Hassan Whiteside Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Eastern Notes: House, Whiteside, Pistons

November 26th, 2016 at 1:15pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Wizards rookie Danuel House suffered a right wrist injury which could sideline him for an extended stretch, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post tweets. The 6’7” forward out of Texas A&M has only appeared in one game with Washington but has also seen action with Delaware in the D League. This could present a roster decision for the Wizards, who currently are at the 15-man limit. House’s $543,471 salary for the season becomes guaranteed on January 10th. The injury may increase the possibility that Washington will shed House, who was signed after a solid showing in summer-league play, to free up a spot.

In other developments around the Eastern Conference:

Heat center Hassan Whiteside‘s winding road to NBA stardom provides hope for other players scrapping to make the league, Pistons coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy told the media earlier this week. Whiteside played 19 games for the Kings his first two seasons and wound up in the D League, China and Lebanon before resurfacing with the Heat, where he emerged as one of the league’s top centers. Whiteside, who re-signed with the Heat for four years and $98MM over the summer, is averaging 16.9 points and a league-best 15.1 rebounds. “Hassan Whiteside is a great lesson for other players and a great lesson for those of us making personnel decisions in the league, especially with big guys,” Van Gundy said. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen overnight. Hassan Whiteside right now is playing as well as any big man in the league. His numbers are mindboggling.”
Pistons forward Stanley Johnson served a one-game suspension for violating team rules on Friday, just the latest setback for the 2015 lottery pick. Johnson was benched for a game during Detroit’s four-game homestand this week, though he’ll likely rejoin the rotation with Reggie Bullock sidelined indefinitely by a knee injury. Johnson is averaging 4.4 points on 40.7% shooting. “He’s off to a rough start,” Van Gundy said. “He’s hasn’t shot the ball well at all. He’s still competing hard defensively but he’s really struggling to get the ball in the basket. It’s hard when perimeter players aren’t getting the ball in the basket, no matter what else you’re doing.”
Bullock will get a second opinion on his knee injury early next week, Van Gundy said on Friday. Bullock, who will be a restricted free agent next summer if Detroit extends a qualifying offer, suffered a left knee meniscus tear in the first half against Miami on Wednesday. There are several options being mulled, according to Van Gundy. “Not all surgeries are created equal,” he said. “There is a couple of different ways we can go with that.”

Heat Notes: Riley, Dragic, Whiteside

November 16th, 2016 at 6:30pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Pat Riley was non-committal about whether the Heat would be active before the trade deadline or be willing to take on contracts that run through next season, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. “The important thing is we are a forward-thinking team,” Riley said. “We are not going to be thinking backwards. We’re not going to have any regrets. We love what we have with our young players and we know assets, whatever assets we have in the future are going to help us rebuild, whether it’s picks, whether it’s personnel, whether it’s [cap] room. I’m always thinking down the future, down the road.”

Here’s more from Miami:

The Heat are off to an abysmal start to the season, but Riley remains optimistic about his team’s chances this year, Jackson relays in the same piece “I’ve been through this drill before,” Riley said. “We have great faith and great belief in our young players. Our young players have been not forced but put up into a position where they now have to deliver timely times during the game, sustaining drives, stopping drives, making shots at the end, making free throws. They’ll get it. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Goran Dragic is the type of point guard the Heat need and trading him away doesn’t solve their issues, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel argues in his latest mailbag. Winderman believes that Miami needs Dragic’s play-making ability and once he returns from ankle injury, the team will show improvement.
Hassan Whiteside believes the team’s rough start is a result of a tough schedule to begin the season, Shandel Richardson of the Sun Sentinel writes. “We haven’t played any bad teams,” Whiteside said. “We played all playoff teams … We’re not losing to bad teams. We’re right there. It makes no sense to get down on ourselves.” Whiteside, who re-signed with the Heat on a four year, $98MM deal over the summer, is enjoying personal success this season, averaging career highs in points, rebounds and free throws made per game.

Dwyane Wade Explains Why He Left Miami

November 8th, 2016 at 5:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Dwyane Wade and the Heat had different priorities in free agency, which is what led to a messy breakup of their 13-year relationship, writes Vincent Goodwill of CSNChicago. When Wade announced in early July that he was accepting a two-year, $47MM offer from the Bulls, it marked the end of a long process in which he felt he didn’t get the respect he had earned for his accomplishments in Miami. Or as Wade puts it, “I found out very quickly that this is a business.”

The Heat set two priorities in free agency — re-signing Hassan Whiteside and reaching out to Kevin Durant. They needed to be able to offer max deals to both players, which limited the amount that was left to offer Wade. “At the end of the day,” Wade said, “I talked to those guys and I told them, ‘It’s free agency. I understand y’all have a job to do, and I have a job to do as well.’ I let it be known I was going to be a free agent and I wasn’t waiting by the phone for them to call me.”

