We expected him between 5th and 10th place, and finally Cam Whitmore had to wait for the Rockets to select him in 20th position to join Adam Silver on the stage. Every year the Mock Draft get a few names wrong, and this season it fell on the Villanova winger. A priori, there were doubts about his physique after very average exams, and that’s how Houston had the chance to choose him in 20th position.
“We were surprised to see him out of the lottery, and we feel extremely lucky that he was still available for us to take” responded GM Rafael Stone. “He came to train three or four days ago. He looked in great shape. I saw him in Santa Barbara a month ago; he also looked in great shape. Our doctors think it’s going to be okay. »
We won’t know what worried the teams who had considered selecting him, but Whitmore ends up in the same situation as an OG Anunoby in 2017 or Michael Porter Jr in 2018.
“I had no idea where I was going. Every time the countdown started, I didn’t know where to go. Still, I prayed. I was really talking to God the whole time, for real” he confides. “In the end, I am happy to be part of this program, of this franchise. There’s a lot to rebuild, but that doesn’t really bother me. Ultimately, I’m ready to be a Rocket. »
“I have been neglected many times in my life”
Villanova’s first one-and-done since 1997, Whitmore is not yet 19, and no one knows yet if he is still of the caliber of Kyle Lowry, Mikal Bridges or Jalen Brunson, the recent nuggets passed by this university. But the interested party has a habit of proving observers wrong.
“I’ve been overlooked many times in my life, so it didn’t really bother me. It motivates me 150%. I’m just very happy to be in the NBA. I dreamed of it all my life. I am very grateful to my parents for being there, to my friends, to my family. Everybody is here. It’s the most beautiful day of my life. It’s really the beginning. »
On the Houston side, we really had it in our sights to the point of even considering an exchange to recover it higher. In the end, management didn’t even need to set up an exchange…
“In fact, we were trying to make a trade to get into the Draft” confirms Stone. “We always had the will to do it, but we didn’t succeed. But it was when we thought Cam was going to be picked in the top six or seven that we thought maybe there was a sensible strategy for us to go a little higher. We also considered, in the event of failure, to make an exchange if we were not satisfied with our choice at the time of selecting”.
In the end, everything went well, and for the Rockets, it’s a 100% successful Draft with Amen Thompson as the 4th choice and therefore Whitmore as the 20th choice.
