Villanova standout Cam Whitmore fell to Houston at No. 20, but left NBA draft with one vow: ‘I can’t let it faze me’
Whitmore was originally expected to be a lottery pick and potential top-five selection. He watched 19 players picked before him on Thursday night.
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NEW YORK — Cam Whitmore’s night didn’t end as he preferred. And that’s nothing new, according to the former Villanova standout.
Projected as a top-five pick, Whitmore was selected 20th by the Houston Rockets in Thursday’s NBA draft at the Barclays Center. The Rockets considered him with the fourth pick.
“It was a different feeling, but, then again, it’s the same feeling,” Whitmore said of waiting to hear his name called. “I’ve been overlooked a lot of times in my life, so it didn’t faze me.
“But I’m just really happy to be in the NBA. I dreamed about that all my life.”
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There were reports that teams red flagged Whitmore because of a bad medical report. Whitmore denied having any health issues.
“I promise you it’s not,” he said. “I have no idea ... I don’t know what happened. I mean, I feel fine. It’s my body. But if they think something different, they have their own opinion. But at the end of the day, it’s my body.”
Whitmore, who turns 19 on July 8, appeared upbeat after hearing his name called by NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Outwardly, he looked at the positive: A young Rockets team is providing an opportunity to play in the NBA.
“I can tell you he’s had this dream since he’s been in the fifth-grade,” Myron Whitmore said of his son in an ESPN interview. “And we’ve been supporting him 110%, taking him to all of his games, all of his practices. So we’ve been behind him 110%.”
But this had to be a tough night for Whitmore and his family.
Weeks ago, he was projected to go fifth to the Detroit Pistons. Then several days ago, it was thought that he would slide to the bottom of the top 10. However, Whitmore sat in the Green Room while 19 other names were called.
Sliding “motivates me to like 150%,” he said. “I mean, I don’t even know. It’s just something to where I just got to rethink, going into the next day, new mind, free mind, come into that organization with a chip on my shoulder, and have a lot of motivation on my mind.
“But at the end of the day, it doesn’t faze me.”
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Whitmore said he’s been a go-getter in every bit of his life. As a result, he’s trying to get better every single day and learn more about himself on and off the floor.
“It’s definitely something that’s been on my mind,” he said before repeating, “I can’t let it faze me, and that’s really it.”
The 6-foot-6 forward averaged 12.5 points and 5.3 rebounds in 26 games last season as a freshman. He was named to the all-Big East freshman team. He became the first Villanova one-and-done prospect selected in the NBA draft since Tim Thomas in 1997.
“He’s been a hard worker, determined, always had this goal,” Colleen Whitmore said of her son. “He’s never given up no matter what adversity that he’s gone through.”