Hassan Whiteside, who finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting, will reportedly be the Heat’s top priority this summer, says President Pat Riley:
Riley on Whiteside, "He's our number-one priority, period. Our number-one priority is Hassan Whiteside."
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) May 18, 2016
Riley on Whiteside, "He'll be right there at 12:01 for us," at the July 1 start of free agency.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) May 18, 2016
Heat point guard Goran Dragic also wants Whiteside to remain in Miami:
Dragic said he will work to try to keep Whiteside.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) May 17, 2016
How much does Dragic want to keep Whiteside? He said he plans to up his Snapchat game.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) May 17, 2016
Whiteside has a lot of growing to do, on and off the court. However, he is an incredibly talented player.
Whiteside will likely be able to get a max contract this summer if that’s his goal. There are a great deal of teams that could use a dynamic shot-blocking center.
In 73 games for the Heat this season(including 43 starts), Whiteside averaged 14.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.7 blocks in 29.1 minutes per game. He also shot 60.6% from the field, and 65% from the free throw line. He led the league in blocks by a significant margin(second place was Rudy Gobert with 2.3 per game), and was also third in both rebounds per game and field goal percentage. He had a pretty impressive statistical season, now we’ll have to wait and see if he wants to come back to Miami.
