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16 PPG, 14 Rebs, 3 blocks (leads the league) in 30 MPG. Sure, he's lazy.

When can we stop pretending that he isn't one of the best centers in the league?

No need to pretend. He puts up numbers.....great.

Two words, contract year.

Who's pretending?!

Empty star

PhilBlackson wrote:Who's pretending?!

OP apparently because the only game Whiteside is good for is fantasy

Shirley, the Miami Heat are kicking themselves for letting him go.

They'll never survive without those stats.

When he's actually engaged he's good.

Nerds also dont like big men.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Shirley, the Miami Heat are kicking themselves for letting him go.

They'll never survive without those stats.

That's like saying Brogdon isn't good because the Bucks are still the #1 record.

OP, add "Umm..." to the start of the title and "?!1" at the end.

Good at getting stats except the most important one:

Wins

He is the definition of empty stats. The team who has him wont play better defense with him on the court. Block number are also the most overrated stat of the NBA. It doesnt mean he is a good defender at all.

He is the anti-Marc Gasol. He doesnt rebound as good as whiteside ,but he will box out and his team will grabb those rebound instead (im sure the teams get more boards with him playing)

He's extremely talented and his stats are honestly less than what he is capable of. The way i see it he has 3 glaring issues.

1. He has 0 court vision, if he has the ball, then he won't look to make a play for someone else. This limits his use on offense greatly

2. He is super inconsistent, one game he will look like an all D all nba type centre, the next he is mcgee.

3. Attitude, this impacts his effort, something doesn't go his way, it will impact him the whole night. Maybe you aren't seeing the attitude as much in Portland because it's a contract year and Nurkic is out, but he has had games where it seems he's checked out

He tends to leave his matchup constantly chasing blocks/rebounds which throws the defensive scheme off of his team.

He puts up great numbers, but watching him vs a guy like Gobert and you will see the difference.

We have to pretend cause if we don’t it hurts the narrative that Lillard’s front court is trash and then he has to take some criticism for the Blazers being 19-26. And no one wants that cause Lillard is likeable.

Whiteside has had some monster games. I agree on the contract year theory though.

He's damn good he just isnt always engaged and has a low basketball iq

Liam_Gallagher wrote:16 PPG, 14 Rebs, 3 blocks (leads the league) in 30 MPG. Sure, he's lazy.

When can we stop pretending that he isn't one of the best centers in the league?

I think the answer lies in the middle. He's not as bad as his critics claim or as good as his stats appear to indicate.

His counting stats look nice yet his teams usually play better when he isn't on the floor. At least that was case in Miami and Portland certainly isn't treading water very well without Nurkic. And his advanced stats, which generally tell the real story, reflect this as well.

Some players simply aren't as good as the raw numbers indicate, for Whiteside it's being a poor passer and floor spacer on offense (he's a black hole really) and being out of position by chasing too many blocked shots on defense. So he's not nearly as good a rim protector as it seems.

Liam_Gallagher wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Shirley, the Miami Heat are kicking themselves for letting him go.

They'll never survive without those stats.

That's like saying Brogdon isn't good because the Bucks are still the #1 record.

Brogdon's new team is great, Whiteside suited up for Nurkic and they are significantly worse team now.

He's good but not great. I think on the right team he could be great.

He's a solid player. Decent to good starter. Not a star by my eye, 2nd best Blazer this season though I'd say.