Last week, South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris spoke to the media after his team’s second week of summer practice. He touched on several topics, including the continued development of guard Cam Scott and post player Jordan Butler.
When asked about the younger two-thirds of South Carolina’s returning trio of Scott, Butler, and sixth-year senior wing Myles Stute, Paris said, “These are two guys that are still learning how to impact a basketball game positively at this level. You know, everyone learns at a different rate. You can’t force the learning to happen any faster.”
Both Scott and Butler played inconsistent roles on the 2024-2025 Gamecocks. Scott, a Lexington High School product, former top-100 prospect, and four-star recruit in the class of 2024, did not have the year he had hoped after flipping from the Texas Longhorns to the hometown team. Butler, another former four-star and a Greenville native, spent a year at Missouri before transferring back home to the Palmetto State. He had some ups and downs but played with much more comfort and effectiveness late in the year.Paris, though, understands that his team will have to get a little more from the duo this season. He likened their next step to removing “training wheels” from a child’s bicycle.
Said the fourth-year USC headman, “You know, when the training wheels came off when I was a little guy, I’m sure my parents probably thought it would happen a lot earlier. It probably took me a long time to get the training wheels to come off. But you can’t make it happen because you try to force it,” he explained.
