The Miami Heat are terrible.
They are 11-28, and have lost eight of nine. Their best players are Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside, who would not be the best players on most teams around the league. Pat Riley has outright admitted they are rebuilding, which Riley has always been loathe to do.
However, when Riley does rebuild, he goes all the way. Please review the 2008 Heat roster. Once Riley realized they couldn't compete, they shut Dwyane Wade down, and went with straight D-League guys. Look at this roster, for crying out loud:
So when the Heat decide to tear it down and rebuild and go all the way again, unlike that 2008 team, which had Dwyane Wade so they could reload and get back on track in 2009, this team does not have Wade. And so, even the really good players are on the table. Goran Dragic has been in trade rumors for the past few weeks, and now, on the Lowe Post Podcast on ESPN, Zach Lowe indicated that the Heat are ready to talk about dealing Whiteside. Transcript via 247 Sports:
"Up and down the roster, literally every player," said Lowe towards the end of his latest podcast. "Literally no one is untouchable, not even Hassan Whiteside, by a long shot."
Source: Report: Miami Heat would be open to trading Hassan Whiteside - CBSSports.com.
Some thoughts:
- This season, the Heat give up 3.8 points more per 100 possessions with Whiteside on the floor versus off. Last year it was worse early on before a late push brought it to nearly even, with the Heat 0.3 points per 100 possessions worse when Whiteside played. In 2015-16, the Heat were 2.9 points worse defensively with Whiteside on the court. Now, this does not make Whiteside a bad defender. His shot-blocking is important and helps the defense, as does his rebounding. However, it does take some shine off his raw stats, on account of how often he can go chasing the big play instead of playing sound, positional defense.
- Whiteside's offensive numbers, however, are very good. The Heat offense is 8.4 points better with him on the court. He's a pick and roll beast who can finish the lob, catch and lay it up, score in the post, and shoots 55 percent from the field. He's a huge positive on that end.
- There were maturity issues with Whiteside as recently as last season, but eventually he started to turn it around and earned the trust of Wade and the other veterans on the team. He signed a max contract last summer, so motivation is a small concern, but it hasn't led to him underperforming this year, when he's averaging a career high in points and rebounds, albeit in more minutes. However, he still has issues with night-to-night consistency as a go-to option, even with Miami's roster.
- Miami should definitely deal Whiteside. There's nothing worth salvaging on this roster outside of the injured Justise Winslow and Tyler Johnson. Everything else should be cleared in a tanking effort.
- If they do decide to get active with trading Whiteside, the Heat should look at teams like New York, Chicago, Dallas (who pursued Whiteside in free agency), Boston and New Orleans. Those teams are low on assets outside of Boston, but have real needs for Whiteside's athleticism and might be able to get quality long-term, future assets in exchange for a big upgrade now.
- Boston is particularly interesting given that he solves its rim protection issues and with such a great culture, you'd feel good about him fitting in. He's also 27, putting him roughly in line with the other key players on that team. He complements Al Horford well and would be devastating in pick and rolls with Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley.
We'll see just how far the Heat want to go with this rebuild, but moving Whiteside would be a smart move for their cap and to get back the kind of assets they need to kickstart it now, versus what Whiteside can provide over the course of his contract as he gets older and the Heat get younger.
