NBA: Best Free Agency Fits For Hassan Whiteside
Miami Heat
Whenever a player hits the market and is expected to see a huge pay day come their way, the chances that they remain with the current team are very likely.
The free agency period always stirs up fans and gives excitement to the notion that their respective team may be the one to snatch up a talent such as Whiteside to bolster their chances of winning a championship.
But in this case, the fans may actually get what they want if that’s seeing Whiteside in a new uniform. The Miami Heat do not have Whiteside’s full Bird rights, meaning they won’t be able to exceed the salary cap by signing him.
This creates quite a complicated situation especially since Dwyane Wade will look to get a max contract, which would start at $30 million and cripple the Heat from doing much more after that.
Of course, there is the option that Wade elects to take less money to make room for Whiteside. Wade did the same thing when LeBron James and Chris Bosh jumped on board. There is only one problem here, Whiteside isn’t LeBron James.
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If the Heat are able to work something out and sign Whiteside, it would be their best chances of staying competitive in the Eastern Conference. Whiteside suffered a knee injury during the series with
and his absence was definitely felt.
He and Wade developed a great chemistry throughout this seasons in particular with pick-and-roll situations. With Wade’s ability to create off the dribble and Whiteside’s efficiency around the rim, the end result would usually be two points from either of the two.
His defensive presence and ability to block shots often made up for perimeter players when struggling to keep their match ups in front of them.
Just having Whiteside in the paint often made teams game plan to shoot more outside jumpers to avoid “Count Blockula” (as Whiteside calls himself).
Head coach Erik Spoelstra and Whiteside have butted heads a number of times, but it looked as if once the playoffs came around, the two started gelling better–mainly because Whiteside was becoming more disciplined on the court.
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Heat fans would love to keep Whiteside around for his prime years of being a dominant big man in this league but realistically, he could be suiting up elsewhere for the 2016-17 season and on.