South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Whiteside returns — and he’s on fire
Misunderstood or just underappreciated? ‘I gotta clear the confusion,’ center says
MIAMI — It was a relationship that began with an unconditional embrace.
Everything about Hassan Whiteside was fresh, fierce and, at the outset, fun, when he joined the Miami Heat in 2014-15.
You know:
“Ain’t nobody doing it with blocks.”
“I’m trying to get my NBA 2K rating up.”
“It’s hard to get assists when I’m always the one dunking.”
The statistics were impressive, leading the league in blocked shots in 2015-16 and in rebounding in 2016-17.
Wins, however, weren’t quite as bountiful.
And then came the 2017 offseason, a mere year after the Heat had rewarded Whiteside with a four-year, $98 million free-agency contract. That June, the Heat drafted center Bam Adebayo out of Kentucky, a month later signing Celtics center Kelly Olynyk in free agency.
Suddenly coach Erik Spoelstra envisioned a different way, arguably a better way. By the end of last season, Whiteside had become expendable, Spoelstra and the Heat determined to fully explore Adebayo’s possibilities, possibilities that now have him on the verge of the All-Star berth that Whiteside once viewed as his Heat destiny.
Sunday, Whiteside returns to
AmericanAirlines Arena for the first time in opposing colors, dealt in the offseason to the Portland Trail Blazers in the machination that facilitated the signing of Jimmy Butler.
“It’s going to feel weird,” Whiteside told NBC Sports Northwest after the Trail Blazers’ victory Friday in Washington. “I know it is, playing against guys that were my teammates, playing in front of the Heat fans, and having a different jersey. You know, I’ve got a lot of memories there. It’s going to be interesting.”
With plenty of motivation.
“I feel like he’s going to come with a chip on his shoulder,” Adebayo said as the Heat shifted their attention from Friday’s loss in Orlando to Sunday’s game against the Blazers.
As with many things Heat/Whiteside in recent years, it is a complicated reunion. No sooner was the 7-foot shot-blocker added to the Blazers’ mix of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, then he loudly and pointedly noted on Twitter, “We got shooters.”
Within days, Heat firstround pick Tyler Herro, after a stellar summer league, countered on his own Twitter account, “We got shootersss.”
Then, last month, after a Heat rally against the Atlanta Hawks fueled by the current wave of youthful Heat wings, Adebayo not so coincidentally also noted in his postgame comments, “We got shooters,” with a wide grin.
That is the side of the Whiteside equation that made the parting both inevitable and, arguably, beneficial for all involved, the everpresent unease.
“I understand what a change of scenery does for some people sometimes — refresh your mind, refresh your body, hit the restart button,” Heat captain Udonis Haslem said. “Sometimes you have to hit the reset button.”
That button has been reset with numbers in Portland that exceed Whiteside’s career averages, with Whiteside
coming off Friday’s 23-point, 21-rebound, fiveblock performance in Portland’s victory in Washington, or, as Whiteside likes to call his 20-20s, “a Barbara Walters.”
“I saw his numbers,” Haslem said. “I’m not surprised. I know what he’s capable of. We all know what he’s capable of.
“I saw the comment where [Lillard] said he was the best defensive center in the league. So we all know what Hassan is capable of.”
To guard Goran Dragic, Whiteside simply was “Whitey,” the goofy but endearing sidekick.
“He gets to start fresh, with different people, a different organization,” Dragic said. “It’s not easy, but at some point in your career you need that. I hope he finds his place over there.”
As with so many things Whiteside, including his uneven
relationship with Spoelstra, it often is a matter of being misunderstood … and perhaps underappreciated.
“I gotta a lot of confusion going on about me,” he told The Athletic earlier this season. “I gotta clear the confusion. That’s my slogan: Clear the confusion.
“I think people have a misconception of me. I don’t know what it is, where it is coming from, I really don’t know. But my friends, we talk about it all the time … yesterday, today, tomorrow … it’s always there.”
What eventually wasn’t there, at least in the view of many Heat fans as well as some within the organization, was the type of unrelenting effort that had defined his initial Heat months. That leaves uncertain the reception, with the Heat expected to acknowledge him similarly to last week’s recognition of Josh Richardson, during his return with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Honestly,” forward Derrick Jones Jr said, “I hope the fans do their best to greet him as well as he deserves. He was a great piece for us.
“I just hope that they don’t do how fans usually do to former players. I hope he
has a night nice in Miami.” To, of course, a degree. “He’s on the opposite
team, so we’re going to battle,” Adebayo said. “Once you’ve been in this locker
room, you’re kind of like family to us. We never really forget you.”