As for not being as aggressive as Pippen in some facets defensively, I imagine that changes if you look at Pippen at the same stage of his career. It takes time to earn a [positive] reputation with the refs and learn how much physicality you can get away with. Push that envelope too soon, and you end up with a negative rep. Personally, I think Camara is as close to a mirror image of Pippen defensively as you can get from a unicorn. He's obviously nowhere near the offensive threat that Pip was, but no one's calling him a first ballot HOF'er yet, either.
Camara can be as good if not better at 3-point shooting, but yeah it was Scottie's play-making ability that made him so good on the offensive end. And as you alluded to, nobody is expecting Camara to be an all-star, let alone a HOFer.
This Toumani tidbit from the Athletic is kind of nuts….just ONE non-paint 2-point shot all season?? Toumani midrange jumper(s) The threat of the buzzer is messing with history — and not just because it is hurting Jokić’s chance at a 3-point title. There is a lesser (but cooler) bit of trivia that’s now vanished in Portland. Just before the All-Star break, with only a few seconds remaining in a third-quarter possession against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Toumani Camara received the basketball in the right corner. He dribbled once to his left, circling his Portland Trail Blazers teammate Deandre Ayton, and pulled up from just inside the 3-point arc for an errant jump shot. The Blazers lost, snapping a season-long six-game winning streak — and it wasn’t because of a desperation jumper. But that shot, whether it went in or not, was bigger than just a blip. Depending on your perspective, Camara’s Blazers are in the midst of either ruining the tank or justifying the conglomeration of veterans and young talent they clutched onto beyond the trade deadline. The past month has yielded 2023 No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson’s best ball. The 24-year-old forward Deni Avdija is making what may not be the leap but is at least some kind of leap, chucking up 3s with more confidence than ever, attacking the basket and leading an offense that’s actually meshing. Camara is stifling opponents at an All-Defense level. The Blazers are on a four-game skid but had won 10 of 11 before that. Much is going right in Portland, except for those advocating for the tank — oh, and also for any geeks who realized Camara put the kibosh on a chance at history when the basketball rolled off his fingertips. That shot was Camara’s first non-paint 2-point jumper of the season. Even after taking it, he’s tracking for the most cookie-cutter shot profile the NBA has ever seen. No player in history has taken more than 138 3s in a season without tossing up at least one midrange jumper, a record Gary Clark established in his legacy-setting 2018-19 campaign. Clark must have celebrated that Camara jumper the same way the 1972 Miami Dolphins reacted to Eli Manning defeating Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. But Clark was a 3-point specialist. All he did was hang around the arc. Camara will get to the basket, too. He has already taken more than 200 3-pointers. He still leads the league in corner 3s and above-the-break 3s among the 120 players who have taken no more than one midrange range shot. He’s second to the Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren, a rim-diving center, in paint attempts among that same crew. Modern-day analytics is not about eliminating the midrange indiscriminately. Kevin Durant pulling up from 17 feet, for example, is still a good shot. But Camara is trimming the pork, and he’s doing it to an extreme no one this side of Clark has. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/61...-magic-nba-trends/?source=user_shared_articleNikola Jokić’s ‘league-leading’ shooting, Magic’s woes and more NBA trends I’m watching
Toumani and Deni are already looking like starters for 2025-2026. Clingan is the heir apparent center? Does anyone expect Ayton to beat him next year and moving forward? Not me. And Ayton is pretty good, all things considered. He isn’t a red@$$. No hard hat and minus the passing and blocks. Clingan is the heir apparent at center, and they have two REAL, positionally versatile forwards. This means the Blazers do NOT have positional need as much as usual heading into the draft. Scoot is looking significantly better than last year and the early part of this season. Sharpe has tools on O and needs to pick it up on D — especially his motor and “want to.” The Blazers need a STAR (actually 2). Can one of the current young guys become that? I don’t know. Maybe. Superstar? Less likely, to be blunt. Tank/lose/play the young guys/load management … and pray to the basketball gods.
Dude is just growing in his impact every week. I am fully convinced that none of us have any idea what his actual ceiling is. So excited to see what he becomes.
Guys with some attitude, intensity, physicality who will lay the wood — not dirty as much as send a message. Clingan has those beginnings and will likely step into the role as he gets a couple years in. Blazers old school “red-ass” started with Lucas and more recently Prz.
he's going to get steadily better....no doubt about that. Dame kept improving until he arguably had the best season of his career at 32 but Camara will turn 25 in 2.5 months so I'm skeptical he has any big leaps left like a 20 year old might have. Might be slow and steady wins the race
I don't know. Someone recently suggested Jimmy Butler as a comparison, and I'm beginning to think that's not completely far-fetched. Whatever his ceiling, I'm all in on him being a Blazer until he retires.
