Through three postseason games, Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside is not satisfied with his role in the offense. From ESPN’s Ian Begley:
“It’s just different, man. I feel like our offense is a lot different. I’m not as involved in as many dribble handoffs as I was and post-ups as I was in the regular season,” Whiteside said after scoring five points in 13 minutes in Miami’s Game 3 loss to Philadelphia. “That’s what coach [Erik Spoelstra] wants. Coach wants me to just be in the corner and set picks. That’s what he wants. I’ve just got to trust it.”:
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“I want to get more rebounds out there. I want to get more minutes out there. I’m just going to keep trusting coach’s decision-making,” Whiteside said. “Even with the fouls, I still could have been out there. I wouldn’t have fouled out. I am going to keep trusting coach’s decision-making.”
Through three games in the playoffs, Whiteside has played just 13.7 minutes per contest, down from 25.3 in the regular season. In those 13.7 minutes, Whiteside has performed forgettably, averaging 3.7 points, four rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game on 42.9 percent shooting.
Whiteside being upset about a diminished role is nothing new; earlier this season, he was fined an undisclosed amount by the team for making “comments detrimental to the team,” regarding his reduced role. His 25.3 minutes per game this season were the lowest he’s averaged since prior to his emergence in 2014-15.
