your Los Angeles Lakers selected guard Jalen Hood-Schifino out of Indiana University. 

The 6'6" 215-pound combo guard has an NBA frame with a ton of physical potential. He was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year at Indiana,  where he put up a well-rounded statline of 13.5 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per game, and 3.7 assists per game. 

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He struggled a bit with efficiency, shooting just 41% from the field and 33% from the 3-point line, but was tasked with operating a very average offense as a true freshman in a competitive conference. 

His potential is certainly there, and evidently, that's what Rob Pelinka and co. thought when they snatched him in the first round. 

Unfortunately, in taking Jalen, they passed up on a few prospects, including Cam Whitmore, who was taken 20th overall by the Houston Rockets. 

Cam Whitmore (above) as a member of the Houston Rockets in the preseason

Whitmore was projected to be a top 5 pick as late as the day of the draft, but surprisingly slipped for then-unknown reasons. A 6'7 hyper-athletic wing, he was considered by many to be a slam-dunk prospect that could improve any team on either side of the ball. 

The confusion as to why Whitmore slipped north of 15 spots in the draft was later found out to be the following:

Ryen Russillo confirms on The Bill Simmons Podcast that Cam Whitmore fell in the NBA draft due to #Villanova coach Kyle Neptune.

Neptune “didn’t talk him up” and spoke poorly about him to GMs.

This is despicable. Kyle Neptune needs to be fired immediately https://t.co/ExEKgvE7SK pic.twitter.com/oUzCufGOje

— Steve Franklin (@MyGuySteve) June 26, 2023

Whether or not Neptune ended up saying negative things specifically to the Lakers or not, Whitmore slipped one way or another, resulting in temporary vindication for the Lakers to pass him up. 

After the summer league and a bit of the preseason, however, the comparison between Hood-Schifino and Whitmore is, frankly, nonexistent.

While the sample size remains just the preseason and summer league, JHS put up 13.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game, very similar to his college numbers. 

The alarming figure, however, was his efficiency. The Hoosier product shot 34% from the field, 21.7% from 3, and 56.5% from the line. Yikes. 

Whitmore, on the other hand, well, this tweet speaks for itself:

Cam Whitmore is this year's Summer League MVP:

20.4 PPG | 5.6 RPG | 3.0 SPG

The No. 20 overall pick and the Rockets (5-0) play in the championship game tonight 🚀 pic.twitter.com/GhJ5xQWiJs

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 17, 2023

This might've been the wrong pick by the Lakers. Again, it's too early to tell, as Summer League has never been a perfect indication of a player's success, but this comparison is undoubtedly difficult to stomach. 

To make matters worse, Hood-Schifino's exact skill-set is difficult to incorporate into this existing Lakers offense. The team needs shooters and skilled off-ball players (the latter of which Whitmore is), as opposed to playmaking, pass-first guards with a limited shooting arsenal like JHS. 

To that end, it wouldn't be surprising to see Jalen off the floor for most of the season, as the Lakers are a win-now team trying to contend, and JHS is more of a long-term, project of a prospect. 

Whitmore was seen similarly (as a long-term project), but has evidently found his stride far quicker than expected. 

We can't dwell in the past, but it's safe to say that we might regret this in hindsight. Let's hope not. 

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