So Are We Just Gonna Pretend Hassan Whiteside Isn't Good?

[Roy The Natural]

He's pretty trash. I mean, he's not truly bad and he'd be a really nice backup. But he pretty much does nothing as a starter to help you win.

His defense is not good. His offense is okay in spurts and he straight up doesn't box out. His boxscore stats look glorious but when you actually watch he's pretty damn bad.

He doesn't communicate at all on defense. You'll often see really bad miscommunication between him and perimeter players. You'll see the perimeter players funnel a driver into the lane only for Whiteside to sit on the opposite side of the rim and not contest. Or conversely the perimeter player will be in good position to contest and Whiteside will leave his man and go for the block leaving an easy pass to the oppossing big. He chases everything, if there's a stat for most given up alley oops Whiteside has got to lead it. Just a very, very low bball iq player who seems to regularly make the wrong decision leading to unfathomably easy baskets.

He doesn't box out when rebounding. He's one of the main culprits in why Portland went from a fantastic rebounding team to terrible. When he's not able to just grab the board above everybody, the guy he doesn't box out gets the oboard.

Iffensively he's really good at scoring from inside about 8 feet, and even has some touch out to 18 or so feet. The problem here is that he has no offensive versatility and stalls out a modern offense. He stinks in the pick and roll. He sets truly awful screens. He's a black hole on offense.

Whiteside could be a pretty elite backup center who despite his flaws could likely dominate backup level players with his size and length. As a starter, he's utterly lacking and exploitable on both ends.

[BlazersBroncos]

Whiteside could be a pretty elite backup center who despite his flaws could likely dominate backup level players with his size and length. As a starter, he's utterly lacking and exploitable on both ends.

Ya, for all the talk of his rebounding and blocks, his most effective role would be as a backup center who gets force fed in the post. Almost like a smaller Boban. That's honestly would be the way to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses.

[Duffman100]

It's never been about Whiteside's talent. The dude has talent. It's all about his maturity and mindset.

Contract year. He's playing for his retirement. Let's see how he plays after he gets the money.

[Stillwater]

It's never been about Whiteside's talent. The dude has talent. It's all about his maturity and mindset.

Contract year. He's playing for his retirement. Let's see how he plays after he gets the money.

Nailed it...
he has no motivation beyond getting paid on the outside looking in. maybe thats not true but it certainly appears to be the case esp given his uptick suddenly now that he's about to be benched as soon as Nurk is back in two weeks.
Whiteside gotta get his reps in now because of that and or prob expecting to be traded

[somerandomdude]

Two words, contract year.

His per36 has always been damn good.

Spoiler:

In Miami, he wasn't getting minutes. In Portland, he's getting minutes and his stats are now closely reflecting his per36 in Miami. Sure, a contract year is always a factor, but a happy Hassan getting minutes is the biggest factor.

Anyways, here's what I think are legitimate knocks on Whiteside:

- He could give more effort
- There's times where he doesn't race to get back on defense
- Gets paid a lot (but not as bad as some contracts out there or even in the past. And considering true Cs are such a rarity in today's game, that's typical market value for what he signed up for at that time)
- Is not your modern-day NBA Center

Semi-legitimate arguments:
- He doesn't close out on 3pt shooters (you potentially lose out on the defensive rebound if the shooter misses and your best shotblocker if the shooter fakes and the ball finds its way inside the paint. I've seen it far too much where Bam is assigned to defend the perimeter and teams work the ball inside the paint or get the offensive rebound, when it should've been Bam inside there helping out)
- He's lazy (and, yet, he's often the leader in effort areas, like rebounds and blocks).

And here's what I think are ignorant criticisms:

- Empty Stats (no, just no. He's not stealing rebounds from teammates, he shoots a high %, blocks are always a positive. His teams don't win? Look at the supporting cast. Miami isn't better in spite of Whiteside; they added Nunn, Herro, Butler, Duncan Robinson is playing good, and DJJ is playing good. And I seriously doubt anyone truly believes that putting Myers Leonard in place of Whiteside is going to propel the Trailblazers. The reality is they'd be far worse without Whiteside)
- He doesn't pass (he actually does for as often as he touches the ball, but he's not going to be Vlade Divac or Bam Adebayo. A great passing C is rare and it's like knocking PGs who don't average 10reb a game; it's not expected of them).

