Hassan Whiteside: Road To The Max

[Sgt P]

Worth noting though that when he really took over the game yesterday--no Wade, No Dragic, No Bosh. The group he was with had no choice but to trust him and do things like...get him post ups. And his confidence grew and grew with each trip down the floor. The Bulls used to have a thing in the Jordan years where they started every single game with 2 or 3 post-ups for Cartwright or Longley--just to get the big man involved early. You don't really see that in today's NBA much--but I think that kind of approach would work with Whiteside. Get him some early post-ups, get him locked in on the game--and then watch his effort on both ends go up. You gotta reward your big man throughout the game, and maybe if we had a real point guard, which Beno is closer to than Dragic, that might happen more often? When Hassan's man scores on him, let him go right back at him. When he gets a big block, reward him when he runs the floor. I think that kind of thing would really help chemistry. We really needed a floor general more than a Dragic scorer type. We needed a guy who could come in and say okay Wade hasn't got his touches in a few, let me set him up. Or Chris is getting isolated from the game, let me run a pick and pop with him. Or let's run something for Whiteside. A guy who really knows how to run a team. we'd be a better team I think with Rubio as our point guard, even though Dragic is I think a better player overall.

On Hassan's end, I wish he'd realize that if he set better screens, he'd probably get a lot more out of playing with Goran. If nothing else following Goran in on drives for put backs.

Excellent point. We need a point guard.
More than anything, the roster is more of an collection of talent than team. I think this off-season we might really look into see if what the trade market would look with most of our roster, outside of Wade and Winslow.

[RexBoyWonder]

Jose Calderon cant defend but offensively he wouldn't be a bad option as a backup PG, guys like whiteside and Bosh will benefit.

Old-school heady PG and very good 3 point shooter.

But really Dragon and Whiteside need to figure it out.

[HIF]

Lebatard is the most connected media guy to the franchise, and he said on his show what I said. The organization isn't the high on Whiteside, and they're not breaking the bank to keep him. Do with that as you will.

And yes, the league is going in another direction. This has been a guard's league for almost 20 years now. What sport are some of you watching? What great center not named Shaq have we seen in that period? Even the best bigs Duncan and Garnett are power forwards by trade. The volume of 3pt shots is increasing. Yeah, one team is really exceptional at them, but the other, lesser teams are still increasing their output. Whiteside is either going to leave a lot of money on the table to stay here, or he's playing in another city next year. I'm perfectly fine with both scenarios. And LOL at Riley trading Goran before Whiteside. One of those two guys can run the system Spo wants, and it ain't Whiteside.

EDIT: I just realized I forgot Yao Ming. So I'll give 2 great bigs in 2 decades, and Whiteside will never be on their level.

What about Dwight Howard for a start?

Have you noticed how much Whiteside affects the offense of opposing teams or do you think we'd actaully keep teams down below 100 points without him.

We'd be a top 5 pick team this season without him.

[HIF]

Jose Calderon cant defend but offensively he wouldn't be a bad option as a backup PG, guys like whiteside and Bosh will benefit.

Old-school heady PG and very good 3 point shooter.

But really Dragon and Whiteside need to figure it out.

Calderon plays o but his teams are losers because he can't playD

Don't be sucked into the fantasy that you don't need D - we've seen that error before.

Beno is probably a good enough back up, he can shoot and he doesn't TO. We need Goran to step up or we need to trade him, Deng, Bird, Amare, Stokes and retire UD.

[MettaWorldPanda]

As long as we make it to the postseason and perform well, I'm not worried about resigning Hassan Whiteside. We have the money to resign him and offer Wade a decent contract. June 2017 we'll have another $19M in cap space for free agents. Wade & Bosh will have aged, but Winslow & Johnson will be a year older, and we even get a first round pick. We're not going away anytime soon. These are good problems to have.

Honestly we should. Everyone will be throwing money at him. Its what role and what he wants that will dictate his choice of team he selects. This is very similar to the Lebron situation. We can offer him the money but if he gets a better offer, being more of a featured player, then Whiteside will do what is best for him just like Lebron did.

On the other hand, I do think we'll get a loyalty bonus that other teams won't get, because we're the only team that took a chance on him. You'd like to think if this team makes the playoffs though that a lot of the chemistry issues will resolve themselves, and he'll have a more positive place within the team.

