Hassan Whiteside: Road To The Max

[KingDavid]

I will find and brutally kill the next person that spells "paid" as "payed".

[dolphinatik]

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

[goodboy]

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

Hmm I guess that's why recently they upped his production in the fourth.

[QUIZ]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiCeZeeXbqY[/youtube]

[RexBoyWonder]

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

[QUIZ]

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

I agree with everything written here. So many people seem to correlate "max contract" with "superstar" and that's simply not the case we all saw it happen with Bosh when he signed.

Go look at the free agent market in 2016 before you say that Hassan isn't worth the max. Outside of Kevin Durant there really isn't much to look at.

Asumming that we don't get KD who would you give that money too assuming that we're not intending to max Hassan?

Dwight Howard? Al Horford?

Would you rather pay a 31 year old Howard over Hassan? How about a 30 year old Horford?

Let's asumme that the answer is yes, understand then that their respective Max's are higher than Hassan's.

Hassan's max from us is 4 year $94mill. Dwight and Horford's max are about 4 year $113mill. Still think it's worth it?

Also consider that fact that Horford is the best player on a good Hawks team, why would they let him go? They can and will offer more money than anybody else. This is the same team that gave Joe Johnson $128mill.

So we're left with Dwight. Would you rather have him for $110mill+ instead of Hassan for about $90mill? One of them is over the hill while the other hasn't even come close to peaking.

[Dmcdani6]

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

What a wonderful post. Wow.

[puppa bear]

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

Thank you RBW for finally putting into to words, so eloquently, what many of us have been trying to get to (but failing).

[Bourne85]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiCeZeeXbqY[/youtube]

MAX

[RexBoyWonder]

Spoiler:

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

What a wonderful post. Wow.

Thank you RBW for finally putting into to words, so eloquently, what many of us have been trying to get to (but failing).

Spoiler:

[DayofMourning]

Spoiler:

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

And that's why RBW is a November POTM.

[RexBoyWonder]

Spoiler:

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

And that's why RBW is a November POTM.

Spoiler:

[DayofMourning]

Spoiler:

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

And that's why RBW is a November POTM.

Spoiler:

That spoiler had me bent. Didn't know if it was going to be PG13 or not;)

[IggieCC]

Spoiler:

Eventually Teams were going to figure out a way to take Hassan out of the game and sure enough they did. The Miami Heat have successfully figured out how to take Hassan out of the game and make him a non factor. Not Max worthy if you ask me

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

And that's why RBW is a November POTM.

Fellow HEAT forum posters,

November 2015 Top Posters:

IggieCC
RexBoyWonder

HeatWillRise


Poster of the Month
11/2015 - IggieCC

Not bad for one of the Nov. top posters

Spoiler:

[DayofMourning]

Spoiler:

The entire concept of a "max player" and whether X or Y are "max players" if often misunderstood IMO.

Being a max player simply means 1 thing and 1 thing only - The team you play for thinks it's worth it to invest 1/5 of their salary cap on you - for the duration of 4 years (In Hassan case).

It doesn't mean you're supposed to be :

1. A #1 or #2 or #3 option.
2. Super duper talented or versatile.
3. the best player on the team
Etc. Etc.

When coming to judge whether a player is "worth the max" - one needs to remember it's all relative. It doesn't mean your Max player is as good as another teams Max player. It also doesn't mean there aren't better players making less. The simple and ONLY question you have to ask yourself is :

Is this player bringing me a skillset worth 1/5 of my salary cap, and what's my realistic alternative spending strategy is if I don't give him the max.

For example, Let's say you're the Lakers GM (or any desired destination team), and you have 30Mil in free cap to spend in 2016.
But you know that Antony Davis, Curry, Durant, Lebron and Drummond are free agents in 2017 (let's imagine the cap stays the same).
Is it worth it to you give Whiteside the Max in 2016? No, it doesn't. You can likely get a better bang for your buck if you wait a year.

But if you're the Blazers, and the best free agents coming up in the next 2 years are Durant, Horford and Batum, is it worth it to you to give Hasasn the Max in 2016? Yes it does, because regardless of whether he's "worth it" in a vacuum (that never exist) - you won't have a better way to spend your free cap space in the next few years. You'll end up paying lesser players simply because they're all that's out there for you in that point in time. You might save some money, but you'll have lesser players and weaker team because of that.

So when talking about Hassan, the real question isn't "is he a max player". The real Question is :

"Is Whiteside a max player FOR THE MIAMI HEAT TEAM OF 2016?"

When you look at the other options out there, at the rarity of his skillset, his age, the ages of our other core players - The answer IMO is simply - Yes. We won't have better options to spend money on in the next couple of years. We also dont' have time to simply wait for a couple of years. So you "overpay", it might cost you more $$$, but you end up with the best players you can. With the rising cap, Spending or "overspending" is even more worthwhile because it won't even limit you that much going forward.

If a fan says he's not willing to give Hassan the Max, the immediate requirement should be to present an alternative spending plan, which players will you get instead for our money and when.

The ball is in your court, good sir.

And that's why RBW is a November POTM.

Fellow HEAT forum posters,

November 2015 Top Posters:

IggieCC
RexBoyWonder

HeatWillRise


Poster of the Month
11/2015 - IggieCC

Not bad for one of the Nov. top posters

Spoiler:

And that's why IggieCC is a November POTM.

[perempe20]

nice stats at halftime vs Mavs. what is the difference? trust?

[IggieCC]

nice stats at halftime vs Mavs. what is the difference? trust?

Yes. and also put the ball in the hole and grab rebounds.

[QUIZ]

25pts 19rebs

[MettaWorldPanda]

25pts 19rebs

[Bishop45]

nice stats at halftime vs Mavs. what is the difference? trust?

Can't really say but it seems trust's still a factor, with his teammates and coach (understatement)

... but let me find out you workin' late nights for Ainge.