The Heat were able to re-sign Whiteside on the first day of free agency and were one of five finalists for Durant. When he chose the Warriors, many assumed it was a formality to bring back Wade, but too many bridges had already been burned. Privately, the Heat front office was concerned about giving a max deal to a 34-year-old player, even one with Wade’s history. And Wade felt disrespected by being third in line.

“I did my homework because I understand Hassan was a priority, which he should’ve been,” Wade explained. “I understood that they were trying to go out and get KD, because that’s something they wanted to do. But I had to look out for myself and put myself in a situation that I wanted to be in if things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to work out, and they didn’t.”

Wade’s return to Miami in a visiting uniform will take place Thursday night. He insists that he still has a good relationship with the Heat organization and has talked with everyone except team president Pat Riley. But whatever emotions may accompany his homecoming, Wade made it clear that he has already moved on with his basketball life.

“I don’t know how many more years I have left to play this game,” he said. “It’s about doing what I want to do at this moment. Not saying I didn’t do what I wanted, I always did what I wanted, but it’s continuing to have the ability to do that. And I did. I put myself first for once. I didn’t say, hey, I waited on Miami to come to me. At the end of the day, I could’ve come back to Miami and made great money. The contract they offered me was good. By the time it got to me, my heart was somewhere else.”

Heat Notes: Waiters, Whiteside, Johnson, Richardson

November 5th, 2016 at 3:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

It won’t get the attention that Kevin Durant‘s first game against Oklahoma City did, but Dion Waiters is preparing for his own battle with the Thunder, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The Heat will travel Monday to OKC, where Waiters probably would have stayed if Durant had decided to. Instead, the Thunder opted to use Waiters’ cap space to sign Russell Westbrook to an extension, and the fifth-year guard headed to Miami. Waiters spent a season and a half in Oklahoma City and has fond memories of his time there. “The team there really turned me into a pro,” Waiters said. “I really matured there a lot. Just embracing the whole atmosphere and the city, just how much the team and everybody means to the community was huge. I mean, that’s probably the best time I had, in my experiences, and then my first time in the playoffs.”

There’s more from Miami:

This year’s extensions put into perspective the big-money deals the Heat signed during the summer, Winderman writes in a separate piece. Miami gave center Hassan Whiteside $98MM over four seasons, which is less than the four-year, $102MM extension Rudy Gobert just got from Utah or the four-year, $100MM extension that Steven Adams received from Oklahoma City. And the four-year, $50MM offer sheet the Heat matched for Tyler Johnson is less than the deals just given to Victor Oladipo, Gorgui Dieng, Cody Zeller or Dennis Schroder. “You’re going to look back at deals like this right now later on down the line and they aren’t going to look like a whole lot,” Johnson said. “Some of these superstars are going to be up there … and it’s going to be crazy.”
Guard Josh Richardson made his season debut Friday night, less than two months after suffering a knee injury in September, notes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Richardson missed all four of his shots and committed two turnovers, but was on the floor for his defense in the fourth quarter. “I felt fine,” he said. “I’ve got to trust my knee fully. I’ve got to find a rhythm. I told [coach Erik Spoelstra] going into halftime that I felt good. My teammates were encouraging me the whole game. I feel ready.”
James Johnson, one of Miami’s many offseason additions, enjoyed returning to Toronto for Friday’s game, writes Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. Johnson had two stints with the Raptors and was a crowd favorite. “We made something happen last year and it was good to see the guys that we made it happen with,” Johnson said.

Pacific Notes: Price, Warren, Speights, Lakers

October 29th, 2016 at 9:47pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Suns have offered veteran guard Ronnie Price an assistant coaching position, tweets Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman. Price was waived Monday by the Thunder even though he had a fully guaranteed two-year, $5MM contract. The 33-year-old played 62 games for Phoenix last season, starting 18 times. Suns coach Earl Watson confirmed the offer, but said Price isn’t ready to end his playing career.

