Don’t want anything to do with Whiteside. I could go into a lot more details since
@Nathan S and
@The Human Q-Tip asked, but have to prep for a meeting.
1. Why would you get him?
- If you swap one bad contract for another, what do you gain? Is he better than TT in a vacuum? Yeah, but playoffs TT was actually a much better player than Whiteside (see more below about Whitside’s playoffs benching for being unplayable).
- Are you going to be a better team with him? Probably not (will explain down below including an all time shitty playoffs performance)
- Let’s say he was actually a difference maker (he’s not)—are you contending? No, so why would you do it?
- This team supposedly wants to build a culture around being competitive and smart and unselfish. Whiteside is a HEADACHE and not good for locker room, has a low BBIQ, and is selfish and a locker room detriment.
In SUMMATION: not a very good player in today’s league who is a pain in the ass in the locker room who’s also on a shitty contract. We gain NOTHING.
2.
Whiteside’s impact
7,225 minutes played in his career. The Heat have been +.4 per 100 possessions better with Whiteside ON Court than OFF. So, on a team that hasn’t been good/talented after Bron left, Whiteside’s time on court has made ZERO difference.
In fact, when the Heat played Olynyk at center and Whiteside was on the bench, the Heat had one of the NBA’s most potent offenses at an ORTG of 113.9. Miami was a NET +5.8 per 100 possessions with Olynyk on court and Whiteside off, equivalent to a 55 to 60 win type of team.
2018 impact: Miami was -2.4 per 100 possessions with Whiteside on court in 1,365 minutes (30 win type team), and was +2.8 per 100 with him off court in 2,621 minutes (50+ win type playoff team).
Literally, the only reason the Heat made the playoffs was because of the way it played with Whiteside ON THE BENCH.
As the league has evolved, the chance that a guy like Whiteside can make a two-way difference is close to ZERO.
—He cannot shoot and is an average player “roll man” on the pick and roll.
—He’s a good offensive rebounder and has improved his FT shooting so if he did just those things, he might be least neutral on offense, but he’s not content with that.
—He has been upset at his team for not getting him more touches so he can “dominate down low.” You don’t need this on this young team.
2018 Heat ORTG WITH Whiteside: 104.1
2018 Heat ORTG WITHOUT Whiteside: 109.5
The Heat played massively better on offense when Whiteside sat on the bench. In fact, Whiteside was benched in the playoffs for being unplayable.
2018 Playoffs Heat ORTG WITH Whiteside: 92.5
2018 Playoffs Heat ORTG WITHOUT Whiteside: 108.5
Whiteside had the THIRD LOWEST offensive box/plus minus EVER in a single playoff season for a player who played at least 75 minutes at an unfsthomably bad -11.6.
—Defensive impact
He IS a good rim protector but before this year, his lack of awareness on rotations, and inability to defend in space has made him not much of a defensive impact player.
2018 Heat DRTG WITH Whiteside: 106.5
2018 Heat DRTG WITHOUT Whiteside: 106.7 (no difference)
2017 Heat DRTG WITH Whiteside: 108.2
2017 Heat DRTG WITHOUT Whiteside: 105.6 (much BETTER WITHOUT Whiteside)
2018 Heat DRTG WITH Whiteside: 106.5
2018 Heat DRTG WITHOUT Whiteside: 106.7 (no difference)
2016 Heat DRTG WITH Whiteside: 105.1
2016 Heat DRTG WITHOUT Whiteside: 104.2 (slightly BETTER WITHOUT Whiteside)
So...you have a negative offensive player who lives in the dinosaur age and a defender who cannot defend in space in pace and space era.
244 NBA players defended at least 1 spot up possession per gene and played 50+ games. Whiteside was the 14th worst defender on spots up in the NBA giving up a shitty 1.18 PPP and nearly 43% on threes. BTW, Nwaba was third worst in the NBA giving up an unholy 1.27 PPP.
He can't switch out to perimeter players and struggles to get back into position if he does do so.
TL;DR: makes zero sense for any team to get Whiteside unless he plays spot minutes and with his contract, that would be ridiculous.
I would also add that hsd we had Whiteside instead of TT in 2016, there’s a good chance we’re worse and don’t win the title.