Is he even on the level of our previous PG's - Courtney Fortson, Scotty Machado, Jonathan Flynn, jerry Lin etc
I was watching his legs and feet on outside shots. Notice the right leg kick after launch. But hey, undrafted, looks to have a nice NBA pack (physical, offense, defense) and if his motor improves playing for money I see a definite chance to contribute so well worth the signing.
He's not a pg, he's a sf/pf. If he can get his head together he could be a very solid sf for a long time. Needs to work on ball handling and shooting off the dribble but nice defensive player that can move his feet and block shots. Very underrated player, very raw still. I honestly don't know why he was undrafted, maybe attitude. But once again we have a glut of undersized pfs only now its trendy
Rockets just got the star of the draft. For real. Every year I pick the best player and i do it by picking the guy with a first name for a last name. He was my pick this year. C. Oliver should be legit. I'm excited!!!
Interesting player. Looks like we have too many young guys at the 4/5 btw, someone is definitely gone.
As predicted by @heypartner - things are really heating up in the UFA market and the Rockets are already making a big splash (of very hot scalding water).
Posted that in the NBA Draft...this kid can be a solid bench player...Uber atheletic...can defend and shoot the ball from distance. He will make it in the league.
From what I can see, the only knock and the main reason why Oliver was projected as a 2nd rounder and became undrafted was his attitude/intangibles. He developed a rep for being inconsistent and having low bball IQ. But aside from that everything checks out, he is slightly undersized but more than makes up for it by being ridiculously athletic and having a 7'1 wing span. His skill set is intriguing, offensively he has all the tools to be an elite stretch 4 he can hit 3s, score in the post, face up Js and was a big PnR threat. TBH I don't see a lot of correlation between intangibles in college and the NBA because the environment is so different in the NBA than in college. In college the player is extremely dependent on his college for the atmosphere, I mean if a guy goes to a school with a good head coach a player will be more mature and disciplined since he will play in a very organized system rather than if he went to small college where he is basically the king of the castle. But in the NBA everything is available to the player, he is given a whole boatload of money and it is up to him if he spends his nights burning his cash on parties or hooker or he works on his game instead. And so we see a lot of players who don't have a high motor in college mature and turn it up in the NBA, Marc Gasol for example was ridiculously overweight prior to being drafted but became one of the best centers in the league once he got trained up by Memphis. Same thing with Cousins, he was the fattest guy ever recorded in the history of draft express but he managed to bulk up and also become a premier big man in the NBA. The opposite is also true, players who were true warriors in college became total bums in the NBA, Melo for example was like baby Jordan in college but quickly lost all drive to succeed once he got rich. So with Oliver it can go either way, now that he became undrafted maybe it can be a wake up call for him and he can take it as a challenge. OTH he can also just take the money and we never hear from him again after his contract expires. We'll see but I really hope he pans out so we can have a replacement for Ryno.
This guy actually reminds me of Trez, except with a three point shot / more offense versatility. The upside is if his offensive versatility puts him on another level and if he can bring a strong motor / work ethic he has the ability to be a better defender. The real upside would be if he can play minutes at the 3... especially defensively... because then he could potential play 3/4/5 and that's where he can find himself with an NBA contract. I was REALLY REALLY high on Semi Ojeleye as a sleeper pick. Cam Oliver reminds me a lot of Semi, except 18 months younger, with even better measurables - 4.5 inches on standing reach and wingspan. Semi was a slightly better three point shooter on basically the exact same number of attempts per game, and a better ft shooter, which speaks to his better potential as a SF type. But Cam is better pretty much across the board on PER 40 stats. Better scoring, rebounding, assist, steals and most of all blocks. Cam was a monster blocker in college. 2.6 block per game. I've seen the comparisons to Faried. But this cat might be able to translate his shot to be a decent 3 point shooter in the NBA. The big knock on him is honestly his competition in college. He wasn't playing against crap teams, but he wasn't in the ACC obviously. He played very well in their loss in the tournament to Iowa St. This is a real interesting pick... and I'm more excited about his actual potential than Zhou, Chinuaku, Isaiah...
He was not a 20 and 10 guy in college, what you're referring to is his 40per meaning that if he played all 40 minutes of a college game that he would be on pace to average 20 and 10 but no college player plays 40 minutes (A whole game).
Tell me two things. 1. How do you fix motor problems? Kid is in school with the opportunity to earn guaranteed millions if he'll just knuckle down and play hard every second. Because all the physical tools are there to get a guarantee first round contract and secure himself financially for life..if he'll simply play hard every second. He can't get it done. How is he gonna get motor fixed now, once he gets a few hundred thousand under his belt? 2. How do you improve a players iq at age 21? Tell me how. Show me cases where this has happened. My experience for over thirty years is if they don't have good bball iq by the time they leave h.s., it ain't happening. You can take a guy with decent iq and teach him to think and respond to the play at a higher level. But I ain't never seen anybody take a player that was dumb (low bball iq) and even get that guy to average iq. Never seen it. So show me. These two reasons are why I automatically write off kids in the draft. They're not worth drafting with this combo of problems. I don't care if they can jump 50" and knock down 95/100 three balls in a drill. Now, undrafted, minimum salary if you have a spot on the roster, I'm fine with. In fact I'm fine with this kid replacing Harrell. Harell is another jap. Might as well get rid of him and see if we can turn this kid into value. So it's an ok signing for that purpose. But I'm glad we didn't blow a pick on him. And I'm not excited about his prospects. Unless you can show me how you help increase a guys bball iq and his motor without putting a shock collar around his sack and hitting the remote every time he's lollygagging.
Harrell is just another player. We wasted that pick. Should have taken Richaun Holmes and really had something.
