Wizards' Cam Whitmore Continues Losing Trust

He wasn't some drive-first slasher who still had to unlock a jump shot, or a tentative player who was hesitant to get his game off; in fact, Whitmore was the opposite with the Rockets, regularly too audacious for his own good, and Washington's management took it upon themselves to try turning him into a more mentally-sound contributor. But as long as he showed a willingness to buy in, checking his ego at the door like all of the squad's other prospects fighting for minutes, he'd continue getting the chances he earned.

The Whitmore experiment's only lasted three weeks, and anyone who was hope to see a switch quickly flipped has been disappointed. He's demonstrating the same headstrong, chuck-happy plays he had at his previous stop, and the coaching staff can only take so much.

Spiraling Production, or a Lack Thereof

The Wizards' most recent loss, a 136-107 loss to the Boston Celtics, saw the burly wing play under eight minutes for a season-low. He scored two points on 1/3 shooting and failed to record an assist, his third consecutive game doing so.

He played around or slightly below 20 minutes per night in most of his early outings, but his minute loads have steadily decreased amidst this ongoing stretch of ineffective play. Head coach Brian Keefe's already revealed a few public signs of frustration with Whitmore's play style, and most numbers reveal numerous tendencies that'll creep under any coach's skin.

More opportunity on a team less-inclined to grind out wins was expected to give Whitmore more time to shine, but per 36 minute and 100 possession estimations are in lockstep in his career-worst start to a season. He's shooting a mere 31.6% from deep, 46.3% within the arc for his first season dipping below the 50% mark and an underwhelming 46.7% effective field goal percentage.

His true shooting sits at a similarly-disastrous 47.6%, well below the league average ~58%. For reference, that's a full percentage point below what Alex Sarr posted in what many considered one of the least efficient seasons any player fired off last year.

Few Flashes of Role-Playing Contributions

Keefe and co. could probably live if his shot were just off to start the season; he wouldn't be the only one, as CJ McCollum has similarly struggled with efficiency while Bub Carrington seemingly won't even look at the basket as of late. His assist percentage of 6.5% is right around as low as it's been throughout his career, lagging behind every fringe-rotational piece except for Justin Champagnie, who's at least made a name for himself as a hustler and margin contributor.

Whitmore's the sort of quick-twitch athlete who could realistically be an impact defender, but most of his on-court metrics haven't liked his effort there, either. Where basketball-reference.com estimated his box score plus/minus to be right around neutral, his transition to a less-talented team has watched that number plummet to -4.8 to start this fall. His -4.8 offensive +/- is certainly sub-optimal, and his defensive plus/minus of -1.6 reveals a similar lack of good production out of his time on the court.

Team defensive metrics are hard to judge without context, but it's worth noting that most of his teammates have posted numbers that only slightly trail behind league average despite sharing many of the same possessions. Whitmore was always going to be a long-term project, and early inefficiencies were one thing, but he'll have to start showing signs of changing quickly to continue earning trust out of Washington.