But I am worried about the Mavs and Lakers putting the press on Hassan. He'd fit a few other teams with cap space a lot better than he has fit down here, and they may be more willing to make him a feature player. But who knows how much he trusts those promises?

A big plus is that we'll have Riley handling it, and if we do truly want Hassan, I don't think there's anyone that can make Hassan feel more wanted than Pat and Mickey.

Don't forget about DJ Khaled. He has become an ally. It's no coincidence that Riley decided to get buddy buddy with Hassan's BFF.

[Heat3]

Lebatard is the most connected media guy to the franchise, and he said on his show what I said. The organization isn't the high on Whiteside, and they're not breaking the bank to keep him. Do with that as you will.

And yes, the league is going in another direction. This has been a guard's league for almost 20 years now. What sport are some of you watching? What great center not named Shaq have we seen in that period? Even the best bigs Duncan and Garnett are power forwards by trade. The volume of 3pt shots is increasing. Yeah, one team is really exceptional at them, but the other, lesser teams are still increasing their output. Whiteside is either going to leave a lot of money on the table to stay here, or he's playing in another city next year. I'm perfectly fine with both scenarios. And LOL at Riley trading Goran before Whiteside. One of those two guys can run the system Spo wants, and it ain't Whiteside.

EDIT: I just realized I forgot Yao Ming. So I'll give 2 great bigs in 2 decades, and Whiteside will never be on their level.

What about Dwight Howard for a start?

Have you noticed how much Whiteside affects the offense of opposing teams or do you think we'd actaully keep teams down below 100 points without him.

We'd be a top 5 pick team this season without him.

Going back 20 years? There are a ton of great centers! Robinson, Hakeem, mourning, Ewing, shaq. Lesser guys like mutumbo too.

There was a period of fewer centers and better wings. The rules were adjusted to benefit that. Small ball is a side effect. If we get an influx of centers the rules will change again to benefit the big man. If there is one thing the nba does is it stacks the deck in favor of their star players.

Does anyone think these warriors could do what the do to the shaq Lakers? He would punish them every time down the court. wilt chamberlain like numbers.

[G.cracker]

I have no idea why people think it is smart to let Hassan go. He is an asset to us that fell into our laps when we have few assets. Even if he ultimately doesn't fit here, he will be a tradable commodity in a year, like Greg Monroe is for the Bucks. We are much more likely to get a major piece through trade than FA.

[Tony15]

I have no idea why people think it is smart to let Hassan go. He is an asset to us that fell into our laps when we have few assets. Even if he ultimately doesn't fit here, he will be a tradable commodity in a year, like Greg Monroe is for the Bucks. We are much more likely to get a major piece through trade than FA.

No one here thinks it's smart to let him go.....not many here thinks it's smart to dole out max $$ to him either. Even Pat Riley is starting to see the latter.


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[QUIZ]

Going back 20 years? There are a ton of great centers! Robinson, Hakeem, mourning, Ewing, shaq. Lesser guys like mutumbo too.

There was a period of fewer centers and better wings. The rules were adjusted to benefit that. Small ball is a side effect. If we get an influx of centers the rules will change again to benefit the big man. If there is one thing the nba does is it stacks the deck in favor of their star players.

Does anyone think these warriors could do what the do to the shaq Lakers? He would punish them every time down the court. wilt chamberlain like numbers.

Good post, todays non hand check era where basically all rules favor the perimeter player(instead of the defender) have really allowed smaller PG's to flourish. On top of that the recent rules changes to protect 3pt shooters...

I'm sure Gary Payton would've taught Curry a thing or two if they had played 20 years ago.

[Slot Machine]

Worth noting though that when he really took over the game yesterday--no Wade, No Dragic, No Bosh. The group he was with had no choice but to trust him and do things like...get him post ups. And his confidence grew and grew with each trip down the floor. The Bulls used to have a thing in the Jordan years where they started every single game with 2 or 3 post-ups for Cartwright or Longley--just to get the big man involved early. You don't really see that in today's NBA much--but I think that kind of approach would work with Whiteside. Get him some early post-ups, get him locked in on the game--and then watch his effort on both ends go up. You gotta reward your big man throughout the game, and maybe if we had a real point guard, which Beno is closer to than Dragic, that might happen more often? When Hassan's man scores on him, let him go right back at him. When he gets a big block, reward him when he runs the floor. I think that kind of thing would really help chemistry. We really needed a floor general more than a Dragic scorer type. We needed a guy who could come in and say okay Wade hasn't got his touches in a few, let me set him up. Or Chris is getting isolated from the game, let me run a pick and pop with him. Or let's run something for Whiteside. A guy who really knows how to run a team. we'd be a better team I think with Rubio as our point guard, even though Dragic is I think a better player overall.

