Golden State Cyber-Workout 3: Hassan Whiteside

This weekend, the family moved into a new apartment near Sydney Airport. If you fly in you can see our block. If you wave, I might see you while I’m having a beer on the roof. If you show me the sign of the horns, I’ll know that you read this article and respond with a Jersey Shore-esque fist pump. Or I might just be drunk. It amounts to the same thing at times. 

While it’s a nice place, the catch is that I no longer have decent internet at home. Since I haven’t been in to uni all weekend, it means that I ended up working on a string of B/R articles (including my Greg Monroe report) and posting them all on Monday morning. The eds probably hate my guts.

But my boring life isn’t why you came here. You came to read my buzz on Hassan Whiteside, the 7-foot forward/center who played one year with the Marshall Thundering Herd.

Firstly, I’d just like to say that that may just be the coolest team name I’ve ever heard. Assuming that my current fantasy plan of drafting a team of head cases (Monta/Captain Jack/Ron Artest/Anthony Randolph/Big Cuz with Michael Beasley and Sheed coming off the bench) and calling them the Golden State Institution fails, I’m naming my next fantasy team the Botany Bay Thundering Herd. And I’m looking at a transfer to Marshall University so I can barrack for the original.

Once again, I digress. I do that.

I have strongly criticized the idea of drafting Whiteside with our No. 6 pick on Golden State of Mind (going so far as to claim that if we did, I will bang my head against the wall until I become a vegetable). I stand by that view, and through this report I will explain why.

NBA Readiness

Not by a long shot. Whiteside is a few years from being a finished article, if at all. I don’t see him making an impact in the NBA for quite a while.

He’s a classic example of a guy who should have stayed in school for at least one more year, if not two, and who’ll get drafted in the lottery purely cause he’s a big man who looks great in a workout.

Grade: D

Upside

You’d damn well hope he has upside cause God knows he isn’t going to help you for a while. If we draft Whiteside, we have to be willing to work on him and not throw him away like we did Patrick O’Bryant. (Damn, I’d been hoping to get to the end without mentioning The Notorious POB).

Stash him in the D-League, let him play the Darko role in Detroit, hell, send him to Europe for a few years if you need to. But if you draft a guy for upside, you have to be willing to wait for it to come through.

Does he have the kind of upside that he’s presumed to? From what I’ve seen of him, I can’t see it. But better people than me are high on Whiteside’s potential, so I’m going to trust them.

Grade: I’d call it a B+, others would say anything from A to B-.

Offense

Minimal. Whiteside on the offensive end makes Biedrins look like the white second coming of Wilt Chamberlain.

His jump shot is plain broken as can be seen from his 40 percent free throw rate (and do we really want two guys on the team who are complete liabilities from the stripe?).

His post moves seem to consist of a dodgy jump hook, and…well, not much else.

The bulk of his points come from tip-ins and similar garbage points, however again we have Biedrins who fills that role quite nicely when he’s fit.

As for his passing and ball-handling skills…well, there’s a four letter word for a bodily excretion that B/R won’t let me use to describe them.

A poor man’s Ben Wallace on the offensive end, although you’d have to hope he improves over time, particularly his post play. Once again, the potential is there. And he is quite mobile, so if we had to draft and play him he should at least be able to run with the Dubs.

Grade: D-

Defense

Whiteside’s defensive skills have been highly touted to say the least—rarely does a report pass without making mention of his triple-double point, rebound and blocked shot games.

Again, I’m not sure how much of this is down to Beasley Syndrome (using size and athleticism to overpower everyone around you in college only finding out that you require more in the NBA) especially given he plays in an inferior conference where he is undoubtedly one of the No. 1 guys.

However, his post defense looks to be quite solid for the most part, especially considering he’s quite slender. His lateral quickness is also very good for a seven footer, so he can possibly guard stretch 4s. I’ve been fairly harsh on him up to this point, so I’ll give him a pass on this one. After all, not everyone can get 10+ blocks in a game, let alone regularly. 

Grade: A-.

Rebounding.

Same old story—good numbers, but whether they’re down to excellent technique or just sheer athleticism is the million dollar question.

What I’ve seen and heard about Whiteside’s ability to consistently box out and get good body position in the paint doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Grade: B.

Intangibles

And this is where it begins to really head south for Whiteside.

On court, he seems to have a case of Coleman-itis—all hustle and flow one minute, half asleep the next.

I wouldn’t be comfortable with him taking shots or free throws in any situation, forget about the clutch.

There’s plenty of red flags surrounding his maturity and other off-court issues – word is that he’s declaring for the draft early because he can’t make the grades he needs to stay in school and keep his scholarship, which was what stopped him from getting recruited by a bigger school despite his physical tools and gifts.

All the little things do not seem to add up at all for Hassan Whiteside.

Grade: C-

If we draft Whiteside with the sixth overall pick, it will mean the Warriors front office are sending one of three messages.

1)  “We believe that we can win with our current guys if they stay fit for a full season, so we’re just gonna piss this draft pick away.

2) "We have just drafted what we think is the lovechild of Kareem and Dikembe, but you gotta give us time to see if he develops into that. In the meantime, enjoy the number 5 pick next year after a 15 win season.

3) "We have no f***ing idea what we’re doing, but he’s a tall guy and that’s good, right?”

Everything about Hassan Whiteside screams “Patrick O’Bryant 2.0!!!” at me, right down to the small-college background, project big man status and generally unrefined game.

As I mentioned earlier, I see him as the future poster boy for why you shouldn’t declare early when he’s halfway through a journeyman career…in Europe.

Either way, it’s 10 pm Friday and since I’m staying in after a long day, I’m hitting the sack. See you all Monday.