There’s more news from the Pacific Division:

After two injury-filled half seasons, Suns small forward T.J. Warren is off to a strong start to 2016/17, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Warren scored 30 points Friday night in an overtime loss to the Thunder, going 8 for 8 on a variety of mid-range shots. “He gets buckets; ‘Tony Buckets’ is his name,” said teammate Eric Bledsoe. “He played not only great offense, but great defense too. He carried us.” The Suns exercised their 2017/18 option on Warren on Monday.
The Clippers are counting on big man Marreese Speights to boost their bench scoring and maybe even change the balance of power in the West, relays Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. The former Warrior signed a two-year, minimum-salary deal with L.A. over the summer. “(He’s) just another scorer,” said coach/executive Doc Rivers. “I don’t think anyone has a guy like that on their bench, for that matter. Golden State had one last year, and now he’s on our team. But there’s not a lot of fives that can do what Mo does as far as offensively shoot the three. There are some, but Mo also has a post game as well.” Speights has a player option on the second year of his new deal, so he could be in line for a raise if he has a productive season.
The Lakers hope to be more appealing to free agents by the time California natives Russell Westbrook and Paul George become available in two years, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. Over the summer, L.A. was turned down for meetings by Kevin Durant, Mike Conley and Hassan Whiteside.

Heat Notes: Riley, Bosh, Whiteside, Waiters

September 27th, 2016 at 6:41pm CST by Luke Adams

While some teams won’t admit they’re in rebuilding mode, Heat president Pat Riley didn’t mind using the R-word on Monday, as Ethan Skolnick of The Miami Herald tweets. Comparing the current roster to recent Heat teams, Riley noted that the franchise was “tweaking” the roster during the Big Three era, “retooling” it after LeBron James returned to Cleveland, and is “rebuilding” now. With Dwyane Wade gone and Chris Bosh unlikely to suit up for the Heat again, it will be interesting to see if the team goes into full-fledged rebuilding mode this year, perhaps shopping veteran point guard Goran Dragic.

Here’s more on the Heat:

Manny Navarro of The Miami Herald passes along a couple more comments from Riley, who said he has yet to “hit send” on an email he wrote to Wade, and added that he’s had thoughts about “moving on” from his role with the Heat but still gets excited by the prospect of a new season.
Asked about losing Bosh, Dragic admitted that it helps to have some certainty about what the roster and lineup will look like, but said he’d prefer to have the “small chance [Bosh] could be back,” per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “It’s not the prettiest situation right now.” Dragic said. “But we need to clear our heads and have one focus, one goal to get better as a team, get to know each other and try to build that chemistry we are going to need this season.”
Tom Ziller of SBNation.com makes a case for why the Heat should waive Bosh, rather than keeping him on the roster.
After being one of the league’s most underpaid players in recent years, Hassan Whiteside now has a maximum-salary contract, but he won’t let the new deal make him complacent, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Winderman and Jackson have each published pieces on Dion Waiters, with Winderman writing that the Heat’s new shooting guard won’t be thinking about filling Wade’s shoes, while Jackson notes that Waiters opted for happiness over money when he chose to sign with Miami.

Heat Notes: Dragic, Spoelstra, Ellington, Winslow

August 28th, 2016 at 1:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is visiting point guard Goran Dragic in Slovenia this weekend to talk about changes in the wake of the loss of Dwyane Wade, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Dragic is expected to become more of a focus in Miami’s offense with Wade leaving for Chicago in free agency. Jackson notes that in the games Dragic has played without Wade during his time with the Heat, his scoring average rose from 14.8 points per game to 17.6 and his assist average increased from 5.7 to 6.6, but his shooting dropped from 48.3 percent to 43.2 percent. In a video released by the team Friday, Spoelstra said he wants to adjust the offense to maximize Dragic’s abilities. “Goran is one of the best fast-break, transition point guards in this game,” the coach said. “He will force tempo regardless of how you want to play or how you want to defend. Goran is going to run. … You don’t find many players that can attack, that can play fast, that can make other players better in that type of game. And he’s relentless in getting to the rim. And Goran is that kind of player. And I think young players gravitate to Goran. They want to play that style.”

There’s more out of Miami:

Free agent addition Wayne Ellington hopes to make Hassan Whiteside a better passer next season, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The 28-year-old shooting guard, who got more than $12MM over two seasons to leave Brooklyn for Miami, thinks his 3-point range will provide an opportunity for Whiteside to increase his assist total. The newly re-signed center has handed out just 35 assists over the past two seasons and ranked 80th among centers in 2015/16 in points created off assists.
The departure of Luol Deng and lingering concerns about the health of Chris Bosh have seemingly opened a starting spot for Justise Winslow, Winderman notes in the same piece. Winslow averaged 6.4 points and 5.2 rebounds as a rookie last season in 78 games, mostly as a reserve. But Deng signed with the Lakers in free agency and questions remain about the availability of Bosh, whose last two seasons were cut short by blood clots. That creates an opportunity for Winslow, who is among the few holdovers after an offseason of change in Miami. “He’s going to find a way to make an impact on the game,” Spoelstra said. “And he’s going to do it in winning fashion. It might be defensively; it might be offensively. It might be leadership. All of that is far ahead of his age.”