On Hassan's end, I wish he'd realize that if he set better screens, he'd probably get a lot more out of playing with Goran. If nothing else following Goran in on drives for put backs.

Great post. I remember reading an article on Grantland back in the day where either Zach Lowe or Bill Simmons talked about how Mike Conley said that he played the PG position with a timer in his head. Might've been in a Conley interview, wish I could find it.

But essentially, Conley said that every time up the floor, he made sure to think about who was involved in the offense and who wasn't, who needed a touch, who was getting frozen out of the offense, etc. He talked about how it was a timer like saying "Oh, Z-Bo hasn't gotten the ball in a few possessions, let's run a post-up for him" or "Man, Courtney Lee has been spotted up for awhile in the corner, he needs to touch the ball this possession." That is such an underrated and cerebral aspect of the Point Guard position, more important than raw passing ability or athleticism. Being able to keep all four of your teammates on the court involved and on their A game because of the way you distribute the ball is so vital and important to any team hoping to make any sort of impact.

Look at the Warriors now with Curry, even the way LeBron distributed the ball here when he was our de facto PG. The concept of feeding the big man on offense to ensure that he's engaged on defense really should and does apply to every position with the rare exception of a few one-way players. I know, in my experience, if I touch the ball in a pick-up game, I'm more likely to start cutting off the ball, go that extra mile for a loose ball and I'm always more engaged on the defensive end. When I play PG, I try to make sure that everybody gets to touch the ball and it's being spread around.

Dragic is not that type of Point Guard and although Udrih shows a little bit more of an aptitude for that type of PG play, he isn't either. This team desperately needs that distributor so guys are always as active and involved as they can and should be. Our offense just isn't cohesive in the slightest, which is why I think we have a lot of the problems that we do.

[Bourne85]

Maybe we can get CP3. Surely he can get the ball to Hassan and run the pnr.

Then sigh KD and bam. Spo has his HOF starting 5 that he requires to win

[Rock Hardy]

And yes, the league is going in another direction. This has been a guard's league for almost 20 years now. What sport are some of you watching?

What does this mean?

We don't need Forwards or Centers ...Or are you saying teams are winning despite them? Cause I'm missing the connection... or is this statement subject to Hassan somehow

Obviously you don't need the lumbering big man. Back to the basket bigs are outmoded. Rangy bigs that can spread the floor are clearly where things are trendy. Ones that can shoot and defend the pnr. Frankly, I think Duncan and KG are the ideal model for the modern center, and again, they're power forwards. Hassan posting big stats can't amounted to any great difference in wins. He's not the defender Dwight was in his prime because he's nowhere near as mobile or committed.

[Rock Hardy]

Worth noting though that when he really took over the game yesterday--no Wade, No Dragic, No Bosh. The group he was with had no choice but to trust him and do things like...get him post ups. And his confidence grew and grew with each trip down the floor. The Bulls used to have a thing in the Jordan years where they started every single game with 2 or 3 post-ups for Cartwright or Longley--just to get the big man involved early. You don't really see that in today's NBA much--but I think that kind of approach would work with Whiteside. Get him some early post-ups, get him locked in on the game--and then watch his effort on both ends go up. You gotta reward your big man throughout the game, and maybe if we had a real point guard, which Beno is closer to than Dragic, that might happen more often? When Hassan's man scores on him, let him go right back at him. When he gets a big block, reward him when he runs the floor. I think that kind of thing would really help chemistry. We really needed a floor general more than a Dragic scorer type. We needed a guy who could come in and say okay Wade hasn't got his touches in a few, let me set him up. Or Chris is getting isolated from the game, let me run a pick and pop with him. Or let's run something for Whiteside. A guy who really knows how to run a team. we'd be a better team I think with Rubio as our point guard, even though Dragic is I think a better player overall.

On Hassan's end, I wish he'd realize that if he set better screens, he'd probably get a lot more out of playing with Goran. If nothing else following Goran in on drives for put backs.

