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Miami Heat: Recent Incidents A Reminder Of Players’ Humanity

By David Ramil

Dec 19, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (right) talks with center Hassan Whiteside (left) after Whiteside committed a foul during the second half against the Washington Wizards at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 19, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade (right) talks with center Hassan Whiteside (left) after Whiteside committed a foul during the second half against the Washington Wizards at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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How often do we overlook it, that element which should be so obvious as we appreciate the game of basketball. The incredible athletes that toil on hardwood floor, that fail or succeed on a nightly basis, aren’t just player.

The game is actually played by people.

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You tend to ignore the humanity of it all as you collect statistics like playing cards or watch games with a detached air. Analyzing pick-and-roll combinations and tallying usage rates…these tasks inherently exclude the details of lives spent mostly off the court.

Hassan Whiteside was recently suspended for one game following an incident with Boston’s Kelly Olynyk. Whiteside has been an issue for the Heat lately (and by extension, their fans) because he’s been so emotional on the floor. The fight with Olynyk came just two games after being tossed for tackling Phoenix’s Alex Len to the ground after a brief scuffle under the hoop.

Now, in a recent interview with the Palm Beach Post’s Jason Lieser, Whiteside reveals that he “just had a lot going on in my personal life,” an admission that the towering 7-footer with cartoonish muscles is just as vulnerable and human as the rest of us.

Talk about your hot sports take.

And while I recognize I might be stating the obvious, consider when was the last time you thought about a player’s life off the court while you were watching what they do on it? As Player X missed a last-second shot or didn’t box out someone for a crucial rebound, did you think about what could have preceded that?

A break-up, an illness, a divorce … all these things can leave you wounded and distracted. When a player says he “needs to get his head in the game,” it’s his heart that might actually be a million miles away.

This Heat season has been a wonderful mess, from LeBron James‘ departure to the constant array of injuries that had led to Miami starting 27 different lineups this season (the third-most in the NBA, behind the lowly Knicks and 76ers).

There’s so much taking place on the court — the constant influx of new players, the adjustments made on a nightly basis — that it’s easy to overlook all the basic, boring things that have also served as distractions this season.

Michael Beasley, in his unprecedented third stint with the team, seems to have finally figured out that this chance might actually be his last. Despite all the talent in the world his well-known aversion to defense basically led to his exile from the league this past offseason.

Now, focused and engaged on both ends of the floor, he explained that his resurgence is based on wanting to serve as a better example for the children we didn’t even know he had.

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    • Chris Bosh, as open and honest a person as there is in the NBA, was recently felled by blood clots in his lungs. It’s hard to imagine this sort of thing happening to such well-conditioned athletes that have access to the best medical equipment available and yet it happened nonetheless.

    He’s expected back next season at full strength, and his recovery has already begun and his prognosis was so positive because it was detected early. It might not have detected at all if Bosh’s wife, Adrienne, hadn’t nagged her husband to go to the doctor like so many millions of other wives have had to do.

    A brush with death. A concerned wife. What does this have to do with true shooting percentages?

    Nothing and yet everything. Because while we root for our favorite teams and favorite players, follow them on social media and dissect their every over-publicized move, we forget that we’re only witnessing a fraction of what their lives entail: the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

    As we all get caught up in this most exciting time in basketball, the union of the NBA playoff race and the NCAA championship drive, it’s important to realize that the games we can see are often impacted by the things we can’t.

    Next: 50 Greatest NBA Players Without a Championship

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