6 Most Impressive Games of Hassan Whiteside's Breakout Season so Far
Hassan Whiteside has had the wackiest year of any player in the league, and it's not all that close.
Needing another big, the Miami Heat signed Whiteside (who hadn't seen NBA action since the 2011-12 season) straight from the D-League in late November. It's safe to say he's given them a little more than expected.
Per 36 minutes, Whiteside is averaging 18 points, 16.4 rebounds and four blocks on 63 percent true shooting. Just a handful of players have posted even close to those numbers over the course of a season. Every one of them is a Hall of Famer or soon will be.
It's hard to imagine Whiteside sustaining this kind of two-way dominance all year, but who knows at this point? He shows no signs of slowing down. Regardless, it's well worth taking the time to reflect on what's been one of the best stretches of play in recent memory.
No. 6: Feb. 1, at Boston Celtics
1 of 621st Game: Box Score
This wasn't Whiteside's most impressive all-around game. He finished with just nine total rebounds, and Tyler Zeller got the best of him on the offensive end a few times. But from a pure offensive standpoint, this is the game in which he showed the most potential.
At this point, Whiteside had already proved to be a shot-blocking menace and a devastating pick-and-roll finisher. But against Boston, he showed something else: a surprisingly refined post game. The Heat ran little but vanilla post-ups for him, and he rewarded them with 20 points on 10-of-17 shooting. He destroyed Zeller offensively.
Tyson Chandler-esque bigs who provide elite pick-and-roll play and rim-protection are somewhat rare. Players who partner that with great post scoring aren't just rare—they're generational talents.
It's far too early to tell if Whiteside can actually provide consistent offense down low (he's been solid so far on an admittedly small sample). But he certainly looked good against the Celtics.
This just isn't fair. Jared Sullinger actually plays tremendous defense in this clip, forcing Whiteside away from the basket and into an awkward half jumper, half hook shot. He even gives him a (legal) bump as he releases the shot. Unfortunately for the Celtics, Whiteside is lengthy enough to get any shot off and apparently has great touch even away from the basket.
Most of Whiteside's post-ups consisted of simple jump hooks or runners, but here, he flashed some genuinely impressive footwork. An outside spin move to get Zeller backpedaling, a second spin to create separation, followed by a Tim Duncan-like fadeaway jumper off the glass.
Whiteside hasn't taken a ton of jumpers this season, but he's hitting nearly 50 percent on shots from 10 feet and out (29 total attempts). If he really does have a usable outside jumper, he might be a lethal post-up threat sooner rather than later.
No. 5: Jan. 30, vs. Dallas Mavericks
2 of 620th Game: Box Score
Chandler may have gotten the better of Whiteside defensively (Chandler allowed just 20 percent shooting at the rim, Whiteside allowed 43 percent), but my goodness was he devoured on the boards.
Whiteside finished with 24 total rebounds, 10 of which came on the offensive end. The entire Dallas Mavericks team only recorded 13 offensive rebounds. All told, he pulled down 37 percent of the Heat's misses and collected 44.4 percent of all misses, period.
He was just nuts on the glass. Offensively, he was his typical self, scoring on screen-and-rolls and picking up easy garbage points on tip-ins and putbacks. He committed a few careless turnovers but was a huge plus overall.
It's genuinely surprising Dirk Nowitzki even tried challenging Whiteside on this play. You can clearly see Whiteside lurking in the paint waiting for Nowitzki to try laying the ball off the glass. And for whatever reason, Dirk attacked him instead of settling for a jumper. Bad move.
This sequence, right here, epitomizes what makes Whiteside such a great rebounder and a huge nuisance to keep off the boards. He has such long arms that even if he's not in great position for a rebound, he can just keep tipping it up to himself until he finally can bring it down. At least once or twice a game, Whiteside runs his own tip drill in the middle of three or four defenders, and he virtually always wins.
No. 4: Feb. 4, at Minnesota Timberwolves
3 of 623rd Game: Box Score
This game featured a really interesting center matchup in Whiteside vs. Nikola Pekovic. While Whiteside is long and lean, Pekovic is a mountain. It wouldn't have been surprising to see Whiteside get knocked around in the post, but he held his own.
Pekovic did end up shooting 5-of-7 (getting to the free-throw line four times) for 13 points, and he was able to brush Whiteside aside for easy buckets at times. But his general lack of attempts speaks to Whiteside's ability to keep him from getting deep post position.