Great post. I remember reading an article on Grantland back in the day where either Zach Lowe or Bill Simmons talked about how Mike Conley said that he played the PG position with a timer in his head. Might've been in a Conley interview, wish I could find it.

But essentially, Conley said that every time up the floor, he made sure to think about who was involved in the offense and who wasn't, who needed a touch, who was getting frozen out of the offense, etc. He talked about how it was a timer like saying "Oh, Z-Bo hasn't gotten the ball in a few possessions, let's run a post-up for him" or "Man, Courtney Lee has been spotted up for awhile in the corner, he needs to touch the ball this possession." That is such an underrated and cerebral aspect of the Point Guard position, more important than raw passing ability or athleticism. Being able to keep all four of your teammates on the court involved and on their A game because of the way you distribute the ball is so vital and important to any team hoping to make any sort of impact.

Look at the Warriors now with Curry, even the way LeBron distributed the ball here when he was our de facto PG. The concept of feeding the big man on offense to ensure that he's engaged on defense really should and does apply to every position with the rare exception of a few one-way players. I know, in my experience, if I touch the ball in a pick-up game, I'm more likely to start cutting off the ball, go that extra mile for a loose ball and I'm always more engaged on the defensive end. When I play PG, I try to make sure that everybody gets to touch the ball and it's being spread around.

Dragic is not that type of Point Guard and although Udrih shows a little bit more of an aptitude for that type of PG play, he isn't either. This team desperately needs that distributor so guys are always as active and involved as they can and should be. Our offense just isn't cohesive in the slightest, which is why I think we have a lot of the problems that we do.

Whiteside is a turnover prone black hole. You're essentially throwing those early possessions away rolling the dice and hoping he doesn't turn the ball over. He's not skilled enough offensively. You don't run post up plays for someone of that ability. He should just look for putbacks and alley oops. If he would learn to pass, things would be different, but he doesn't.

[3ballbomber]

Going back 20 years? There are a ton of great centers! Robinson, Hakeem, mourning, Ewing, shaq. Lesser guys like mutumbo too.

There was a period of fewer centers and better wings. The rules were adjusted to benefit that. Small ball is a side effect. If we get an influx of centers the rules will change again to benefit the big man. If there is one thing the nba does is it stacks the deck in favor of their star players.

Does anyone think these warriors could do what the do to the shaq Lakers? He would punish them every time down the court. wilt chamberlain like numbers.

After Jordan retired the NBA struggled. Stern wanted emphasis on more scoring...the more scoring the better the ratings.......the better the revenue.

So he implemented useless new rules that took away from the game like no had checking to make it easier for guards to penetrate and move more freely. It basically made it easier for quicker, flashy players to score, wich is exactly what the league needed for ratings. And recently inthe last several years has also started to protect 3pt shooters. Notice how there were so many and1 3pt attempts all of a sudden?!?

Also the 3 second rule implemented ultimately got rid of the big man in the NBA, since you can no longer defend the paint for more than 3 seconds and allows perimeter players easier and more opportunities drives to the rim.

w/ all the rule changes it made the league soft as you can no longer play physical and allowed it easier to score, especially for perimeter players. This is why peple think many of todays players wouldn't necessarily play well in the earlier era of basketball and i believe w/ good reason.

Curry and the Warriors would get spanked by 90's era teams like the Lakers w/ Shaq. I believe they wouldn't have the same success.

[Bishop45]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-one-key-decision-helped-hassan-whiteside-earn-his-place-in-the-nba-165952371.html

[QUIZ]

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[HIF]

I can see him signing a max contract for the Lakers.

[Hoops23]

I can see him signing a max contract for the Lakers.

If that's true and the Heat thinks they cannot make a deal for him this off-season, should the Heat trade him before the deadline or hold on to him so he can help us in the post season and let him walk in the summer for the Lakers as you see???

[Rich2Hassan]

Hopefully he goes to LA, but a see the Spurs as a darkhorse.

[D' Winner Within]

I can see him signing a max contract for the Lakers.

If that's true and the Heat thinks they cannot make a deal for him this off-season, should the Heat trade him before the deadline or hold on to him so he can help us in the post season and let him walk in the summer for the Lakers as you see???

If there is a good deal, why not!? other than that No.