OffSeason Free Agent Thread...Let's build a DYNASTY! 3.0

[ricochet]

Look at Witheside per 36 stats...

http://www.nba.com/statistics/player/Bl ... ll%20Teams

http://www.nba.com/statistics/player/Re ... ll%20Teams

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... eha01.html

pretty good..

But that's pushing it.. Don't think the per stats will translate directly if he was given a lot of minutes as a starter.. maybe with time, cohesion and refinement

[ricochet]

Pretty steep improvement over Pittmans rebounding rate and that 5.0 blocks per 36 is just monstrous. Maybe Pittman has his work cut out for him keeping that big body center-spot after all. His foot-speed, IQ and free-throw shooting does leave a bad aftertaste however.

Thing is we haven't signed him yet.. so....

[caliban]

Pretty steep improvement over Pittmans rebounding rate and that 5.0 blocks per 36 is just monstrous. Maybe Pittman has his work cut out for him keeping that big body center-spot after all. His foot-speed, IQ and free-throw shooting does leave a bad aftertaste however.

Thing is we haven't signed him yet.. so....

[SmushedPennies]

I heard that the guy had put on muscle and increasing his lower body strength etc.. I think it was at the summer league or so.. I can't seem to find that report now.. Would be real nice if he could bang down low and at-least limit dwight's offensive production..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C3w9RSzIgw[/youtube]

Heh, commenters are calling him Dwight Howard Jr. here, wouldn't go that far. He's still kind of thin, but you can see improvement and room to grow.

Hate to be a downer, but you can't possibly be excited about Hassan Whiteside.

Guy literally doesn't know how to play basketball. Defend three positions? Hold his own against Dwight? LOL

The poster who responded to me said "limit Dwight's offensive production." Not sure what you mean by the vague phrase "hold his own," which twists his words, but I don't think anyone here is saying he could be a Dwight stopper. He could, in a best-case scenario, be someone we could put on him and not worry about getting destroyed grabbing rebound after rebound over him, unlike a Haslem or Joel; or too slow to go after the boards like Pitt. Secondly, I never said he could "defend three positions." I said, as has been stated by expert basketball scouts, he's "quick enough to cover at least 3 positions on switches." Since I apparently have to further explain, what I mean is his lateral quickness is good enough that he'd allow our switch-happy defense to perform at a high level since you wouldn't worry about him switching off onto perimeter players for portions of a possession. You apparently interpreted that to mean we'd line him up at the 3 for entire stretches. Not sure if that was genuine incomprehension or you were just trying to be argumentative. If its the latter, you picked a weak-ass straw man.

Next, how does one learn how to play basketball? Coaching. He started playing less than 5 years ago if I'm not mistaken, yet in his one year of college he already had a better face up game than a lot of centers in the league. Joel was 2 years older than Hassan when we brought him in, and he was waaaay more lost. He literally couldn't even catch the ball. He was a volleyball player in basketball shorts, and Hassan's upside is worlds greater on top of that. Clearly Whiteside needs to learn team D, man D, how to make teammates better, good footwork/fundamentals, etc., but its also clear he has a ton of natural talent to go along with his ridiculous physical traits.

You know what they call an athletic 7-footer who knows "how to play basketball"? A 1st overall pick. We're not finding one of those, whether he's 23 or 33. A guy with Hassan's raw skill can probably step in and play a better role than most of our centers. Add to that he plays the position we're most anemic at. I know I'm an uber-Heat fan, but I can't help but be excited about the possibility of him making the team and developing here. We haven't had a center with any sort of physical gifts since Shaq.

people are letting Pittman hate cloud their mind because they saw him play.

Dude was worse on the Kings than Pitt was for us...how is that an upgrade?

Honest question: did you watch him play on the Kings? I really don't know if you did or not. I'd love to hear about him if you did. Not one or two games, I mean, like, several times.

Should be noted that the Kings don't have the same group of players around him that we do. Their coaching staff is a mess and constantly in flux. Its not a great place to raise a raw center, especially with Cousins needing all the babysitting. Its remarkable DeAndre Jordan became a viable player in the mess that is LAC. Let's not forget, he looked way worse than Whiteside his one year at Texas A&M.

