Villanova forward Cam Whitmore was expected to be a high NBA Draft pick but slid down to the Houston Rockets at the No. 20 spot.
The 2023 NBA Draft has arrived. While it was a foregone conclusion that top prospect Victor Wembanyama would be selected first overall by the San Antonio Spurs, there were questions as to where the other premier prospects would land. As is always the case in every professional sports draft, some of those players who were expected to go high fall down the board. Look no further than Will Levis in this year's NFL Draft, who was a projected top-10 pick and fell to the second round.
Villanova forward Cam Whitmore was expected to be a high draft pick in the NBA and even was linked to teams in the top 10 such as the Utah Jazz. Yet, he didn't go off the board in the first 10 picks Instead, Whitmore fell and slid down the board, and ESPN cameras began focusing on him. But, the slide wasn't as drastic as Levis's was back in April.
With the 20th overall pick, the Houston Rockets selected Whitmore to end his slide, joining fellow top prospect Amen Thompson, whom the team selected with the fourth overall pick.
Twitter reacts to Cam Whitmore falling to Rockets with No. 20 pick in NBA Draft
Let's take a look at some of the reactions on Twitter regarding Whitmore's fall down to No. 20 overall.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN reported that there was "palpable trepidation surrounding his medicals," as one reason why he fell down the NBA Draft board.
During the ESPN broadcast, the network's senior NBA insider Wojnarowski revealed that Whitmore's slide could be attributed to poor workouts and interviews with teams that met with him during the pre-draft process.
But with the No. 20 pick, the Rockets deemed that taking a chance on Whitmore's upside, despite other teams passing on him, was worth it.
In his lone season with the Villanova Wildcats, Whitmore averaged 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.4 steals while recording a 47.8 field goal percentage and 34.3 three-point percentage. With these numbers, Whitmore was named the Big East's Freshman of the Year.
Houston now has a young core consisting of Whitmore, Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Jalen Green, and Alperen Sengun. The future certainly looks bright for the Rockets.