For me, I am fine with his performance offensively of late. I readjusted my expectations with the preseason and the first 8 games. After that I reevaluated him, he rated a 5/8.5 on offense and defense. I was on the high end for him before thinking he would be a 6/8 as a rookie but his offense was much worse than I expected and his defense was even better and I was on the high end previously.
For me with Cam, the tools are there. He is not Trey Burke or Perry Jones. He is beating his man off the dribble constantly and he is aware without the ball and on defense. Those things matter. Those are things you seen so many busts struggle with like Ben McLemore and others. I expected him to struggle badly finishing and with turnovers and he proved me right. What I like is over the last 4 games, I see him driving to the lane now looking for space. I see him making better decisions when slashing which I did not see at Duke or early on for our games. I see a lot of positives of late. It's not reflected in his metrics but I see them and I understand our situation is really bad with Collins/Kevin and VC being out.
I just want improvements from Cam on offense. So far, I am seeing that. He isn't get blocked 4 times a game or getting stripped like a mad man of late. He is being smarter with the basketball now. His decision making on his passes is improving and all season, he has been showing playmaking flashes.
Defensively, he is better than I expected and does a lot right which he showed at the end of his time at Duke but he is even better in the NBA.
The biggest issue I think will take a lot of time for him is three things.
1. He plays like a 6'3 170 PG on both ends but it works on defense because his lateral quickness is great, his length is 7'1 and his height without shoes is 6'7 1/2. On offense, it doesn't work. He doesn't have the explosiveness like a Schroder or young Brandon Jennings, clearly doesn't have it like Fox and most definitely doesn't have it like Morant or Rose. Nor does he have the body control of those guys. His body control looks like he's 6'9 and not smaller which is also a problem. I don't know if he will ever play big but I would like to see him add at least 15 pounds to his 210-pound frame and really play much bigger than he is. I think he will always kinda play smaller but I want him to at least be stronger and play to his weight at the least. Right now, he is really weak but his recovery speed, speed, and agility with his length make him look like a fukking octopus on the court. He really needs to work on his core strength and explosiveness in the offseason.
2. Shooting - He is special in terms of release, rotation on the ball, and his flexible release which the rare ones have. The issue is, his damn body is out of control on every shot. It looks funky. He doesn't look ready to shoot most of the time and when he does, his body is all over the place. I've never seen someone with so much going on who is supposed to be a shooter. It's not like Trae Young which his set shot. Cam shot is not set. I also think he didn't practice his shooting at game speed. I think it's taking him sometime due to that. I know the Hawks trainers are now working on that and the fact that he didn't get a summer due to injury shows but he really has to work on that. I think shooting will come, the body is easier to fix than the form.
3. Finishing - He is so ass at finishing. Like #1 stated, Cam, plays like a 6'3 170 PG. He plays weak and it shows. His body control needs a lot of work and even when it gets there and his body control is looking right, his lack of explosiveness and lack of strength makes him an easy target to just make a play on the ball without worrying about the consequences. Now he has improved in on this of late, it's still awful. He needs to add a lot of PG trickery to his bag around the paint. I also think he needs to just build strength which would help him in terms of drawing more fouls. He hates contact. He needs to build up both his core strength and physical strength. He also needs to add weight.
What I like offensively is his speed in general, first step, ball handling in the open court and in space when he is careful, vision, playmaking flashes, rebounding effort which is a massive improvement from Duke, agility, off-ball movement, decent BBIQ, PnR passing reads, and flashes of rare skill.
What I don't like offensively is his body control, explosiveness, carelessness at times, the body when he shoots, driving into traffic, a tendency to just chill in the corner as he got courtside seats, so-so feel for the game, finishing in general, mid-range shooting, and his tendency to get down on himself when the shot is not falling. Trae can do that but Cam and Hunter can't. They are too critical defensively.
Right now, Cam is a 5/8.5. My hope is by the end of the season, he is a 6/9. Trae ended OCT a 7.5/5 and by the end of November was a 6.5/5. He ended the season, 9.5/5.5. He made an insane leap in terms of progress. I don't know if Cam is capable of that much improvement this year but if Cam does improve to a 6.5 or 7 on offense, it will be just as impactful overall as Trae's 9.5 on offense as Cam's defense is damn good as it is.
So I am disappointed? No. I will only be disappointed when you are like Acie Law, Shelden, or A. Payne where it's clear, you are trash and have limited upside. Cam on the other hand has exceptional upside but to realize that, he needs A LOT of work.
