As Hassan Whiteside returns to Miami, former Heat teammates reflect on what was
Center Hassan Whiteside has a goal this season: Clear the confusion.
Whiteside has used the hashtag #ClearTheConfusion in various social media posts recently. It has become Whiteside’s mission to erase the perception that he gives no effort and puts up empty stats.
“I think people have a misconception of me,” Whiteside said to The Athletic in November. “I don’t know what it is, where it is coming from, I really don’t know. ... They are probably saying I didn’t put in no effort tonight. I don’t know. I’m so sick of hearing that [expletive]. I’m here busting my [expletive] on defense every day. I’m so tired of it. Tired of hearing it.”
Whiteside will have another opportunity to clear the confusion when he returns to Miami for Sunday’s matchup between the Portland Trail Blazers (15-21) and Miami Heat (25-10). It will mark the first time Whiteside has faced his former team since the Heat traded him to the Trail Blazers as part of the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade deal this past summer.
“It’ll be great going back there,” Whiteside told NBC Sports Northwest after the Trail Blazers’ Friday win over the Wizards. “It’s going to feel weird, 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.”
Whiteside, 30, is averaging 15.7 points, 13.8 rebounds and a league-leading 2.8 blocks in 29.7 minutes this season. He has averaged 18.8 points, 17.8 rebounds and 3.8 blocks over the past four games, including a stat line of 23 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks in Friday’s win over the Wizards.
“We know what Hassan is capable of,” veteran Heat forward Udonis Haslem said. “I’m not surprised at the numbers he’s putting up or the way he’s playing the game of basketball. I’ve always known what Hassan was capable of.”
With the Heat last season, Whiteside averaged 12.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 72 games, while averaging 23.3 minutes per game. He spent five seasons with Miami and is in the final season of the four-year, $98 million contract he signed with the Heat as a free agent in the summer of 2016.
As a member of the Heat, Whiteside led the NBA with 14.1 rebounds per game in 2016-17 and led the NBA with 3.7 blocks per game in 2015-16. But it still didn’t work out in Miami, as he expressed frustration about his role multiple times during his Heat tenure and drew a fine for one expletive-filled rant in 2017-18.
“Misunderstood? Yes, sometimes,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said of Whiteside’s NBA reputation. “It’s tough. When you’re from the outside, people have their own thoughts and ideas. Usually it’s not 100 percent right because you need to see the full picture behind the scenes and everything. I think they misunderstand him quite a bit.”
That’s why a fresh start can mean just as much for Whiteside as it has for the Heat. Miami entered Saturday with the third-best record in the Eastern Conference and the fourth-best record in the NBA, while Whiteside’s five-season tenure in Miami included two winning seasons.
There is not expected to be an in-game tribute video for Whiteside on Sunday, as the Heat honored Josh Richardson’s return last week with a loud pregame introduction from public address announcer Michael Baiamonte. Miami reserves video tributes at AmericanAirlines Arena for players who were on its championship rosters, like the ones LeBron James, Mike Miller and Mario Chalmers received when they returned.
“For us, it didn’t work out,” Haslem said of Whiteside. “But that doesn’t mean it can’t work out anywhere else. There are a lot of leagues with a lot of teams, and sometimes guys just need to push the reset button and start from scratch in a new situation. So as far as a bad rap or whatever, I don’t know. I had no personal issues with Hassan.”
When news surfaced of Whiteside being moved to the Trail Blazers this past offseason, he went to social media to celebrate the trade and declared: “We got shooters!”
It turns out the Heat also has shooters, after the additions of rookie guards Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn, second-year forward Duncan Robinson and veteran center Meyers Leonard. Miami entered Saturday with the league’s second-best three-point shooting percentage at 37.6 percent, compared to the 10th-best three-point shooting percentage for Portland at 36.2 percent.
Then there’s Bam Adebayo, who is the Heat’s current starting center and began playing ahead of Whiteside toward the end of last season. Adebayo is in the middle of an All-Star worthy year, with averages of 15.5 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks.
The Trail Blazers have outscored opponents by 24 points with Whiteside on the court this season. Meanwhile, Adebayo is a plus-120 for the season.
“Once you’ve been in this locker room, you’re like family to us,” Adebayo said. “We never really forget you. It’s going to be fun playing against H. I feel like he’s going to come with a chip on his shoulder that game. So we got to be ready because you know he can have a big night any given night.”
Whiteside now wants to clear the confusion, especially the confusion that developed during this time with the Heat.
“A guy can go out there and get 16 [points] and 19 [rebounds], but it’s ‘He didn’t go hard ...’ like there’s nothing I can say to that,” Whiteside said to The Athletic in November. “... I don’t know what an empty stat is. If you get a rebound for your team, it’s better than Steven Adams getting it. So, there’s no such thing as an empty double-double. I don’t care what nobody says.”
Sometimes a new beginning is all that’s needed. With Adebayo ready to take on a starting role and the Heat needing to shed salary to make its trade for Butler work, Whiteside got his new beginning in Portland.
“That’s just the way it is in this league,” Haslem said. “Sometimes, for whatever reason, things just don’t work out. It’s nobody’s fault. Sometimes things just don’t mix.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2020 at 10:09 AM.
