Hassan Whiteside Has Earned His Defensive Hubris

MIAMI — By virtue of his 7'0", 265-pound frame, none of Hassan Whiteside's shirts look normal. Still, this particular piece of clothing seemed funny for more than just its fun-house mirror-style appearance.

The gray Nike shirt read, "Just Buckets," across the chest. It was tailor-made for a chucker. Yet buckets are what the $98 million man keeps opponents from ever finding.

"There are two different kinds of coaches and teams," Whiteside explained after an NBA season-high seven-block performance against the Milwaukee Bucks last Thursday. "There are coaches that say, 'Hassan Whiteside is down there, don't attack them.' Then, there are coaches and teams that are like, 'Hassan Whiteside is down there, let's attack.'

"God bless those teams. Long live those teams."

Blocks are the best place to start a Whiteside discussion because they've quickly become his trademark contribution (which he'll tell you himself).

Since the Miami Heat grabbed him out of thin air in November 2014, he has tallied a league-best 427 blocks. And that's not the most amazing part.

Over that same stretch, he's 138th in minutes played. If he walked away right now, he'd leave tied for the NBA's third-highest career blocks per-36-minute average (4.2, minimum 1,000 minutes played).

"He is the best shot-blocker in our league," Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg said before Whiteside had 20 points, 20 rebounds and three blocks against them. "He is a monster."

Whiteside isn't the current blocks leader—his 2.7 per game trail only Anthony Davis' 3.0—but he is on pace to secure the first rebounding crown of his career. His 15.9 per-game average not only leads the league, but it's also the highest recorded by a qualified player since Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman snagged 16.1 in 1996-97.

During Miami's 101-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, Whiteside blitzed the highly touted up-and-coming tandem of Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor for a career-high 32 points on 13-of-19 shooting.

Miami's massive man in the middle also leads the NBA with 12 double-doubles, and he's the only player with double-digit rebounds in every contest. He's also the most effective rim protector among high-volume bigs (36.9 percent shooting allowed inside).

Is Whiteside the NBA's most productive center?

It's a subjective stance and far from a universal opinion—NBA general managers didn't mention him in the best center voting on their annual survey—but the stat sheet says there's an argument to be made. He's one of eight centers averaging at least 25 minutes with a player efficiency rating of 17-plus, and he ranks at or near the top of multiple stat categories within the group.

Numbers alone won't quell Whiteside's critics, who have longed to see more consistency and a better mental approach from the springy 7-footer. But his rapid rise goes well beyond the box score.

For a Heat team reeling from the losses of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in a two-year span, the formerly hot-headed Whiteside is becoming a leader.

"I think he's doing a really good job of trying to step into that role and be more vocal, which I think was what everybody was kind of criticizing him for was sometimes getting into his little moods," Heat guard Tyler Johnson told Bleacher Report. 

"But I think he's done a really good job of being receptive to other guys talking to him. He doesn't just brush off information; he actually looks like he's trying to take it in and apply it."

That's an important step, especially as it comes with Whiteside's new pay rate. There was a litany of questions about what would happen if Miami gave him the max-money keys to the franchise, as well as his perceived immaturity, but so far, he has accepted everything.

"I'm just understanding my impact on the game and how much the team values me," Whiteside told Bleacher Report. "I'm seeing how much I can help them win."

The 4-9 Heat aren't doing much winning for now—facing the league's fifth-toughest schedule hasn't helped—and won't until there's some kind of resolution with the injured Bosh's massive cap hit. But Whiteside is helping maximize the chances they have.

His contributions aren't hollow stats—a knock that followed him before. Now, he's lifting his box score and his squad simultaneously. With him, the Heat sport a plus-1.4 net efficiency rating, a better mark than the one held by the Boston Celtics. Without him, Miami plunges to minus-7.6, nestling between the Orlando Magic and lowest-ranked 76ers (minus-9.8).

"He's playing at a very high level," Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd said. "Just seeing his growth and hard work, it's paid off. He's a force to be reckoned with in the paint. He's offensively gifted, and defensively, he's the best at what he does—changing shots, blocking shots and rebounding."

He's not chasing blocks to tally them, hence the dominant glass work and elite impact on opponents' interior shots. He's providing more resistance underneath and giving a better fight away from the rim, helping the Heat hold the No. 3 spot in defensive efficiency (99.5 points allowed per 100 possessions). And that's with Miami's playing a slew of youngsters and rotating between turnstiles Luke Babbitt and Derrick Williams as starting the power forward.