Heat Notes: Bosh, Whiteside, Johnson

August 27th, 2016 at 8:20pm CST by ChrisCrouse

There remains no timetable for a decision on whether or not Chris Bosh will play for the Heat this season, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. Winderman believes that coach Erik Spoelstra will develop dual game plans as the team enters training camp and notes that it’s not something unusual, as many coaches have to prepare for stars sitting out as the seasons goes along.

Here’s more from Miami:

It’s unclear whether Hassan Whiteside and Bosh can coexist in the frontcourt, but the duo is talented enough to make it work should they see enough time on the floor together, Winderman opines in a separate piece. The Heat re-signed Whiteside to a four-year, max deal this offseason.
New addition James Johnson can be a valuable contributor if he can prove he can make 3-pointers at a reliable rate, Winderman argues in that same piece. Johnson signed a one-year, $4MM deal with the Heat this offseason.

Southeast Notes: Wall, Whiteside, Heat

August 20th, 2016 at 8:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

Four months after having surgery on both knees, the Wizards‘ John Wall is being cautious with predictions about his availability for opening night, relays Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. The procedure on Wall’s right knee just removed some loose particles, Bucker notes, but the operation on the left knee was much more serious. Wall hasn’t been cleared for one-on-one games, but he can run, jump and handle two-a-day workouts. “I’m doing all that right now, working out and doing all that type of things but I’m not in no rush,” Wall said. “I’m very excited to be back on the court because I will tell you sitting on the table all day and doing those boring exercises is no fun. Six hours out of the day, it’s the frustrating part in this.” Wall will join his teammates in Los Angeles for a four-day mini-camp starting Sunday. The Wizards open their regular season October 27th.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Heat have big expectations for $98MM center Hassan Whiteside, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Now that the big man is under contract for the next four seasons, coach Erik Spoelstra posted a video on the team’s website discussing Whiteside’s responsibilities. “He will be working on all of it,” Spoelstra said. “Low-post scoring, that’s the number one thing he wants to work on, and I’m all for it. He will also work on his skill level at the top of the floor, handling the ball, getting us into second situations as a playmaker, rebounding off the glass.” Spoelstra is planning more minutes and more games for Whiteside, who sat out nine contests last season and only started 43 times.
The need to sign players before the deadline arrived on Tyler Johnson’s offer sheet with the Nets may have caused the Heat to add too many players, Winderman writes in a separate story. Faced with the possible loss of $4MM in cap space, Miami signed free agents Wayne Ellington, Derrick Williams, James Johnson and Willie Reed, then traded for Luke Babbitt before matching Johnson’s offer. Later, they signed Dion Waiters and Beno Udrih, along with Briante Weber and three other players who may be ticketed for the D-League.

Southeast Notes: Spoelstra, Ibaka, Splitter

August 16th, 2016 at 3:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made no mention of Chris Bosh in two video messages posted today on the team’s website, relays Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The status of the veteran big man remains uncertain after his past two seasons were cut short because of blood clots. Spoelstra singled out Hassan Whiteside, Josh Richardson, Justise Winslow and Tyler Johnson as defensive leaders who will define the team in the post-Dwyane Wade era. “You learn pretty quickly in this league that your roster is going to change,” Spoelstra said, “sometimes your staff changes. Expectations change. It’s like that every year. Just when you get comfortable, it will change. This is a new challenge. We’re embracing the change. We’re excited about the future, excited about the guys we have on our team. You also have to have the right kind of players.” Owner Micky Arison named Bosh as part of the Heat’s future in a recent letter to Miami fans.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The Magic can offer an extension to newly acquired power forward Serge Ibaka, writes Bobby Marks of The Vertical. Ibaka, whom Orlando picked up in a draft-night deal with the Thunder, is about to enter the last season of a four-year, $49MM extension he received from Oklahoma City. Ibaka would be limited to a 4.5% raise from his $12.2MM salary in the first year of an extension because the Magic are over the salary cap, Marks notes, and because he has been traded in the past six months Ibaka can only have two years added to his contract.
Tiago Splitter believes the Hawks will be a much better defensive team with Dwight Howard replacing Al Horford at center, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He also cited an improvement in defense at point guard, where Dennis Schroder is taking over for the traded Jeff Teague. “[Howard] is a little bit more of a defensive player than Al, more rebounds, more physical presence on the court,” Splitter said. “That is going to change our team. … Dennis, he is also a great defender. He’s a better defender than Jeff. He will pressure the point guard the whole court.” Splitter, who had hip surgery in February and was limited to 36 games last season, also figures to improve the defense with his return to the lineup.
The Hawks hired Richard Midgley as their west coast scout, Vivlamore writes in a separate story. Midgley has been a coach at Modesto Christian High School in California for the past two seasons.