The Washington Wizards offseason was full of eventul moves as the team continue to construct a roster they believed could get them one step closer to the end of their rebuild.
Washington took a swing on the veteran leadership of CJ McCollum to serve as a mentor for the team's young backcourt, who would soon add a premiere guard in Tre Johnson with the No. 6 overall pick.
In addition to McCollum, Washington bet on the upside of Cam Whitmore when the team made the decision to take the bait on the former Villanova star's ridiculously low asking price in a trade with the Houston Rockets.
McCollum hasn't exactly lived up to his expectation, but as a 34-year-old veteran on a rebuilding team, it feels safe to say the fanbase wasn't expecting much from the playmaker.
However. the expectations for Whitmore were far different than those of McCollum.
Fans expected the former projected lottery pick to use the fresh start to his advantage and prove exactly why the Houston Rockets made a mistake when they elected to move on from him too soon.
Unfortunately, his start to the season isn't proving the Rockets wrong up to this point.
Instead, the forward's disappointing start to his Wizards tenure is vindicating Houston's deicison to pull the plug on the Whitmore experiment in H-Town.
Cam Whitmore doesn't look like a long-term answer
In Houston, Whitmore's potential brought a belief that he could be an answer on the wing for the Rockets with his explosive scoring ability and high ceiling.
Unfortunately, his inconsistency brought the team to a realization that his potential would take too much development, and instead they opted to make a win-now move and trade for Kevin Durant, who could immediately fill the role in the frontcourt.
For Washington, the Wizards were willing to take the gamble that in the right situation. the Maryland native could be a much-needed answer for the team's long-term plans.
Unfortunately, Washington and their fanbase may be forced to come to the tough realization that Whitmore may not be able to get out of his own way long enough for him to reach his ceiling.
Between his off the court issues, failure to live up to the Wizards team standards and his inability to string together consistent performances, Washington is finding out exactly why the Rockets opted to move on this offseason and haven't looked back since.