"Defensively, he can impact the whole game," Johnson said. "You feel like if your guy beats you, you still have that safety net. Not a lot of teams have a guy like that where he can really impact the game—come down three, four, five possessions in a row and get a block or disrupt a shot." 

The next step is spawning a similar growth on offense, which isn't out of the question for the 27-year-old. Whiteside's biggest issues are tied to awareness—shot selection, reading defenses and knowing when and where to pass.

But those are common themes for young players, and he is one in a basketball sense. Whiteside was drafted in 2010, but he's played fewer career minutes than six different members of the 2014 draft class. He didn't play for two seasons, and then his climb from roster-filler to franchise face took less than two full seasons.

"He's feeling the responsibility of inspiring and helping a team win. It's a big responsibility," Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. "You have to put yourself out there as a competitor and show everyone how much it means to you. When you do that, you make yourself vulnerable, especially when you don't get the result that you want.

"Hassan is putting himself out there. He's trying to make big-time plays on both ends of the court. You get better from that. I think he's grown as a competitor and someone that's started to really take ownership and responsibility to help a team win." 

Heat Insider's Notebook

Why So Slow?

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The Heat have surrounded fast-break dynamo Goran Dragic with a slew of athletic gazelles hopped up on youthful enthusiasm. So naturally, they operate at the league's eighth-slowest pace, a tick behind Dwyane Wade's new club (10th-slowest).

Wait, what?

It doesn't make sense for a number of reasons, not the least of which are the near-nightly pleas from Spoelstra to put the pedal down. Not only would playing faster put youngsters such as Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and Dion Waiters in their best possible positions, but it would also hide the half-court struggles that stem from being without a dynamic perimeter scorer.

"We would like to play faster," Spoelstra said. "Ultimately, the team will tell you how fast it can go."

In other words, this is mostly a controllable issue.

Miami needs its defense to help juice the offense. That means finishing defensive possessions with forced turnovers or one-shot rebounds. Despite the havoc Whiteside is creating, the Heat hold bottom-half rankings in defensive rebounding percentage (75.2, tied for 23rd) and fast-break points per game (11.8, 19th).

Miami's Midsummer Heist

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The 2016 signing of James Johnson wasn't supposed to be more than a footnote in the Heat's franchise almanac. Between Wade's departure and the nearly $150 million invested in Whiteside and Tyler Johnson, the one-year, $4 million pact given to James looked as anonymous as it gets.

Then the season started, and he made himself Miami's most indispensable frontcourt reserve. Now on his fifth team in eight seasons, the 29-year-old has dazzled as a scorer, distributor, rebounder and defender.

"A lot of times players just need the right fit, the right time and the right opportunity," Spoelstra said. "We always liked the way he competed against us when we had previous teams with great dynamic wing scorers. We liked his Swiss army, position-less style. We figured it would be a good fit here."

Even optimistic fans must be impressed by Johnson's transition.

Plagued by inconsistency in the past, he seems to have unlocked the keys to becoming a constant positive. If the campaign closed today, he'd have career bests in points (9.2 per game), threes (1.0) and three-point percentage (36.1). He's also slicing 15.2 points off his opponents' field-goal percentages, the second-best mark among all NBA regulars. 

Getting to Know: Rodney McGruder

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Bleacher Report: Three seasons passed between your final college game and first NBA appearance. What helped you persevere and finally make it to this level?

Rodney McGruder: I feel like just having faith in God, for real. That's what it really was. It was just working and having determination of trying to reach my goal.

B/R: I'm sure it was a trying experience, but did going through that grind help you at all?

RM: It helped me a lot. It helped me build character in myself. It helped me grow.

B/R: Since getting to the league, has anything surprised you at all?

RM: It's still basketball, but the decision-making here has to be so quick. You can miss opportunities really quickly if you don't take advantage of them and make that quick pass. If you don't, that play is over. One second can mess the whole play up.

B/R: Has any of it felt surreal, or are you not able to feel that in the moment?

RM: You really can't feel it in the moment because you just try to take advantage of your opportunity. I'm just focused in the moment; that's just how I am.

B/R: For fans still learning your game, are there are any past or present player models that you've followed?

RM: I just like guys who compete, play hard. I like a lot of my teammates' games. A lot of them guys compete, play hard. Anybody who does that, I respect them and like watching them play.

All quotes obtained firsthand. Statistics accurate as of Monday and used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.

Zach Buckley covers the Miami Heat for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.