Miami Heat’s Hasaan Whiteside named NBA All-Defensive Second Team
The snubs keep on coming for Hassan Whiteside.
After finishing third in the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year voting last month, the NBA’s leader in blocks this season was head-scratchingly named to the All-NBA Defensive Second Team on Wednesday.
Whiteside was beat out for the top spot among centers by the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan, who had three more first-team votes and five more second-team votes than Whiteside in the position-specific media balloting for the two five-player units. The Heat’s center, who becomes a free agent this summer, finished sixth among all vote-getters with 141 points.
The voting for Defensive Player of the Year and the NBA All-Defensive teams are done separately.
Jordan, who finished one spot behind Whiteside in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, had a slightly better defensive rating (100.3) than Whiteside (101.5) according to the NBA’s official defensive tracking system. But Whiteside still averaged 3.8 blocks to Jordan’s 2.3 and also defended more field goals at the rim (769) than any player in the league.
Whiteside’s 9.7 block percentage was the highest in the NBA and no other player had a percentage higher than 6.1. According to Basketball Reference, Whiteside’s defensive rating of 94.5 was the best in the NBA this season and the best rating in the league during the past five years.
He also became only the second player in NBA history to block at least 250 shots and shoot better than 60 percent (.606) from the field, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1979-80). Whiteside also became only the third player during the past 20 years to post at least 1,000 points (1,040) and block at least 250 shots, joining Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.
Whiteside recorded 22 five-plus block games, the second most during a single season in team history and blocked multiple shots in 23 consecutive games, the longest such streak in franchise history. He also blocked multiple shots in 21 consecutive games to start the season, the third-longest streak to start a season during the past 30 years, only Mark Eaton (1988-89) and Shaquille O’Neal (1992-93) had longer streaks.
Whiteside also led Miami in rebounds a team-high 55 times and grabbed double-figure rebounds a team-high 53 times, just three short of tying the single-season team record of 56 held by Rony Seikaly in 1991-92.
The only other Heat player to receive a vote for one of the 2016 All-Defensive teams was guard Dwyane Wade, who received a single second-team vote.
Only six Heat players in 28 seasons have been named to an NBA All-Defensive unit. Mourning, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, was voted first team in 1999 and 2000. LeBron James was named first team from 2011 to 2013 and was second team in 2014. Wade was named to second team three times (2005, ’09, ’10), P.J. Brown twice was named to second (1997, ’99) and Bruce Bowen was named second team in 2001.
This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Miami Heat’s Hasaan Whiteside named NBA All-Defensive Second Team."