The Miami Heat were blessed by the basketball gods when they were given Hassan Whiteside. For nearly 50 games last year we saw a potential tank (and another name to uphold my “Golden Age of the Big Man” theory)
This man isn’t even getting paid $1 million yet has the potential to get on Andre Drummond and DeMarcus Cousins’ level in terms of what he means to his team.
But the Heat isn’t just Hassan Whiteside and Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra wants you to realise that.
Coach Erik Spoelstra, though, isn’t pinning the Heat’s hopes on one player. “You can’t just point it to one guy,” Spoelstra said. “It’s a five-man game. Hassan’s not going out there in UFC by himself or playing tennis. We have to build cohesiveness, and that takes some time to develop that trust.
“What Hassan gives you is a presence in the paint on both sides of the court. He’s bigger and stronger than most people you play against. Defensively we hope he can be one of our anchors near the rim and someone who can put a lot of pressure on the rim offensively.”
Hassan a beast no doubt, I’m a big fan of his (and if anyone says “The Whiteside Effect”, tell them I coined it) but the Heat aren’t legit just because of him. They still have DWade and Bosh. Gerald Green is flexing in preseason hoping to bring that into the regular season. Justise Winslow hopes to help as a Rookie talent. If all goes well the Heat can cause major damage in the Playoffs next year.
