Hassan Whiteside has played just five minutes in two of the last four games for the Miami Heat. Is he on the verge of being removed from the rotation?
Hassan Whiteside has had something of an up-and-down season for the Miami Heat. While he was a starter earlier this year, his minutes started off strong, playing between 26 and 34 minutes in 10 of his first 11 healthy appearances.
From that point forward, they fluctuated wildly. Some of that stems from chronic foul trouble (he is averaging a career-high 4.1 fouls per 36 minutes) which limited the time coach Erik Spoelstra could rely upon him, but much of it is a result of second-year man Bam Adebayo‘s development.
As Adebayo surged, gaining Spoelstra’s trust, and Whiteside continued to prove somewhat unreliable, the Miami Heat made a rotational move following Whiteside missing time with a strained calf at the end of February.
When Whiteside went out, Adebayo was naturally slotted into the starting lineup. When Whiteside returned after missing three games, however, Adebayo remained as the starting center and Whiteside came off the bench in his relief.
While Whiteside has been nothing but a consummate professional about the whole process, and he’s meshed well with Dwyane Wade off the bench, we may be entering a new epoch in Hassan Whiteside’s tenure with the Miami Heat.
Whiteside has been held to just five minutes twice in the past four games. Against the Oklahoma City Thunder last Monday and the Washington Wizards on Saturday, he played a combined 10 minutes and scored a total of five points.
He still hasn’t had a cross word to say about the topic, but he hasn’t said much at all, either:
Whiteside plays 5 minutes for 2nd time in a week but again doesn't vent publicly. "We won. That's it."
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) March 24, 2019
Spoelstra hasn’t had anything to say about Whiteside’s reduction in playing time either thus far. In the two games in between his short stints, Whiteside put up fairly typical production, averaging 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in 21.4 minutes, shooting 9-of-16 from the floor.
With how inconsistent Hassan Whiteside’s playing time has been this season, it’s very possible that he may move back to a more regular role as we finish off this stretch run, but it’s hard to count on that.
With just nine games left in the season and every one of them vitally important for the playoff push, we may be seeing the first signs of Whiteside being removed either partially or entirely from the Miami Heat’s regular rotation.