Whitmore Season Summary: The scoring ability is the top in the same class, and two major shortcomings make it difficult for him to get up

Whitmore's rookie season is over, so let's summarize his performance this season, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the player who was drafted with the 20th pick in the first round, and how high the ceiling is to be the future leader of the Rockets.

First of all, let's review Whitmore's draft process, he fell to the 20th pick, which is definitely a big upset, because in many media predictions, Whitmore has never fallen out of the top 14 picks, and at the highest time he was the 4th pick, and the outside world believes that even if the previous team does not select him, Whitmore's pick will not fall out of the top 10.

But what's interesting is that since Wembanyama was drafted, Whitmore has been sitting in the little green room, until the 20th pick Rockets selected him, Whitmore did not walk out of the small green room, at this time Whitmore was already a little in tears, because he didn't expect his pick to drop so much, this pick is much lower than his expectations.

According to media reports at the time, the main reason for Whitmore's decline was injury, and he suffered two fractures (tibia fracture and thumb fracture) in a year, both of which were operated on, and the outside world thought he had knee problems. There are also average tryouts, poor interviews, and personality issues (five executives are concerned about his personality attitude), which do put a lot of teams off despite his physical talent.

Whitmore talked about his injury concerns after being drafted, and he said bluntly that he had no idea where the injury rumours were coming from, that it was my own body and that I felt great.

Although the pick was not satisfactory, Whitmore quickly dispelled the doubts with his performance, and in the summer league, Whitmore became the best player of his class, becoming the first player of his class to win the award. With an average of 20.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 3 steals per game, he was elected as the MVP of the Summer League, and was selected to the All-Star at the same time.

It's just that the performance of the summer league is only the summer league after all, after the start of the new season, Whitmore's main battlefield is in the development league, and rarely gets the opportunity to perform in the regular season, Udoka believes that Whitmore needs to continue to work hard, and the current performance is not suitable for this team.

After being ignored again, Whitmore was also very competitive, working hard to improve himself in the Development League, he averaged 26 points per game, became the scoring leader in the Development League, and repeatedly exploded 30+ and 40+ points, and his strong play also attracted the attention of the Rockets coaching staff, and after playing more than 30 games in the regular season, Whitmore got a chance and he entered the team rotation.

After being promoted to the first team, Whitmore also won Udoka's trust with his performance, allowing himself to sit firmly in the team's rotation, and in the second half of the season, Whitmore became an indispensable rotation player for the team, with consistent playing time and possession, and establishing himself in this team.

In his rookie season, Whitmore played in 47 games for the team, including two starts, and averaged 12.3 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes per game, shooting 45.4% from the field and 36% from three-point range.

If you only talk about scoring ability, then Whitmore is considered the top among the players in the same class, he can score 12 points in 18 minutes, and in the case of not having much ball, if he is given unlimited shots in a team with him as the core, then Whitmore has a chance to break through 20 points, scoring explosiveness, and strong impact, which is the advantage that Whitmore showed in his rookie season.

However, Whitmore's strengths and weaknesses are very obvious, his scoring ability is really strong, but his shooting options are not very reasonable, when he fully enters his own rhythm, he will try difficult shots very casually, will fall into his own single mode, and have no contact with teammates, this is a style of play that most head coaches cannot accept, many times Whitmore is replaced, because the shot selection is too poor.

There is also a defense is really not good, in addition to his own poor defensive awareness, there is also a big problem with his attitude, this season has seen his defensive distraction many times, when he can't shoot, his return speed is too slow, many times not as positive as Jeff Green, single defense by the opponent one step, the defense performance is also very bad, it can be said that he scored 12 points in a game, the opponent may also get the corresponding score, this is Whitmore's defensive performance.

Whitmore has a high ceiling on offense, but it doesn't help him get a chance to get up, because his shooting options and defense are two major shortcomings that affect him, Udoka is very demanding of players, it's not that being able to score will make you play longer, he pays more attention to defense and style of play, if a player only thinks about scoring for himself, doesn't care about the team, and gives up defense, then he won't use it much. Whitmore wants to play well with the Rockets and even become a team leader, he needs to play more sensibly, and he needs to strengthen his defense, and if he can practice passing and have a certain big picture, then his ceiling will be high.