What does Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside’s future look like?
Let’s start things off by talking a little bit about how you feel Hassan Whiteside’s 2017-18 campaign went…
Jack Leniart (@Leniart_ND): In year two of his max contract, Hassan Whiteside had a dip in production. Part of that can be attributed to a minor knee injury early in the season and a decrease in minutes, but Whiteside did not play to his full potential when he was on the court.
As you might expect with his decreased minutes, Whiteside averaged fewer points, rebounds and blocks. His overall field goal percentage was slightly lower than last season despite taking less shots.
Whiteside has been trending in the wrong direction, and his last season did not inspire any hope that he can return to the level of play that earned him his max contract.
Allana Tachauer (@AllanaTachauer): As big of a Whiteside supporter as I am, there’s no getting around that he had a rocky run last season. And it wasn’t just on the court either. He acted out to the media too, which understandably didn’t sit well with fans.
However, I don’t think his 2017-18 campaign would have played out in the same way had he not gotten injured. His knee problem not only kept him out of the game, which obviously affected his overall production, but then limited him once he was finally able to come back because of minutes restrictions. This all clearly caused Whiteside to become frustrated, and in turn led to him lashing out against the coaching staff etc.
Was it right? No. He certainly should have handled the entire situation differently. But everyone makes mistakes. And hindsight is 20-20. Besides, if you look at the raw numbers, his year wasn’t as bad as a lot of people made it out to be.