Hassan Whiteside

[Stark]

This guy pretty much came out of nowhere. He's 7'0'' and 25 years old in his second year out of Marshall. This season he is averaging 8.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 2.4 BPG along with a crazy 27.83 PER in 17.6 MPG.

His per 36 numbers are absolutely insane: 17.5 PPG, 15.5 RPG, 4.8 BPG

He recently had a triple-double where he had 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 blocks.

In the month of January he averaged 13 PPG, 10.6 RPG, and 3.4 BPG over 23.6 MPG.

The only downside is that he's a member of the Miami Heat and is a solid complement to Chris Bosh.

 

[Jstock12]

He's a Mozgov-lite.

 

[theSTEREO.]

What an awesome find that couldn't have happened to a worse fan base.

It's as shocking a discovery as Linsanity was, only Whiteside's game is sustainable. He'll be a cornerstone for their rebuild. They'll have a nice frontcourt for awhile, and once Old Man Wade finally bursts into dust, they'll have to have some smart drafting to fill out the rest of the team.

 

[macbdog]

He's a Mozgov-lite.

More like a rich man's Mozgov. Or rather, he is the kind of Mozgov-type that a Pat Riley acquires- better defense and for free.

 

[Jstock12]

More like a rich man's Mozgov. Or rather, he is the kind of Mozgov-type that a Pat Riley acquires- better defense and for free.

I was just joking in my post Whiteside is definitely the better defender. Statistically Mozgov isn't even a plus defender. But he does some other good things for the Cavs.

 

[Dylan Windler's Mom]

Why couldn't a young talented 7'0 big man fall out of the sky for us when we needed it?

 

[MirORich]

Why couldn't a young talented 7'0 big man fall out of the sky for us when we needed it?

Us and 28 other fanbases are shaking their heads saying the exact same thing.

He must be similar to a Danny Green(mentally), who needed to be cut and ignored by the league to get his head right and for the first time take advantage of his insane physical gifts.

It will be really fascinating to see if he can keep this up. It certainly looks like it right now. If he plays like this for the rest of the year and next year, he s going to get a massive payday in 2016.

 

[Lee]

Why does he only play 20 mins a game?

 

[David.]

He's playing a more in the last five or ten, exactly when his numbers went ballistic.

 

[priceFTW]

Why does he only play 20 mins a game?

They want to take it easy with him because he's not used to playing at all really so big minutes early might make him susceptible to injury.

This type of find can change around a team's fortunes. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts, but his gaudy numbers are not based on any type of skill that be affected by lots of variance from game to game, but mostly size, length, and athleticism. I don't think he'll keep the gaudy PER, but I can see the monster rebounding and blocks continuing. The only weaknesses Miami had the last three years were interior defense and rebounding. Imagine that Miami team with this Whiteside...James might not have ever left. Who knows?

With Hassan on court, the Heat grab 52% of all rebounds, making them tied for the THIRD BEST rebounding team.
With Hassan off court, the Heat grab 47.5% of all rebounds, making them tied for the WORST rebounding team.

With Hassan on court, the Heat have the 10th BEST offense (all the ORebs and easy dunks).
With Hassan off court, the Heat have the 24th BEST offense.

In his last 8 games, his ORTG is 124 and DRTG 93.

Lastly, though it's true that literally every other team would have loved to get Whiteside, it burns that we were a team with a really glaring hole at center (not all teams had as glaring a need as we did although they could all use Whiteside) and really only needed some size and length and a little bit of IQ. We had offense and ball handling and shooting and other areas covered. We just needed some big body who was preferably mobile. It's hard to accept that we thought Kirk and Sweet Lou were fine for us.

 

[crabbyshark]

Why does he only play 20 mins a game?

He gets into foul trouble a lot. That will likely improve with experience.

His game reminds me of Marcus Camby.

 

[kovanovich]

From what I understand, he was very immature when he was drafted back in 2010. Then he bounced all over the D League and overseas. He twice played for teams based in Lebanon of all places.

I don't know what to say about him. What he has done is more unexpected, and in some ways more impressive, than Linsanity.

Miami deserves credit for unearthing him. I guess they had been interested in him for years and continued to track his progress. Just glad his emergence in Miami happened this year rather than last year.

Yes, the Cavs missed on him. And I doubt they were even paying attention, with their focus elsewhere. The bigger issue is that from 2010-2014 they really were quite bad at finding good players as cheap free agents and as reclamation projects. I've said elsewhere the guy who fits this description who had the most success was Alonzo Gee. Delly is another guy, and we will have to see what type of career he has. Guys like Whiteside don't grow on trees, but every year there are a few guys who come out of nowhere and make solid contributions, and some of them go on to have very good careers.

Just before the draft in June 2010, DraftExpress tweeted that Whiteside was the DeAndre Jordan of that draft. Just like Jordan, it took him a number of years, but that tweet is now looking prophetic.

 

[kookoo]

He can hit jumpers too.

 

[Jack Brickman]

What's crazy is that he called all thirty teams trying to get a workout and only the Heat got back to him.

 

[Jstock12]

Just glad his emergence in Miami happened this year rather than last year.

Why? The Cavs would still have Wiggins, enough capspace to take a chance on some guys (whatever the position), also would have saved some good assets. Yes, Cavs wouldn't be a contender (are they really a one now?), but it might be a pretty exciting brand of basktball with Kyrie and Wiggins leading the charge. Blatt wouldn't have to deal with the wildcard that is LeBron and might actually be able to coach this team how he wants.