Hassan Whiteside could spell the difference between good and great for the Heat this season Manny Navarro | Miami Herald
October 24, 2015
Last year’s top five in Player Efficiency Rating in the NBA — per-minute statistical production — features a rather predictable list of league superstars.
New Orleans’ shot-swatting center Anthony Davis, who signed a league-record $145 million deal this summer, is at the top. He’s followed by league scoring champion Russell Westbrook, 2015 league MVP Stephen Curry, 2014 league MVP Kevin Durant and last year’s players’ selection for league MVP, James Harden.
It’s who is next on the list — ranked ahead of Chris Paul, LeBron James, DeMarcus Cousins, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge — who raises a pair of Anthony Davis-sized eyebrows: Heat 7-foot, 265-pound center Hassan Whiteside.
Before the late-November D-League pickup made his big splash, averaging 11.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.56 blocks per game in 48 games, the Heat only had three other players rank in the top 10 in PER since the stat first began being tracked in 2002-03. Those players: James, Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal.
“His ability last year when we weren’t a good team was impeccable,” Wade said last week when Whiteside returned to practice from a strained right calf that had sidelined him for the first three weeks of training camp. “To have him when you have a pretty good team, it can be that more special.”
That’s what makes Whiteside the x-factor for the Heat entering the 2015-16 season.
If he expands on what he did in just less than 24 minutes a game last season, the Heat could zoom right back into title contention after missing the playoffs for the first time in seven years.
If he just does what he did last year — averaging a double-double and defending the paint at an elite level — he’s still headed toward a monster payday (anywhere from $12 million to $18 million per season).
And if he goes backwards, it’s only going to make what is shaping up to be another interesting summer (when Durant hits the free agent market) only that more interesting...
Link