I also love the "people hate Pittman because they watched him play" thought. Isn't that how it works? Minus the "hate" of course.

[wadeallday1]

Never really remember seeing Whiteside play before so I checked out a few minutes from him on YouTube and uhhhhh no thanks!

[SmushedPennies]

"A few minutes" on youtube is actually the same material NBA GMs use to decide whether or not to sign guys, coincidentally.

I'm actually curious what you watched, though. There's not a lot of him on youtube, and the only bad play I can find is him getting dunked on, which happens to all shotblockers.

[ricochet]

"A few minutes" on youtube is actually the same material NBA GMs use to decide whether or not to sign guys, coincidentally.

I'm actually curious what you watched, though. There's not a lot of him on youtube, and the only bad play I can find is him getting dunked on, which happens to all shotblockers.

From what little I could see.. He needs to react better to whatever is happening around him.. On both ends..

[radikalBaller]

Can someone post a link of that "A few minutes" program ?

[Hallstar]

I heard that the guy had put on muscle and increasing his lower body strength etc.. I think it was at the summer league or so.. I can't seem to find that report now.. Would be real nice if he could bang down low and at-least limit dwight's offensive production..

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C3w9RSzIgw[/youtube]

Heh, commenters are calling him Dwight Howard Jr. here, wouldn't go that far. He's still kind of thin, but you can see improvement and room to grow.

Hate to be a downer, but you can't possibly be excited about Hassan Whiteside.

Guy literally doesn't know how to play basketball. Defend three positions? Hold his own against Dwight? LOL

The poster who responded to me said "limit Dwight's offensive production." Not sure what you mean by the vague phrase "hold his own," which twists his words, but I don't think anyone here is saying he could be a Dwight stopper. He could, in a best-case scenario, be someone we could put on him and not worry about getting destroyed grabbing rebound after rebound over him, unlike a Haslem or Joel; or too slow to go after the boards like Pitt. Secondly, I never said he could "defend three positions." I said, as has been stated by expert basketball scouts, he's "quick enough to cover at least 3 positions on switches." Since I apparently have to further explain, what I mean is his lateral quickness is good enough that he'd allow our switch-happy defense to perform at a high level since you wouldn't worry about him switching off onto perimeter players for portions of a possession. You apparently interpreted that to mean we'd line him up at the 3 for entire stretches. Not sure if that was genuine incomprehension or you were just trying to be argumentative. If its the latter, you picked a weak-ass straw man.

Next, how does one learn how to play basketball? Coaching. He started playing less than 5 years ago if I'm not mistaken, yet in his one year of college he already had a better face up game than a lot of centers in the league. Joel was 2 years older than Hassan when we brought him in, and he was waaaay more lost. He literally couldn't even catch the ball. He was a volleyball player in basketball shorts, and Hassan's upside is worlds greater on top of that. Clearly Whiteside needs to learn team D, man D, how to make teammates better, good footwork/fundamentals, etc., but its also clear he has a ton of natural talent to go along with his ridiculous physical traits.

You know what they call an athletic 7-footer who knows "how to play basketball"? A 1st overall pick. We're not finding one of those, whether he's 23 or 33. A guy with Hassan's raw skill can probably step in and play a better role than most of our centers. Add to that he plays the position we're most anemic at. I know I'm an uber-Heat fan, but I can't help but be excited about the possibility of him making the team and developing here. We haven't had a center with any sort of physical gifts since Shaq.

people are letting Pittman hate cloud their mind because they saw him play.

Dude was worse on the Kings than Pitt was for us...how is that an upgrade?

Honest question: did you watch him play on the Kings? I really don't know if you did or not. I'd love to hear about him if you did. Not one or two games, I mean, like, several times.

Should be noted that the Kings don't have the same group of players around him that we do. Their coaching staff is a mess and constantly in flux. Its not a great place to raise a raw center, especially with Cousins needing all the babysitting. Its remarkable DeAndre Jordan became a viable player in the mess that is LAC. Let's not forget, he looked way worse than Whiteside his one year at Texas A&M.

