Hassan Whiteside: Road To The Max

[gom]

If I was Hassan I would get everything I can get right now. You never know when your knee is going to blow out. And he hasn't made any money in the NBA yet. Maybe he'll sacrifice on the next contract. But he shouldn't, nor should he be expected to, sacrifice on his first big contract.

Better to talk to DWade about taking a discount for longer years than Hassan.

I suggested 3/45 for DWade which is a considerable discount.

Whiteside would have player options for the other years, so he would be guaranteed at least $71.5M. That's not chicken feed.

He would be taking a calculated risk, betting on himself. Here are the 4 numbers:

Worst Case: $71,566,750 (This is if he fails or gets hurt in 2016-7)
Take Max with Miami in 2016-7: $93,739,905
Take Max with another team in 2016-7: $89,657,939
Take 16M in 2016-7 and Max with Miami in 2017-8: $129,750,581

Together we would have $10M in cap space to sign reinforcements and the room exception.

[QUIZ]

I suggested 3/45 for DWade which is a considerable discount.

Whiteside would have player options for the other years, so he would be guaranteed at least $71.5M. That's not chicken feed.

He would be taking a calculated risk, betting on himself. Here are the 4 numbers:

Worst Case: $71,566,750 (This is if he fails or gets hurt in 2016-7)
Take Max with Miami in 2016-7: $93,739,905
Take Max with another team in 2016-7: $89,657,939
Take 16M in 2016-7 and Max with Miami in 2017-8: $129,750,581

Together we would have $10M in cap space to sign reinforcements and the room exception.

It's not that simple gom and I wouldn't even call that a calculated risk, just a stupid one. He can get $94mill guaranteed next year, turning that down for $16mill guaranteed would help us and only us especially considering the fact that he wouldn't be guaranteed to receive his full max in 2017.

That's not how any of this works. We couldn't get Bosh to take a pay cut. The only guy to work his contract out like this with us has been Wade but he's the face of the franchise very different scenario.

Whiteside is going to look for the most guaranteed money that he can get. Does that mean that he'll receive his full max? No, but we should be operating under the assumption that resigning him will cost us close to that and that any discount he takes will only be enough to offer us some wiggle room nothing drastic.

Personally I could see us settling on something like 4 year $85mill, a discount of only about $2mill per year on average but because of his raises it'd give us a decent amount of wiggle room with regards to his base salary.

I think Riley could sell Hassan on something like that because we have no state income tax and other teams can only offer him $89mill so at the end of the day he gets to stay in Miami with the Heat for comparable money as anybody else would/could give him while helping us out some.

[gom]

I suggested 3/45 for DWade which is a considerable discount.

Whiteside would have player options for the other years, so he would be guaranteed at least $71.5M. That's not chicken feed.

He would be taking a calculated risk, betting on himself. Here are the 4 numbers:

Worst Case: $71,566,750 (This is if he fails or gets hurt in 2016-7)
Take Max with Miami in 2016-7: $93,739,905
Take Max with another team in 2016-7: $89,657,939
Take 16M in 2016-7 and Max with Miami in 2017-8: $129,750,581

Together we would have $10M in cap space to sign reinforcements and the room exception.

It's not that simple gom and I wouldn't even call that a calculated risk, just a stupid one. He can get $94mill guaranteed next year, turning that down for $16mill guaranteed would help us and only us especially considering the fact that he wouldn't be guaranteed to receive his full max in 2017.

That's not how any of this works. We couldn't get Bosh to take a pay cut. The only guy to work his contract out like this with us has been Wade but he's the face of the franchise very different scenario.

Whiteside is going to look for the most guaranteed money that he can get. Does that mean that he'll receive his full max? No, but we should be operating under the assumption that resigning him will cost us close to that and that any discount he takes will only be enough to offer us some wiggle room nothing drastic.

Personally I could see us settling on something like 4 year $85mill, a discount of only about $2mill per year on average but because of his raises it'd give us a decent amount of wiggle room with regards to his base salary.

