He's up there, according to Vegas oddsmakers and The Score. Excerpts... With the final days of Vegas Summer League upon us, the favorites for Summer League MVP are seemingly clear. While they aren't necessarily marquee names - Victor Wembanyama and Jabari Smith Jr. are essentially disqualified as they'll each only play in two of the four games - these players have consistently outperformed the competition throughout the week. Summer League MVP Odds Keyonte George +200 Cam Whitmore +500 Sharife Cooper +1000 Julian Champagnie +1200 Jaden Hardy +1200 Emoni Bates +1200 Terquavion Smith +1500 Cason Wallace +1500 Cam Whitmore has the second-best odds at +500 to win, considerably shorter than Tuesday when he was +1400. Whitmore has been a steady performer throughout the week but is now the beneficiary of Smith and Tari Eason's absences, as they were both shut down after dominating the first two contests. The rookie is averaging 17 points in the Rockets' three games - all wins - including 16 points in his first contest without Smith and Eason.
I’ve been following this closely. Whitmore might be the favorite now with George’s injury. Some other interesting betting trends. The Rockets are the second favorite to win the Summer League (+300). Right now, Whitmore has better betting odds to win ROTY than Amen (+2000 v. +2500). And I may put some money on Jabari +3500 to win most improved.
This team has too much young talent to a point there is going to be a player on this roster who could have had a chance at becoming a star in this league but couldn't simply because this team has a lock jam to not give reps. Like if Cam Whitmore is going to reach his ceiling, how will he do it on this team? Green is our sg. Tari is trying to be our sf of the future. Jabari is going to be a hybrid pf/sf type player. Sucks for a player like Whitmore.
I'd be more nervous about KPJ if I was Green Cam is the type of player now if he played against NBA starters he would average more turnovers than assists like Jaylen Brown when he entered the league. He simply didn't come into the NBA with anywhere close to the ball skills that Green had coming in. Also outside of strength, Green is significantly more gifted as an athlete(lateral agility, acceleration etc)
Cam’s rawness on offense is going to show against the real nba players, so I don’t think he will challenge for a ton of minutes right off the bat. He can win minutes with defensive intensity. I think KPJ and Tate are the two that will be traded if they feel they are not able to get Amen and Cam enough minutes. Pre-season is going to tell us a lot more about rotations than summer league. This team is absolutely stacked with young talent. I see an improvement to 30-40 wins this year and Ime and FO should have a real good idea by the trade deadline on who to move on from. If Amen shows off in pre-season, I think KPJ and Tate may even be gone before the trade deadline. A backup PF/C is the only thing this team needs to be at least 2 deep at every position.
Cam has a path to take over backup 3 minutes and have Tari slide to the 4 overtaking Tate. If he’s good enough eventually he can start in front of Brooks. I view Tari as a super bench player, but if he outperforms then we can always trade someone in the future. Good problem to have
Could be the second straight Cam to win it - unprecedented. Also, if you attempt to place a bet on Summer League MVP you should be redirected to Gamblers Anonymous.
Plenty of future stars didn’t get much time their first or second year. You don’t become a star simply by getting minutes. Stars are made in the off-season and in the gym.