I also love the "people hate Pittman because they watched him play" thought. Isn't that how it works? Minus the "hate" of course.

I did not see a lot of Whiteside, watched a couple Kings games but nobody seemed to be really worth anything outside of Cousins and Thompson. There certainly should have been minutes to atleast get into more games for Whiteside

[Hallstar]

Can someone post a link of that "A few minutes" program ?

I assume this is it, but this can't be a case maker.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpycqS-Sr7k[/youtube]

[radikalBaller]

This is 1 min of garbage time with the game already out of reach, what did you expect ?

In that 1 min he was active and had a rebound and a dunk under the basket over the opposition frontcourt, not too bad. He need to work on his lower body strength though as he was being thrown around by Reggy Evans.

[twix2500]

SMH @ the excitement about Harrelson and Whiteside.

[ricochet]

This is 1 min of garbage time with the game already out of reach, what did you expect ?

In that 1 min he was active and had a rebound and a dunk under the basket over the opposition frontcourt, not too bad. He need to work on his lower body strength though as he was being thrown around by Reggy Evans.

He has worked quite a bit on improving his lower body strength over the summer.. And from whatever I have seen.. The kid also doesn't seem like a problem maker.. He might lack motivation... but being on a team like the Heat could easily change that..

[twix2500]

Interesting look at Rashard Lewis playing agianst the Lakers.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBimHNHUCx8&feature=related[/youtube]

[Woolyy]

I still find it funny how at the beginning of the season Battier couldn't hit anything then he exploded in the Finals lol.

[LeChosen1]

If Harrleson and Whiteside couldnt make it on the rockets and Kings, why do u think they'll suddenly become good or even get playing time on the heat. Tbh these guys wont see the anytime of the bench if Riley signs them

[RexBoyWonder]

I still find it funny how at the beginning of the season Battier couldn't hit anything then he exploded in the Finals lol.

Epic playoffs for Battier, love that guy

[ricochet]

If Harrleson and Whiteside couldnt make it on the rockets and Kings, why do u think they'll suddenly become good or even get playing time on the heat. Tbh these guys wont see the anytime of the bench if Riley signs them

Rockets and Kings had decent Big Men on their roster.. we don't.. excluding Bosh..
Yes.. It's likely that they don't see big minutes, but you never know..

[HEAT111]

I still find it funny how at the beginning of the season Battier couldn't hit anything then he exploded in the Finals lol.

[SmushedPennies]

Man, some of you guys are commenting without much knowledge of the situations. Do you know what waiving Whiteside was immediately preceding? The signing of Aaron Brooks. SAC was already at 15 before Brooks and had to cut someone to make room. They have a surplus of young bigs and made a decision on one to cut. His skills don't carry as much weight over there as they would here.

Saying Harrellson "couldn't make it" in Houston isn't accurate. He played 2 summer league games before being waived to make room for Carlos Delfino.

You can declare which players you believe will and won't get PT all you want, but we all know you don't know. No one had Terrell Harris even making the team before the season, but there he was playing crucial minutes against Toronto in the thick of a seed race alongside the full compliment of Heat players. I won't count the ATL game because Wade and LeBron were out. Young players may be inexperienced, but the idea of a young player is that he's getting better. One way to help them get better is to put them next to professionals who do all the right things, helping to curb the learning curve. They can also make their jobs easier and mask some of their flaws in the present time. I'm not envisioning rolling out either guy for crucial minutes of important games, or that they'll find spots in the rotation, but what's wrong with having young guys to develop at the end of the bench, who can possibly even contribute to a win over a Washington or Charlotte at some point during the reg season?

This is 1 min of garbage time with the game already out of reach, what did you expect ?

In that 1 min he was active and had a rebound and a dunk under the basket over the opposition frontcourt, not too bad. He need to work on his lower body strength though as he was being thrown around by Reggy Evans.

Which is why you have to test people's credibility by asking them to verify such claims. Imagine if someone judged Dwyane Wade's overall ability based on G3 of the East semis. They'd say he was hot garbage, and he's a well-established pro who had ample opportunity to contribute positively in that game.
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