I think Riley could sell Hassan on something like that because we have no state income tax and other teams can only offer him $89mill so at the end of the day he gets to stay in Miami with the Heat for comparable money as anybody else would/could give him while helping us out some.

Yeah, Quiz, I understand what is likely, but Riley got Dragic to take less than the max too. Now many might say there was no market for Dragic at the max reflecting on his performance this year, but the fact is there are teams like LAL and New York who probably would have made an offer higher than ours. Riley is paying Bosh the max because (a) he was over the barrel and (b) he knew the cap was going up. Bosh's salary next year is $23,741,060, which for us is a ton of money, but the max for Bosh next year would be $29,339,763 and the year after his salary will be $25,289,390 when the max would be $35,603,308. His 35% max was turned to 23.14%. It's now arguable that a player who was out half a season last year was a bad deal, but in my estimation, Bosh's game will age well, so even this deal will look good eventually.

Also, once Wade & Haslem retire we will need another face of the franchise. It might be Whiteside. I hope he stays around and wants to play on a championship team.

We have had a slowly rising salary cap for so long, the fluid situation we face now is very odd, but it's real. The players see the cap going up too and they will make choices based on the fluid economy. I think if it's expressed this way to Hassan it will be a factor.

[Flash4thewin]

LA and NY are basically rebuilding, they were not going to throw the max at Dragic at all.

Whiteside will do what is best for him and if that means another team i cant fault him for leaving. No way do try to offer less especially after these two massive discounted seasons. If we have to try to bring up loyalty as a reason he signs with us we are toast and we know it.

[RexBoyWonder]

We shouldn't offer less then any other team, and we shouldn't offer more then anyone else either.

having his Early bird rights means we can offer bigger raises year to year, which mean we can offer a little less in the first year (when we'll need the cap space) and still offer the same total amount as other teams.

The fair thing to do for both sides is simple - Let Hassan hear what other teams offer him, and then give Pat a chance to match any offer he was given.

If Pat offers the same$$$, he should stay out of loyalty (and just the fact we're a good team and a good org). If Pat thinks it's too much for us to match, we should wish Hassan good luck with his new team.

Simple and fair.

[Heat_Fan_87]

I am interested in seeing what pat will do if someone does offer whiteside the max. If whiteside agent calls pat and says we need to know now if you will match the max...that is the question.

we wont make the first offer, we will wait to see what other teams offer whiteside and hopefully get him for less, but his talent and the new cba, much worse players will be getting the max...

the question is, is pat ready to pay whiteside the max if thats what it takes.

[dolphinatik]

Pat will offer him a good offer off the bad something like max - no state income tax adjustment.

[perempe20]

is he the most consistent Heat player?

[QUIZ]

is he the most consistent Heat player?

No, I'd say as a team we've been pretty inconsistent. Bosh even with his vanishing acts has probably been our most consistent player.

Whiteside's numbers are consistent but his impact isn't. Some games he's awesome and some games his stats are empty.

He had 8pts 17rebs 4blks today and by his standards I thought that it was a solid performance that was hampered by foul trouble, which has been rare for him this year. He's done a good job at avoiding fouls.

[gom]

is he the most consistent Heat player?

He is very consistent, but I think "most consistent" is probably Tyler Johnson (who has really had only 1 poor game).

[perempe20]

thanks for the answers.

(I'm a fan since his block on Ed Davis, he can block guys on the perimeter as well because of his length/athleticism.)

[RexBoyWonder]

Ira Winderman: Whiteside's dual degrees coming from Juwan, Zo

here are no Bird Rights, no inherent advantage in the bidding process, no salary-cap mechanism that gives the Miami Heat a built-in edge when it comes to Hassan Whiteside's offseason free agency.

But there is a tag team of influence that could make a difference in wrestling the emerging big man back for future seasons.

On Christmas Eve, after most teammates had moved on to holiday pursuits, that sphere of influence had a singular focus on the Heat's practice court at AmericanAirlines Arena. For assistant coach Juwan Howard, it was defending a repetitive series of post moves, offering guidance at each turn. For Alonzo Mourning, the Heat's vice president of player programs, it was a knowing nod but mostly a stoic stare.