Young bigs typically struggle with things like that early in their careers, and Pekovic is one of the league's best at establishing position. The craziest thing about this game is that 12 of Whiteside's 13 attempts were contested, and he connected on 11 (!!) of those attempts.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been notoriously poor at protecting the rim (they're allowing 64.7 percent shooting at the basket, worst in the league), but even so, that kind of shooting is crazy. Whiteside is currently hitting 75 percent at the rim. That's not shocking considering how many of his attempts are dunks, but he's displayed some really nice touch around the hoop as well.
It isn't this play that's impressive so much as it is how often Whiteside does something like this. He's become a sort of safety valve for Miami's wings and guards. They can drive wildly into the lane and heave up a terrible shot only to have it fall into his hands for an easy two. It's uncanny how often this happens.
You've got to feel for Pekovic here. He actually does a great job of boxing out. But Whiteside slowly spins him around (using a sneaky arm hook) just enough so that he can snatch up the rebound and put it back home. The best part of this clip is how defeated Pekovic looks as he goes to inbound the ball. It's almost a little sad.
No. 3: March 3, vs. Los Angeles Lakers
4 of 633rd Game: Box Score
Whiteside's most recent outing also doubled as one of his best. He racked up 18 points and 25 rebounds to go along with five blocks. Just another day in the office for him at this point.
This is actually very nearly his most dominant statistical performance, but it's hard to be totally impressed with it since it came against the Los Angeles Lakers' frontcourt.
To be fair, Ed Davis has had some really nice moments this season and can somewhat match up with Whiteside athletically. But Jordan Hill, Robert Sacre, Carlos Boozer and Ryan Kelly...they didn't have a prayer. Least of all Boozer, who, on several possessions, just sort of flung himself at Whiteside's body, presumably hoping for a call.
It did not go well.
This isn't Whiteside's flashiest block, but for my money, it's his most impressive. He is nowhere close to Davis when Davis begins his shooting motion.
Like the previous play, this isn't flashy. But it goes to show just how dangerous Whiteside is in the pick-and-roll.
The Lakers actually defend this possession beautifully. Hill does a great job hedging on Wade's drive, and Wesley Johnson is positioned well to cut off the pass. But Wade throws a perfect feed to Whiteside, who's somehow able to corral it and finish at the rim. There's almost nothing a defense can do about that.
No. 2: Feb. 28, vs. Atlanta Hawks
5 of 631st Game: Box Score
Whiteside has had other performances like this, games with double-digit points, 20-odd rebounds and a handful of blocks sprinkled in. This one, however, was a shade different in the sense that he spent most of the game battling with every Atlanta Hawks player on the court. Seriously.
Seemingly half of Whiteside's buckets came with four or five Hawks draped all over him. It's incredible to watch. At this point, defenses are clearly keying in on him on every pick-and-roll, sending extra men to help keep him off the glass. And it somehow hasn't even dented his production. He's still slapping up 20-20 games and dunking everything in sight.
How on earth does Whiteside finish this play? He's absolutely mauled by three separate players on the possession and gets both arms raked as he's in the act of shooting. He couldn't even manage to get anything more than a weird, shoulder-high push shot and still scored the and-1.
This is yet another Whiteside tip drill, albeit one against the entire Atlanta roster. One underrated thing about him is that he almost always keeps the ball high after every rebound. That's really important and something that a lot of young bigs don't do.
If he doesn't keep the ball so high on this possession, he's almost definitely turning it over. He's cashed in on a lot of opportunities thanks to that alone.
No. 1: Jan. 25, at Chicago Bulls
6 of 618th Game: Box Score
Whiteside has had some great performances this season, but nothing tops this outing against the Chicago Bulls, in which he posted the first triple-double including blocks in almost two years. (Coincidentally, the last player to accomplish the same thing was Joakim Noah, who defended Whiteside for much of the game).
As far as rim-protection goes, this is Whiteside's masterpiece. He held the Bulls to just 6-of-18 shooting at the rim, mostly because he was volleyball-spiking every shot that came within 10 feet of him.
And it's not as though he did this against D-Leaguers. He was laying waste to Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol. They shot a combined 10-for-31 on the game and looked genuinely clueless as to how to get shots off against him. In their defense, most of the league is right there with them.
This is one of the most fun things about Whiteside. He'll sometimes just throw down an impossible dunk in traffic and make it look effortless. This one is particularly good because it looks like he hardly even jumps to put it in.
A quick second jump is one of the most important qualities for defensive-minded bigs to have. Being able to quickly recover after biting on a fake, for instance, is invaluable. Whiteside can do that.
This is the most violent block I've ever seen, and I'm 99 percent sure Shabazz Napier has a permanent dent in his chest the approximate size and shape of a basketball.
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