Oh, yeah, you remind me of one of the most concerning things Duncan said about Whitemore: very small hands, and combine backs it. He's got the second shortest and third narrowest. To me, that's pretty concerning re his ball-handling and passing upside.
Yeah, journalists are reporters. They have sauces we don't. That's how they have a job and we don't... although we CFers aren't chopped livers either. We have our insider takes too.
You could count the number of credible NBA journalists on one hand. Most of these "journalists" are hacks. We've seen how rumors on CF will end up being "sources" and then we have all the twitter guys playing like they are someone we should take seriously. This time of year brings out all the trash and I guarantee most of these guys don't make sh*t for their "reporting."
Jake Fischer: (19:08) Whitmore's medical was done at the combine. Teams have had this in theory for a month now. It’s a little curious why the week before the draft he's falling because of the medical. It’s definitely a thing that I know his camp is concerned by. It’s a legitimate thing that’s happening, at least like the lack of security that they used to feel he’d be in the 4-5 range. There was definitely talk for awhile he’d be #4. (19:39) To go through the whole smoke of this session, I don’t know the veracity of this but a lot of people were saying Jalen Green was pushing the Rockets to take Cam Whitmore.
Got it, thanks for the great summary. I think most guys have huge misses in their analysis, and honestly he might be better than most. Like I've mentioned, he seems to have some good ideas and tends to favor statistical analysis, which I do think are good indicators. It does seem like he occasionally convinces himself of something then just goes fully into all the evidence that supports that claim (and ignoring evidence to the contrary), but not sure I'd fault him much there. I might not agree with some of his takes, but I do like having multiple (ideally different) takes on the same prospects, so definitely will keep him in mind. I still hate that opening to the Thompson Twins article though. Ugh that was so bad. I think he's fairly good. He misses on things, but I really like his analysis (including general NBA stuff, not just prospects). I'll also point out that guys like Vecenie might have higher grades on prospects with high ceilings, even if they're likely to be a bust too. Vecenie's philosophy tends to be you need to take risks on these types of all NBA potential guys (I forget the term he uses... informed bets I think?). There's not much benefit to never drafting a bust if you never get an all NBA guy, and no one cares if you did draft some busts if you drafted a future MVP. At least at the top of the draft. So he might miss on guys from time to time, but I think that's due to his personal philosophies with the draft. His actual analysis is typically pretty good regardless. Like I personally disagree about having Cam as the 3rd best prospect, but I don't really disagree with anything he said about Whitmore (or the other prospects generally). I think I'm partially biased to liking Vecenie because his stuff is just more available than others. He also generally seems like a good dude, which helps. But I think even excluding those things, he's really good at what he does. True, but in the context of the discussions here, the two are basically saying the same things. And Vecenie is literally talking to Spinella for like an hour at least every week (at least during busy times). Never mind everyone else he has in his circle. So I assume he's absorbed quite a bit. In a lot of ways, I might have Vecenie over Spinella in terms of pure basketball knowledge/insight, especially with the intel he has, though I think Spinella offers some advantages in the way he sees things too (presumably as a coach first). They're both top tier IMO. I don't really understand people who think they're hacks or whatever. So I might quibble a bit and say that guys like Vecenie aren't *really* reporters (at least in his current role). I guess he'll occasionally report news, but honestly when I listen to him, he's rarely reporting news and actually keeping back news if anything. He seems much more geared towards analysis and that form of journalism. He 100% gets intel like a reporter, but I wouldn't put him in the same category as an Iko, Feigen, Woj, Shams, etc. He's more like a Zach Lowe or something like that. If someone wants to claim he's a hack, I would love to hear the argument why. I'm legit curious Of course the last time I was legit curious, I'm not sure things went very well. So maybe that's a bad idea.
Dame wants to go play with his bestie in Brooklyn and with Bam if necessary. He's done waiting for Portland to make big moves.