[Sign5]

He's a solid center. His numbers aren't empty but he isn't exactly ben wallace either. He's right in the middle.

[GrindCityHustle]

He does everything to keep his 2K rating up

Watch on YouTube

[HEAT33]

Whiteside has the potential to be a great center, but at times when you watch him, seems like he just does not care.

[DaddyCool19]

How much better would Portland be with a healthy Nurkic?

[Roy The Natural]

How much better would Portland be with a healthy Nurkic?

A lot better. Nurkic is elite defensively, and way more versatile offensively. Whiteside is fringe starter on both ends at best imo.

[Young gun 6]

Just look at how Miami are going without him and Portland’s record with him playing instead of Nurkic.

Yes his stats are good but he is an average defender and one of the lowest iq and impact players in the league (relative to stats)

[KingDavid]

He's a backup center. Black hole on offense. Sets poor screens. Gambles for blocks too much on defense. When it's time to get a contract, he can show off his gaudy stats and get paid.

Don't miss him. If we had him instead of Meyers, we'd be worse. When nurkic comes back and Hassan's minutes start to fall, pay attention.

[Duke4life831]

Ya put me in the, he isn't great but he isn't horrible camp. I do think it is kind of telling that most year's he seems to be a net neutral defender. You would think a true defensive anchor you would see some kind of benefit in On/Off at least once in his career. I get that is an extremely noisy stat but in all of his seasons no legit impact with that stat? This year has been his best with them being 1 point per 100 better defensively with him, but that should be expected with the complete lack of big men the Blazer have to go to once Whiteside sits down.

Now with all that said, I also don't think he's horrible when he's not throwing tantrums. I think ideally he is a perfect big to come off the bench and play 18 minutes. The big question with that though is, will he ever be fine with that role? If he could ever except that role and play a super hard 18 minutes every game, he could be a really valuable piece.

[LBJKB24MJ23]

lack of heart, not lack of talent

[goodboy]

He has talent, empty stats though is a fair argument. Also contract year, once he gets paid he'll go back into a shell.

[miamiheat319]

God I was such a huge fan of his when he started with Miami. I would go so far as to say he was probably my favorite player after D Wade. I remember 15 year old me begging him to stay with the Heat on his Instagram when he was a free agent. Then he got paid and I actually got a good chance to watch him play in his last couple of years with the Heat and he was atrocious. Gave absolutely zero effort and was painful to watch. I remember thinking an 80 year old Haslem would be more effective when I watched the Heat last year. His numbers seem to be up in Portland, but I haven’t really watched him so I can’t speak to his effort but I expect things to go downhill once he gets paid this summer. Hopefully a team isn’t dumb enough to give him a contract anywhere near the one he’s on now

[Scalabrine]

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.

They also lost pretty much their entire team Aminu, Harkless, Kanter, Turner, Curry, Layman, Leonard all played 15+ minutes per game for them last season and they are all on different teams now. Zach Collins and Rodney Hood were also rotation players that have been hurt virtually all season, along with Nurkic. The only rotation players they have on their team from last season are CJ and Lillard, everyone else is new. Can't blame all that on Whiteside.

[clyde21]

he's a non winning player regardless of the stats he puts, he does nothing to earn wins at the team level because he block a couple of shots here and there...he's not really that great of a team defender, doesn't create any offense, doesn't do the little things like set screens or picks or box out, his offense is limited to a single level, etc.

so yea, he can post all the pts/rebs he wants, he's not and will never be a winning player. he's a mid level player that should be coming off the bench against particular match ups, that's it.

[Scalabrine]

Just look at how Miami are going without him and Portland’s record with him playing instead of Nurkic.

Yes his stats are good but he is an average defender and one of the lowest iq and impact players in the league (relative to stats)

The only rotation players from last years Blazers team that are still on the team (and not injured) are Dame and CJ. Thats it. It's BS to put that all on Whiteside.

[SecondTake]

Maybe he should try defending sometimes. Would be helpful.