The Houston Rockets’ young core features a player with surprising similarities to a Finals MVP. Can they live up to that kind of potential? The 2024–25 season will be only an early step along the road towards finding out. Rest assured, though, that fans will be paying very close attention to any signs of progress.
Rockets Player Comp: A Finals MVP?
Rockets and Finals MVPs
Of course, the Rockets have a player on the roster, Turkish center Alperen Sengun, whose very nickname is derived from a Finals MVP. Nikola Jokic‘s 2022–23 playoff run was an all-time spectacle. One that culminated in his receiving the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP award. Sengun has been affectionately called Baby Jokic because of his most scintillating passes out of the post.
However, the comparisons between him and Jokic are somewhat overblown. Sengun does have more of Jokic’s scoring finesse in the post than the Sacramento Kings’ Domantas Sabonis does. Sengun even had stretches of effectiveness from midrange last season. The one-handed push shot he employed is sadly unlikely to translate to three, however. And enjoyable as Sengun is to watch, his flashiest passes tend to feel more fun than functional. And in any case, Jokic is also a three-time regular season MVP and an all-time great. It’s a little unfair to the young Turk.
Instead, look to a more recent Finals MVP. The only more recent Finals MVP, for that matter—Jaylen Brown. And clearly, at that point, the Rocket being discussed is no longer Sengun. It also isn’t the Rockets’ own Jalen, Jalen Green, who the team will be hoping has a breakout season in order to compete in a loaded Western Conference. Instead, the Rocket in question is the similarly explosive young athlete Cam Whitmore.
The Case for the Whitmore-Brown Comp
Brown is listed at six-foot-six and 223 pounds. Whitmore is listed as six-foot-seven, 232. Even as rookies, they shot respectable three-point percentages. 35.9 for Whitmore, and 34.1 (jumping to 39.5 on over twice as many attempts in year two) for Brown. They’re both powerfully built, rocket-boosted leapers with shooting touch and unrelenting tenacity. Moreover, their games feature some of the same pitfalls as well.
It wasn’t until Brown’s third season that he averaged fewer turnovers than assists, and even then, it was 1.4 assists to 1.3 turnovers. Like Brown, Whitmore suffers from a limited handle and extreme tunnel vision. Brown has certainly improved on these issues over the course of his career. However, he benefits enormously from the defensive attention on his co-star Jayson Tatum and the five-out spacing of the Celtics offense. That, combined with said co-star’s untimely (though protracted) shooting slump, is how Brown wound up in the elite company of Finals MVPs.
So even if Whitmore did wind up being as good as Brown, which is clearly far from certain, actually winning a Finals MVP would require a bizarre confluence of circumstances. But their games are probably going to wind up being similar.
The Comp Could Be Compromised
Whitmore significantly outscored Brown in their respective rookie years—12.3 points to 6.6 per game in similar minutes. He also out-rebounded him, averaged more steals and blocks than him, and, surprisingly, fouled less. He did play in significantly fewer games, however (47 to 78). While that number was less impacted by Whitmore’s health and more by extended G League assignments, his body’s resilience against injury may be a concern. That is both for this comparison and Whitmore’s career.
Brown has been slightly less available throughout his career than one might think. He memorably missed Boston’s entire 2021 playoff “run”, which resultantly only lasted five games (though Brown’s presence may not have been enough to overcome a poor season for the Celtics and the best version of the Kevin Durant Brooklyn Nets). He’s also only played 75 games once in his career, which was his rookie season, though has only been below 60 in the shortened Covid seasons. Brown has probably just been carefully managed by a cautious franchise with long-term goals.
How Whitmore’s career will turn out in that regard is an unknown. There is some cause for concern, though, given how medical reports supposedly tanked his stock on draft night. But teams were also alleged to have been put off by poor interviews. Some teams might just not like how he plays. He has a star’s mentality but lacks the individual creation skills to necessarily support it. His finishing skills are impressive, though.
The Could’a Should’a Wood’a Scenario
The absolute worst-case scenario for Whitmore, injuries aside, is something akin to what happened to former Rocket Christian Wood. Wood’s obvious talent became insufficient to compensate for his inability to coexist with a winning style of basketball. Of course, it didn’t help Wood that his best position offensively was center, but that position carries a tremendous burden defensively. Still, Wood’s inability to find a consistent role with the Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony Davis last season seems damning. Perhaps new Lakers coach JJ Redick will deploy him differently in the event that he recovers properly from a second knee surgery.
If Whitmore’s on-ball skill level prohibits him from becoming a star, it’s conceivable a combination of his attitude and lack of court awareness may affect his usefulness as a role player. But such speculation is probably unfair about a player so young and with such promising physical attributes. His sophomore campaign in 2024–25 will probably look a lot like Brown’s second year statistically, albeit likely without approaching the 30-minutes-per-game mark.
The Last Word
The way Whitmore plays already looks like Brown. He’s undoubtedly got a lot of work to do to contribute to winning the way that Brown has, but he doesn’t lack self-belief. And who knows? Perhaps a confluence of circumstances will occur once again, and the young Rocket will wind up with an unlikely Finals MVP of his own one day. He certainly believes it himself.
