Miami Heat: Do Hassan Whiteside’s Stats Outweigh Actual Impact?
By Aaron Mah
By now, you have probably heard of Hassan Whiteside‘s story.
A former second round pick (33rd overall) of the 2010 NBA Draft, the 7-foot behemoth quickly played himself out of the league — driven in large by his lack of maturity and basketball IQ.
In an effort to keep his professional career on life support, he would travel to the edge of the world, to countries such as Lebanon and China, in addition to multiple trips down to the NBA D-League, just to keep his playing dreams alive.
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Lo and behold, Whiteside would finally receive his long awaited second chance last season when he signed a training camp deal with the Memphis Grizzlies. However, the imposing center would be cut from the team just a mere month later.
His fortunes would turn around permanently during the end of November 2014, though, as Pat Riley and the Miami Heat took a flier on the former Marshall Thundering Herd. And while it took him a minute to earn coach Erik Spoelstra’s trust, once Hassan entered the Heat’s active rotation, he would put the entire NBA universe on League Pass notice.
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Whiteside’s physical tools are unparalleled — a giant of a human being who is blessed with a 7’7″ wingspan and a 9’5″ standing reach. Weighing in at a chiseled 265 pounds, he is nimble enough to cover the entire lane, often swooping over in a moment’s notice to obliterate an unsuspecting opponent’s field goal attempt.
An unadulterated athletic marvel, the gangly pterodactyl would take the league by storm — accumulating points-rebounds-blocks triple-doubles in his sleep, as he led the resurging Heat back into the playoff picture.
But when it was all said and done, despite Whiteside’s otherworldly raw statistical output and mind-numbing advanced metrics, Miami would miss the postseason for the first time since 2008.
In the interest of full disclosure, the Heat did miss Chris Bosh for the stretch run and Dwyane Wade did take his annual 20 games off throughout the season. Moreover, due to the logistical complications of trade deadline deals, in conjunction with the aforementioned Bosh health status, their projected starting lineup of Goran Dragic-Dwyane Wade-Luol Deng-Chris Bosh-Hassan Whiteside failed to step foot on the court with one another in 2014-15.
Sure enough, as we entered the 2015-16 season, most prognosticators would predict the Heat to not only cement their status as an Eastern Conference playoff team, but to catapult themselves into the top-four.
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On paper, their starting lineup stacks up with the best the association has to offer. However, thus far this season, in 84 minutes of the play, the quintet has experienced a Net Rating (or net differential per 100 possessions) of -2.5.
The Heat, in general, has performed much better when operating in an authentic four-out alignment, as the lineup of Dragic-Wade-Justise Winslow-Deng-Whiteside has produced an astonishing Net Rating of 36.0 while playing at a pace (or possessions played per 48 minutes) of 103.7, per NBA.com’s SportVU Data.
With that being said, all in all, the difference between a Whiteside-induced and Whiteside-less Miami Heat is immaterial. In fact, contrary to his reputation as a defensive stalwart, the Heat are markedly worse on the D when Hassan is anchoring the paint — giving up a whopping 13.2 points per 100 possessions more when compared to when he is seated on the bench.
On the other hand, however, Miami’s offensive efficacy skyrockets with the presence of the hard-rolling big man — scoring 13.4 points per 100 possessions more with Hassan on the floor.
| Team | Opponent | Difference | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Split | MP | eFG% | ORtg | eFG% | ORtg | eFG% | ORtg |
| On Court | 184 | .543 | 108.5 | .471 | 103.7 | +.072 | +4.8 |
| Off Court | 104 | .445 | 95.1 | .407 | 90.5 | +.039 | +4.6 |
| On − Off | 64% | +.098 | +13.4 | +.064 | +13.2 | +.033 | +0.2 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/8/2015.
Although it makes sense for the Heat’s offense to flourish with the attention Whiteside demands as the hub of their spread pick-and-roll offense, especially when Miami goes small, it is a bit puzzling as to why their defense struggles so direly with Hassan manning the interior. After all, he is among the league leaders in rim protection, giving up the third lowest percentage (39.7 percent) of any anchor who defends eight or more shots at the rim per game.
Moreover, he has proven to be among the league’s best on the defensive boards, sporting a defensive rebound percentage of 31.9 percent — which ranks fourth in the entire association.
At this point, however, it is hard to argue Whiteside is anything more than an incredibly gifted shot-blocker on the defensive end.
To be more specific, too often does Hassan aimlessly go after every single shot, even if the proposition is of the hopeless variety; thereby, giving the opposing center a free lane to tip-in an unimpeded offensive board. In addition, at this point in time, he is also a painfully incoherent pick-and-roll defender, a victim of his slouched deposition and inactive hands.
Alternatively, when the Heat opts to go “position less,” with the energetic trio of Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow and Josh McRoberts leading the way, Miami’s defensive intensity rises incrementally — spearheaded by their relentless ball pressure on opposing ballhandlers, scrambling hard doubles and flawless rotations.
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His swat barrages are undoubtedly awe-inspiring to watch, but too often times does Whiteside let a missed call on the offensive end, and/or pent-up frustrations from not getting the ball, hinder his concentration defensively.
If there was a stat to measure shitty body language, Hassan would rank among the NBA’s elite — with slumped shoulders, petulant arm flings, and hanging heads serving as Whiteside’s go-to pouting moves.
It is easy to see why teams so easily gave up on the physical specimen the first time around. Most times, it feels like we’re watching a ticking time bomb whenever he is on the court.
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That is not to say he will forever remain a borderline headcase. He has proven his penchant to mature at a rapid rate over the past five years. If the evolution of Zach Randolph has taught us anything, Hassan Whiteside too can effectively channel all of his jaw-dropping tools to become, dare I say, the most dominant interior presence on the planet.
Without a doubt, he can do things the 99.9 percent of the human populace cannot do; now, it is time for him to parlay his talent into tangible impact.