This is how you incubate a potential All-Star. With structure. Defined guidance. And a singular voice from above.


In this case, coach Erik Spoelstra does the talking about this process, the Heat's preference to keep other voices out of the public equation, lest mixed signals get in the way.

For Whiteside's dual enrollment, Howard handles the court clinics, Mourning the life lessons.

This is how the Heat are attempting to build a better center.

"Zo gives him great off-the-court guidance," Spoelstra explained. "And occasionally they will go out to dinner. It's an unbelievable role model and example for Hassan to see, of what it means to be a Miami Heat who has had great success as a Miami Heat center, but also how to be a great professional on the court, off the court, in the community, all of that."

The hands-on portion of the process is Howard's domain.


Miami Heat emerging center Hassan Whiteside has raised eyebrows in the NBA after coming out of nowhere (D-League with Iowa).


"That's all with us, all with our staff," Spoelstra said.

As a player, Howard's game was more on the perimeter, more face-up jumpers. But his wealth of experience against nearly two decades of post-up competition is what is conveyed in sessions such as these.

"Right now, it's building a trust," Spoelstra said of the Howard-Whiteside dynamic. "The most important thing is building a trust with a player. And in this business, it's not so much what you know; it's the level of trust that a player has, that this coach is going to make me better. And Hassan trusts that Juwan's intentions are pure, that he has a great knowledge base, that he has a great work ethic.

"The things that they cover, he sees improvement. Like, two weeks later, 'Oh, man, we've been working on that.' And it translates. I think that's invaluable. I think that's more important than any other quality."

Then Mourning can step in and reinforce the significance of carrying those, and other, lessons forward.

"I consult with Zo," Spoelstra said. "But a lot of it is on the personal development."

"That's a blessing," Whiteside said. "I mean, I remember watching Zo and just all the things he did for the game. It's more off-the-court stuff we talk about. It's staying positive, not getting too down, if you have a bad game. Or if I have a great game, don’t get too high. Just keep putting in the work and everything is going to be OK."

That's not to say Whiteside also doesn't dig for greater game insight.

"Zo's been basically telling me to stay on balance," he said. "He says any time I stay on balance, it's going to be a great move and it's going to more than likely go in."

Then it's back to the gym, back to growing as a center as Howard grows in his second season as a bench assistant.

"He's more the basketball aspect of the game and just little things he sees, he lets me know," Whiteside said.

That has Spoelstra cultivating dual post projects, coach and pupil growing together in the infancy of this latest stage of their careers.

"His last two years of playing," Spoelstra said, "I really thought that Juwan had a lot of qualities that showed he could be a very successful coach. He was a leader in the locker room. He understood the game on a deeper level. He had a great work ethic. Those things translate very well to this profession."

[Flash4thewin]

I get the impression people are thinking or wishing that Whiteside will behave like a restricted free agent this offseason. That is just foolish. Even in the example of restricted free agents, when they have to get there value "assessed" they tend to force trades to leave there current team because of the lack of respect angle. If we need to tell Whiteside get an offer and we will match it, he will bolt and rightly so. To keep Whiteside we will need to give him the max on day one. Pat knows this which would help explain why there are rumors we are trying to trade him. At the end of the day Whiteside will do whats best for him and Pat will do what he thinks is best too.

[RJM]

We shouldn't offer less then any other team, and we shouldn't offer more then anyone else either.

having his Early bird rights means we can offer bigger raises year to year, which mean we can offer a little less in the first year (when we'll need the cap space) and still offer the same total amount as other teams.

The fair thing to do for both sides is simple - Let Hassan hear what other teams offer him, and then give Pat a chance to match any offer he was given.

If Pat offers the same$$$, he should stay out of loyalty (and just the fact we're a good team and a good org). If Pat thinks it's too much for us to match, we should wish Hassan good luck with his new team.

Simple and fair.

We don't have that. Those don't exist for him.

[RexBoyWonder]

We shouldn't offer less then any other team, and we shouldn't offer more then anyone else either.

having his Early bird rights means we can offer bigger raises year to year, which mean we can offer a little less in the first year (when we'll need the cap space) and still offer the same total amount as other teams.