I saw this scenario happening from a mile away. NBA gifted the Blazers a lotto pick to help ease the pain of trading Dame, and what better way to start the post-Dame era than with Scoot to go with Simons and Sharpe. This is like Pels trading AD and being gifted Zion. Raptors were heading toward rebuild with departures of Lowry and DeRozan and were gifted Barnes (I thought they would've gone Suggs). Can't believe Hornets are prioritizing fit over talent. Dame isn't one to cause a scene, so it's probably good it's happening quietly. Dame did say that if the front office fails to add pieces, then the discussion will be had and it's clear the team is stuck and I believe have been stuck for a while. Should be a fascinating start to the summer beginning tomorrow!
Yeah, I kinda jumped on a soapbox because sports "journalists" who know nothing about the sport are a big pet peeve of mine. Maybe Vecenie doesn't really fit the bill here (especially if he's collaborating with Spinella, who knows his stuff), and I shouldn't have come in and complained about him. But as a general rule, the vast majority of sports writers are just writers. You can look these guys up on wikipedia or linkedin or whatever and they got a 4 year degree in journalism, started off writing about shoes, then book reviews, then they moved to a job writing about politics, and now they work at espn doing the weekly power rankings article. Point being these guys are writers first and foremost, not necesssarily sports analysts.
Yeah, I don't necessarily disagree about that. Specifically, I think guys like Jonathan Feigen and Kelly Iko are great at what they do, and I greatly appreciate their work...but their *actual* basketball analysis/opinions are not something I value very much. There are a lot of people who fall into this category. Vecenie and some of these other guys are not in the category IMO.
Oh, yeah? Vecinie studied film in college and now he studies film for the Athletic. A perfect and obvious transition. Plenty of dudes first do other things; Duncan was a lawyer until he received Voulgaris's blessing. He referred his followers to Duncan and Duncan suddenly had the beginning of a career. He even brought his own Danny.
I've come around on Amen. It was the scouting report by the 9-year-old that really sold me. Best athlete he's ever seen and the best passer! And his younger sister likes Amen too! He already owns Thompson merch! I actually think I might even prefer him to Whitmore at this point. Kinda think I do. Short-armed, no passing, huge verticle but slow off the ground—and two-foot jump only (of underrated importance). Whitmore sounds like Jason Richardson, but more selfish. Thompson, well, wait, isn't he a two-foot-mostly jumper as well? Yeah, crap. Well. Well, at least he passes. Yes, I'm a true believer. Amen for Amen. It was always in me, trying to get out, but only now have I stopped worrying and learned to love the Amen. I'm legit at least 60% earnest. Maybe more.
If Whitmore is unfit and falling, then the Rockets should select Amen Thompson despite his poor shooting and average defense. We need passing in the most desperate way, even though he's inexperienced.
Why would nba gift a small market city like Portland and New Orleans but not houston. What does nba have to gain from those teams being good?
Not sure why you've asked me this three times, that's not what my "discussion" with Yolo was anyhow about. It was purely about the mechanics and timing of the jumpshot, not about which player I prefer. Of course a working jumpshot is better than no shot, there's no "gotcha" moment here.
I agree. Dollars to Donuts I suspect that they both have a reasonable shot of making it in the NBA … maybe as PGs. Given their unknown stats, I find it quite impossible to project one twin as a PG and the other as a SG. Both twins should be working on their shooting and passing skills, the next two years.
One question I have--I haven't heard a whole lot about Cam Whitmore's intangibles one way or the other, good or bad. Anybody seen or have any intel on what front offices are thinking about that? One of the reasons I have a level of trust in Scoot Henderson and the Thompson twins developing in the areas they lack is because I believe in the character and work ethic and desire to become great basketball players.
Cam just released his own nba journey on YouTube. Probably the best character and most humble player out of all prospects. Based on their youtube channels with how they were brought and raised this is my top character list. 1. Cam 2. Scoot 3. Thompson twins.
