Not long ago, there was a legitimate debate over whether Hassan Whiteside was actually a good player. He had the numbers of a borderline star, but his influence at the team level was not always positive. He chased blocks at the expense of positioning on defense and he was a black hole and liability on offense because of his poor free throw shooting. He definitely contributed on some areas but was a drain on others.
Hassan Whiteside is destroying the Hornets defense without touching the ball
The mere threat of Whiteside’s inside scoring has been enough to cause disarray in the Hornets’ defense.
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Things started to click after the All-Star break. Whiteside became markedly better at the foul line and improved enough as a defender to earn third place in Defensive Player of the Year voting. In the Heat's first-round series against the Hornets, however, Whiteside's offense has been as important to Miami's success as his defense.
In two games, he’s averaging 19 points on a ridiculous 89 percent shooting. Those are obviously great numbers but they also fail to show how valuable he has been for Miami even when he’s not the one getting a bucket.
The Hornets are terrified of Whiteside’s ability to score in the pick-and-roll. Their fear is understandable, since Whiteside ranked in the 94th percentile in those situations during the regular season, shooting 70 percent from the field. He simply has the length and hops to finish lobs and the touch to get little floaters to fall if he doesn’t get all the way to the rim.
To stop Whiteside from destroying them on rim runs, Charlotte has no other choice but to send an extra defender to the strong side whenever Whiteside sets a screen. It doesn’t have to be a great one. He can even slip the screen, making no contact and the help has to come anyway because if the ball-handler gets him the ball, chances are he’s going to score.
That opens up a lot of room for his teammates to operate. Sometimes it's as easy as getting the defense to collapse by using the threat of the Whiteside dive and then finding the open shooter. Rookies Justise Winslow and Josh Richardson got open corner three-pointers by being on the weak side when the Heat ran a pick-and-roll with Whiteside screening. They just had to catch and shoot while their men desperately tried to recover after helping on the Heat's center.
Sometimes the plays take a little longer to develop. Maybe the helper recovers to chase his man off the three-point line or someone else rotates over. It doesn’t matter. The defense is already a step behind and with enough patience, the cracks will show. It’s just a matter of attacking the seams that open up, and Whiteside’s teammates are getting better and better at doing just that.
Whiteside can even do some damage himself after the initial action by crashing the offensive glass. Even against an elite defensive rebounding team like the Hornets, he’s managed to get his hands on misses often because he’s relentless. That sometimes causes opponents to stay with him instead of helping, which then opens up even more room for direct attacks on the rim.
The Heat have been scoring at a scorching rate no matter who plays so far in the postseason, but with Whiteside on the court, they have been almost 17 points better on that end. More notably, their assist ratio -- the amount of assists they have per 100 possessions -- almost doubles when he’s on, which is interesting because he’s logged just one dime in two games.
What Whiteside does is make it easier for the ball-handlers to put others in a position to score. He might not be the one delivering the assist but he’s the one who created the open look by virtue of being one of the scariest roll men in the NBA. The threat he presents when he’s on the court and active opens up the floor for his teammates. That might not be reflected on box scores but it’s an incredibly valuable skill.
Whiteside will always have the numbers, but we know those have been hollow in the past. Now, he also has an effect at a team level on the offensive end without scoring by doing the little things, like passing quickly after rebounds to kick-start fast breaks and setting ball screens that free up his teammates for drives. Constantly diving to the rim despite knowing that he won’t always get rewarded with the pass is a thankless job, but he has seemingly embrace it, as well.
The Hornets have not found a way to stop the threat of his scoring from getting their defense off balance yet and it’s hard to see them figure out a way anytime soon. The Heat have a fantastic weapon at their disposal and the personnel to deploy it perfectly in their new four-out attack.
That’s one of the main reasons Miami is in control of this series and could be primed for deep run. Hassan Whiteside is arguably their most important offensive player.
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