Miami Heat’s center Hassan Whiteside didn’t have a great 2017-18 season. He received less playing time, his production dipped, and the 29-year-old barely played in the playoffs. Whiteside then publicly complained about his role with the team and confronted with Heat’s coach Erik Spoelstra and president Pat Riley.
All of that seems to be a distant past since Hassan Whiteside said on Thursday that he had a great talk with both Spoelstra and Riley and that he feels a lot better about his place in the team.
“We had a great talk,” – Whiteside told reporters. “I just think it’s trust on both sides. I think that’s the biggest thing … It was about a four-hour meeting. It was a lot about life. It was two hours basketball, two hours life. It was a good meeting.“
Whiteside added that he wasn’t healthy “all last year,” which contributed to his struggles on the basketball court.
“I was in and out of the rotation with injuries. Just coming back healthy. Coming back from a bone bruise, it takes months to heal,” – he said.
Hassan Whiteside initially entered the league in 2010, when he was selected in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. After only playing 19 games in two years with the Kings, he went on to have several stints with various NBA G teams and even played overseas in Lebanon and China.
In 2014, Whiteside returned to NBA and signed with the Miami Heat, where he managed to resurrect his career. In each of the following seasons, he averaged more than 11.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. In 2016 he was NBA blocks leader with 3.7 blocks per game, and in 2017 he was NBA rebounding leader with 14.1.
