How do the Miami Heat build around Hassan Whiteside?

After making less than a million dollars this past season, current Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside is in for a big pay day.

For the last couple of seasons, Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside has been among the strangest case studies in the NBA. A 7-footer who somehow slipped through the cracks, with so many connected to league front offices explaining that he had character concerns.

It seems awfully easy to write someone off because of “character.” I don’t know about you, but I would’ve been willing to deal with character concerns for a finite resource such as an athletic 7-footer. In 2015, the Heat placed their bet, and Whiteside delivered. Within a season and a half he’s elevated himself to arguably the second most valuable free agent of 2016 behind Kevin Durant.

Heat President Pat Riley, during his end-of-season press conference, answered any questions about if he wanted Whiteside back, saying he is his “No. 1 priority.” Whiteside is in for a pay day, likely a max contract or close to it. The question for the Heat is, what does re-signing Whiteside mean? Signing a player to a max (or near-max) contract means (a) a team believes that player is worth building around and (b) that team plans to build around that player.

Well, Riley wants Whiteside to be that player.

“We want you now to be able to carry a team,” Riley said, essentially to Whiteside, during the press conference, “and that’s going to take a lot more focus and discipline and growth and understanding what winning is all about.”

There’s two distinct parts to that quote, so let’s break it down.

“More focus and discipline and growth and understanding”

Is Whiteside a player who can carry a team? Absolutely. I mean, when he’s at his best. Peak Whiteside is a dominant two-way player who is slamming home alley-oops, blocking shots toward teammates to spring fast breaks and igniting fans with muscle flexes.

At his worst, Whiteside can be controlled by his emotions. If he doesn’t get the ball, he can check out mentally and show less-than-ideal energy. As the Rockets have learned with Dwight Howard, pairing someone like that with another All-Star caliber player (or three, in Miami’s case) who needs the ball is a tough act to pull off. But more on that later.

“We want you now to be able to carry a team”

Right now the Heat have two guys signed at near-max deals: Chris Bosh and Goran Dragic. Of course, Bosh comes loaded with all his own questions, but the Heat didn’t seem to have much chemistry when those three were on the court prior to Bosh’s blood clot re-occurrence.

According to NBA.com statistics, that trio had a net rating of just plus-3.1 points when sharing the court. (In fact, the Heat were better when they swapped out Udonis Haslem or Amar’e Stoudemire for Whiteside.) If the Heat pay Whiteside, they have to believe they can turn that threesome into a sustainable core.

So how do you build around that?

You want to surround a player like Whiteside who can attract double teams and collapse defenses near the rim with shooters. A four-out system predicated on pick-and-roll and drive-and-kicks.

Toward the end of the season, Dragic and Whiteside seemed to have developed a cadence in the pick-and-roll. An understanding had already existed between Wade and Whiteside, and now both of Miami’s guards know how to get him the ball, as well as create for other teammates.

May 1, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside (21) dunks the ball as Charlotte Hornets center Frank Kaminsky III (44) looks on during the first half in game seven of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

While both Wade and Dragic weren’t good three-point shooters, last season was Dragic’s worst three-point shooting season of his career. He should bounce back to his scary-enough 35 percent career average.

As for Wade, well, I don’t want to buy into the three-point shooting fluke of the playoffs (12-of-23, or 52 percent overall) but he said himself he had been putting in the work. For a future Hall-of-Famer who has constantly molded his game to what the Heat have needed, I wouldn’t rule out a sudden long-range renaissance. Right? Am I crazy? Anyone?

More from All U Can Heat

But obviously that’s not enough. The Heat need more shooters. Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson are good from three-point range, and that gives Miami some depth. Then there’s the pair of Luol Deng and Joe Johnson.

Johnson is the better three-point shooter, and is probably the cheaper option. As for Deng, he works well with Dragic and helps Miami push the pace, but plays a similar position to Johnson and Justise Winslow, who may be ready for a step up from his rookie year.

Not to mention Deng could have priced himself out of Miami with his stellar play this season. I like Deng, and maybe he signs a David West deal to take a bench role, but if Miami’s building around Whiteside he could be the odd man out.

And then there’s Bosh, who is perhaps Miami’s best three-point shooter. He’s a floor spacing nightmare on his own and, I know it didn’t work all that well in the first part of the regular season, but I don’t see what choice the Heat have other than to try again if Bosh is able to return. If it clicks, Bosh can help draw a second bigman away from Whiteside in the post.

If Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan can help elevate the Clippers to a 50-win team in each of the last four seasons, the Heat can find a way to make Bosh and Whiteside work.

More heat: Pat Riley: Signing Whiteside is No. 1 Priority

Building a championship contender around a center who spends his time chilling with DJ Khaled and seems to be as aspirational about becoming a Snapchat star as he in an NBA star is risky business, but Whiteside is both the blessing and the curse the Heat were graced with. It’s up to Riley, Spoelstra and everyone involved to bring him along and make the pieces fit.