After another public tirade, the time has come for the Miami Heat and Hassan Whiteside to part ways.
Let’s put aside for a second the optics of the entire Hassan Whiteside situation; that airing grievances through the media is perhaps the worst strategy for effectively solving a problem, particularly with a notoriously tight-lipped organization like the Miami Heat.
Disregard also for a moment how Whiteside has treated the relationship with a team that invested in him two years ago during one of the most pivotal offseasons in the franchise’s history; an offseason that cost them the services of franchise pillar Dwyane Wade.
Eliminate all external, emotional responses and you’ll still be left with the reality now facing the Heat. They need to move on from Whiteside, and all of these extracurricular events only further enflame the practical merit for divorce.
Whiteside’s comments following a tough overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets, where he did not see the floor in the fourth quarter or overtime, shouldn’t have surprised anyone. This is something that has been brewing for the last 77 games and has shown its face to lesser degrees a number of times.
There were the public comments from head coach Erik Spoelstra in late January, urging the center to expand his offensive game.
"“Hey, welcome to this league. This league isn’t easy,” Spoelstra told reporters after a loss to the Houston Rockets where Whiteside turned the ball over seven times. “He has to be absolutely committed in practice and player development on working on those [offensive] reads like a quarterback would.”"
Just a couple of weeks after that, Whiteside delivered his most revealing quotes of the year (up until Saturday night). Whiteside called his decrease in minutes “frustrating,” adding that all he can do is “keep a positive attitude.”
"“That’s what the GM wanted,” he said. “[President] Pat Riley drafted a center [Bam Adebayo]. Kelly Olynyk, they gave him a big contract. That’s what they wanted – they wanted more people in the frontcourt.”"
That led to a meeting between Whiteside and Spoelstra shortly after the All-Star break in February, where the two patched up any miscommunication they were having.
Whiteside went on to play some of his most inspired basketball of the season.
The Rant
All was quiet on the Whiteside front until Saturday night, as the center worked his way back from a nagging hip injury, yet another issue in a challenging season. And now the Miami Heat have something that is rarely associated with them: a disgruntled franchise player handling his discontent publicly.
When Whiteside inked a four-year, $98 million max contract in 2016, it came with the expectation of massive improvements and growth over the years to come. Last season, the Heat saw that. They were generally better with him on the floor during the 77 games he played, on his way to a season averaging 17 points and 14 rebounds to go along with two blocks.
This season has been a concerning regression.
Injuries combined with an enhanced frontcourt rotation has challenged Whiteside’s ability and demanded he impact the game the way the Heat have asked him to. In his 49 games, the Heat have a -2.7 net rating with him on the floor, compared to 2.3 with him off.
Whiteside’s main gripe is that he doesn’t play late in games, which is statistically true. He’s played in just 29 fourth quarters for a total of 170 minutes. Olynyk has logged 486 while Adebayo is at 327. But the issue isn’t favoritism or any sort of grade school tactic, it’s simple basketball schematics.
In the fourth quarter and overtime of the loss to the Nets, the tallest players on the floor for the opposition were 6-foot-8 DeMarre Carroll and Dante Cunningham. The Heat countered with a versatile lineup of their own featuring James Johnson and Justise Winslow as the frontcourt players.
So let’s take a closer look at the game.
Evolving Big Men
Whiteside’s claim after the game was the question of why the Heat bother matching up with the other team, as opposed to simply dictating the style of play by sending him out there, forcing someone smaller to guard him. In theory, that sounds beneficial, but the risk/reward of allowing Whiteside to defend someone like Carroll out on the perimeter is an irresponsible coaching move.
The Nets, just like many other teams, go small to render Whiteside unplayable (the Nets attempted 19 3-pointers in the second half alone), forcing all five defenders to be capable perimeter defenders, which Whiteside is not.
Against the Nets, the Heat’s starting lineup sported a -13.3 net rating in 12 minutes together, the team’s second most used lineup that night. While that isn’t the fault of Whiteside alone, his four highest two-man combinations from that night all had negative net ratings.
As the center position evolves, more traditional centerpieces like Whiteside become less and less effective. Kevin Love and Anthony Davis have hurt Whiteside with their perimeter game, meanwhile Joel Embiid has the shooting combined with the agility in the post to give him trouble.
More than that, Spoelstra’s system is not (and has never been) reliant on a dominant center, but rather versatile bigs who can stretch the floor with their shooting, pass well and defend on the perimeter. It is a system predicated on ball movement, floor spacing and quick defensive rotations.
Whiteside doesn’t fit that mold and to tie up $23 million in cap space at a position that is low impact within the team’s system, remains an irresponsible practice.
Next: Miami Heat: Looking at the other side of Hassan Whiteside's recent comments
The Heat have stayed committed to developing Whiteside. This season has shown those efforts have fallen on deaf ears.