The Way To Use Hassan Whiteside

By Christopher Cruz | Feb 4, 2015

Jan 3, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside (21) dunks the ball during the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

So far, the Miami Heat have used Hassan Whiteside sparingly. I don’t entirely fault the Heat organization for dipping their toes in the water before jumping into the pool. They cannot think like fans do, for if they did, they’d run the organization into the ground. They have to be cautious. But I think it is time to move passed caution and into strategy.

Whiteside has proven that he is capable of being an NBA center. If Nick Collison can do it, and he scored yesterday, then so can Whiteside.

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Even in the process of just giving us little allowances of Whiteside, he has proven capable on offense, scoring primarily through dunks and short jump shots. His rebounding is unbelievable, evidenced by his effort against the Dallas Mavericks, when he collected 14 rebounds in the first quarter.

Has there been a center in Miami Heat history that has dominated on the glass in this fashion? The only one that comes to mind is Rony Seikaly.

His defense? It is impeccable. He is averaging 14.5 points per game with 12.2 rebounds per game in games that he plays 20 or more minutes. That means that when he gets more playing time, he is dominating. When he plays over 28 minutes, he is averaging 17 points per game and 15.4 rebounds per game.

Miami needs to, and has begun to, provide more minutes to Whiteside. Not too many, but enough to be effective. Miami fans might feel tempted to want to insert him in the lineup as soon as things get bad. Because they have gotten bad before. One example of that is in the same Dallas game that I brought up before. Miami played well, until the second half.

The second half has historically killed the Heat all season long. When Whiteside was not played during the third quarter, fans were up in arms.

That is understandable, and Coach Erik Spoelstra even admitted that he kept Whiteside out for too long. But what needs to be understood is that Whiteside, like all big men, can be less effective if he is playing 40 minutes per game. Generally, big men plunge faster in terms of stamina and the ability to do it over the long haul.

Whiteside is a treasure for the Heat, and he needs to be preserved as such. But it wouldn’t be too difficult to imagine him playing 28-32 minutes per game, depending on context. Anything more might be reckless, but certainly anything less is boxing him in.

Speaking of boxing him in, another slight strategy tweak is to begin to shift offensive priority to him. Yes, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh need to get their touches, but the big three era is over with and it is time to move on and begin to think about what might happen in the future. Wade will probably be relieved to not have the burden on him anymore to score between 24-30 per night.

It is too much to ask of him (see the entire first portion of the season when Bosh was out and the team scored 87 points against the Utah Jazz and Wade had 42 and they lost).

In regards to Bosh, an interesting thought came when the Heat were playing the Boston Celtics. I saw Hassan Whiteside flash to just about the free-throw line and receive the ball. Upon receiving the ball, he took the shot with Bosh on the block fighting for the rebound.

Whiteside ended up missing the shot (although if you saw the game he had been making them) and Bosh got the rebound and put in the layup. That kind of high-low game should be something that the Heat really try to prioritize. Bosh can receive that pass as well, with Whiteside down low.

That type of play would create massive disruption in defenses, because it doesn’t have to be a jump shot. The player can catch and take it to the basket, or pass if he attracts attention. That makes defenses cave in, leaving wing players to roam around the lane. It would also take a lot of attention off of Shabazz Napier and Mario Chalmers, who have struggled on offense.

They can be the subject of passes to the three-point line and can sit outside and hit those shots. Chalmers did it during the LeBron era, so he can do it now.

With Whiteside getting more touches, the defense would shift naturally to his side, whether he is catching at the free-throw line, or catching down low on the block, and weak side shooters would be open for shots. The reason this is so important is that Miami didn’t have this before.

Basically, what you had were players who took their position at the wing, waited for Wade and Bosh to do something, then maybe pump fake, dribble twice and pass it. This would go on until the end of the shot clock when Wade would catch the ball and be called upon to deliver miracles.

The final point of strategy that Miami should tweak is becoming a bit free-flowing on offense. Run a little bit. Get the shot off with some seconds to spare on the shot clock. Score over 100 points. The Heat are now 10-5 when they score more than 100 points in a game. Allow there to be room for mistakes when Whiteside and new Heat sensation Tyler Johnson are in the game.

Most would rather see mistakes while trying to make plays a la Stephen Curry, than see mistakes being made in a system that can’t score.

Next: 50 Greatest NBA Players Without a Championship

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