Miami Heat: The good and the bad of Hassan Whiteside

Despite team struggles, Whiteside is emerging as a leader

There’s no way around it: the Miami Heat are not a good basketball team right now. You can look at countless reasons for that being the case.

Wade left. LeBron left before him. And even after losing Chris Bosh due to recurring blood clots, the Heat have seemingly still not satisfied the injury gods. Five players are currently in Miami receiving treatment while the team is in the middle of a road trip.

The Heat’s record presently sits at 7-15, they have the 12th-worst net rating in the NBA (minus-2.3), and play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. Oh, and the day immediately following, they have be in Chicago for a game against Wade’s new team, the Bulls. So things are about to get uglier.

But that hasn’t stopped Whiteside from speaking out, and showing leadership skills that previously weren’t apparent. From a piece by the Associated Press:

"“That’s what I’ve been doing all my life,” Whiteside said. “You are going to have down days. You are going to have down weeks. That doesn’t mean you give up or listen to outside people. They are not in here. They are not on the court. We are not listening to that. We are going to keep coming out and going hard. Keep working and keep learning. We are going to get it.”"

Very encouraging words from Miami’s young center. Coach Spoesltra has also spoken of Whiteside’s improved leadership:

"“It really means something to him right now,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s feeling the responsibility of inspiring and helping a team win. It’s a big responsibility. And you have to put yourself out there as a competitor and show everybody how much it means to you. And when you do that you make yourself vulnerable, especially when you don’t get the result that you want. But Hassan is putting himself out there.”"

So although things look bad now, and will likely look worse by Sunday, it’s good to see the Heat’s most important player hasn’t lost his focus. If Miami’s young guys can learn anything from this season, it will be how to be resilient.

Next: Grading each Miami Heat player so far this season

I mean, just about everything has gone wrong for the Heat. But if the team’s inexperienced nucleus (including Whiteside) can keep their heads on straight, we could see a major improvement before the season even ends. Here’s hoping, at least.