The fair thing to do for both sides is simple - Let Hassan hear what other teams offer him, and then give Pat a chance to match any offer he was given.

If Pat offers the same$$$, he should stay out of loyalty (and just the fact we're a good team and a good org). If Pat thinks it's too much for us to match, we should wish Hassan good luck with his new team.

Simple and fair.

We don't have that. Those don't exist for him.

EARLY BIRD EXCEPTION -- This is a weaker form of the Larry Bird exception. It also allows teams to exceed the cap to re-sign their own free agents, but with more limited contracts than the Larry Bird exception. To qualify for this exception the player must play for two seasons without clearing waivers or changing teams as a free agent (see question number 33 for details and nuances to this rule). A team may use the Early Bird exception to re-sign its own free agent for up to 175% of his salary in the previous season2 (not over the maximum salary, of course) or 104.5% of the average salary in the previous season, whichever is greater (see question number 32 for the definition of "average salary"). Early Bird contracts must be at least two seasons in length, which prevents teams from using the Early Bird to sign a one-year contract, then signing the same player with the full Larry Bird exception the following season. Early Bird contracts can be up to four years in length, with raises up to 7.5% of the salary in the first season of the contract. Early Bird is also a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception, and qualifying players are called "Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA

We do have it, but we won't use it with Hassan, keep forgetting that.

Whatever it doesn't matter, we can match any offer if we chose.

[QUIZ]

We can offer Hassan higher raises, 7.5% vs 4.5% that along with no state income tax give us a little bit of wiggle room vs someone like LA for example.

Regardless like Rex said, if we wanted to we could match any offer.

[RexBoyWonder]

We can offer Hassan higher raises, 7.5% vs 4.5% that along with no state income tax give us a little bit of wiggle room vs someone like LA for example.

Regardless like Rex said, if we wanted to we could match any offer.

That's the thing, we're limited to 4.5% because we won't use the early bird because that's too low for White.

very unusual situation all around.

[QUIZ]

We can offer Hassan higher raises, 7.5% vs 4.5% that along with no state income tax give us a little bit of wiggle room vs someone like LA for example.

Regardless like Rex said, if we wanted to we could match any offer.

That's the thing, we're limited to 4.5% because we won't use the early bird because that's too low for White.

very unusual situation all around.

Annual Salary Increases and Decreases
Salary in contracts between a team and its Bird or Early Bird players may increase or decrease after the first year of the contract by up to 7.5% of the salary in the first year of the contract. For all other contracts, salary may increase or decrease after the first year of the contract by up to 4.5% of the first year’s salary.

Source: http://www.nba.com/media/CBA101.pdf page 11

That's not how I interpreted it. Yeah we aren't going to use his early bird rights in the sense that we'll use it to go over the cap to keep him because the salary amount would be too low, we'll use cap space instead but we should we able to offer higher raises regardless since he is our guy.

[Johnny Firpo]

Why isn't he playing around 35 minutes consistently? Is it fouling?

[RexBoyWonder]

We can offer Hassan higher raises, 7.5% vs 4.5% that along with no state income tax give us a little bit of wiggle room vs someone like LA for example.

Regardless like Rex said, if we wanted to we could match any offer.

That's the thing, we're limited to 4.5% because we won't use the early bird because that's too low for White.

very unusual situation all around.

Annual Salary Increases and Decreases
Salary in contracts between a team and its Bird or Early Bird players may increase or decrease after the first year of the contract by up to 7.5% of the salary in the first year of the contract. For all other contracts, salary may increase or decrease after the first year of the contract by up to 4.5% of the first year’s salary.

Source: http://www.nba.com/media/CBA101.pdf page 11

That's not how I interpreted it. Yeah we aren't going to use his early bird rights in the sense that we'll use it to go over the cap to keep him because the salary amount would be too low, we'll use cap space instead but we should we able to offer higher raises regardless since he is our guy.

I believe you either sign a player using early bird rights, or you don't. If you don't, you're limited to 4.5%.

Should consult a capologisist.