2019 Offseason Thread

[Black Adam]

Can only give you a 1/2 point on the 'chakras' bit, so this post has a 2.5 cliche rating. Good work!

yeah yeah...

 

[CitySushi]

2018
wiggy: if LeBron can't get the Lakers to the playoffs his legacy will be ruined

That would have been a better one. Talking about his legacy after the 3-1 comeback in the finals, to then saying his legacy would be tarnished by not taking the Lakers to the playoffs. Classic.

 

[Black Adam]

2015
Wiggy: KYRIE IRVING IS THE BEST AND HERE'S A LIST OF HIS ACCOLADES

2018
Wiggy: Kyrie's an overrated crybaby, fuckface flat earther. Good riddance

2016
Wiggy: LEBRON'S THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME HOPE HE'LL RETIRE WITH THE CAVS AND WE'RE GOING TO BE A DYNASTY

2018
Wiggy: Lebron's not really that great, so it's cool. Don't want him anyways anymore at his price point.

2017
Wiggy: KEVIN DURANT IS A FUCKING BABY FOR JOINING THE WARRIORS. THEY DON'T EVEN NEED HIM TO WIN.

2019
Wiggy: KD left so Golden State is never winning anything again.

2015
WIGGY: TRISTAN THOMPSON IS ONE OF THE BEST DEALS IN THE NBA. WHO ELSE CAN GUARD THE PERIMETER

2019
WIGGY: Well at least we have Cedi Osman.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

I mean, the guy was funny with his homeristic craziness at first...

when he first washed up here (amazingly after LeClown signed there) he spouted about the Cavs breaking the Bulls' season win total going 74-8 and breaking every existing record...

but then that bitterness started when things didn't quite go the way he SAID they would...

and now, the tears he's shedding might put out more moisture than a rain forest...

#quitethetransformation

This isn’t about basketball anymore for wiggy. He will genuinely hate a team because we see through all his bullshit.

If this were 1995 and Bulls fans were giving him a hard time he would have called MJ overrated and promised us Chicago would never see a championship ever again.

 

[msgkings322]

This isn’t about basketball anymore for wiggy. He will genuinely hate a team because we see through all his bullshit.

If this were 1995 and Bulls fans were giving him a hard time he would have called MJ overrated and promised us Chicago would never see a championship ever again.

He's pure troll, and we love it because we keep sparring with him.

 

[lebron23james]

Wamu is a deepshit!

 

[Black Adam]

He's pure troll, and we love it because we keep sparring with him.

funny part about that is he actually believes he doesn't deserve reprisal for all the years of crap he tried to lay on everyone he came at with his bullshit...

 

[Black Adam]

Wamu is a deepshit!

Buckalis, izzat you...?

 

[lebron23james]

Buckalis, izzat you...?

I have been calling everyone a deepshit all week lol

 

[msgkings322]

funny part about that is he actually believes he doesn't deserve reprisal for all the years of crap he tried to lay on everyone he came at with his bullshit...

He's just messing with us as we are with him. He knows what he's doing.

 

[Wamu]

Wamu is a deepshit!

And you're a chicken for putting me on ignore.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

2015
Wiggy: KYRIE IRVING IS THE BEST AND HERE'S A LIST OF HIS ACCOLADES

2018
Wiggy: Kyrie's an overrated crybaby, fuckface flat earther. Good riddance

2016
Wiggy: LEBRON'S THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME HOPE HE'LL RETIRE WITH THE CAVS AND WE'RE GOING TO BE A DYNASTY

2018
Wiggy: Lebron's not really that great, so it's cool. Don't want him anyways anymore at his price point.

2017
Wiggy: KEVIN DURANT IS A FUCKING BABY FOR JOINING THE WARRIORS. THEY DON'T EVEN NEED HIM TO WIN.

2019
Wiggy: KD left so Golden State is never winning anything again.

2015
WIGGY: TRISTAN THOMPSON IS ONE OF THE BEST DEALS IN THE NBA. WHO ELSE CAN GUARD THE PERIMETER

2019
WIGGY: Well at least we have Cedi Osman.

How can you possibly leave Whiteside off of this?

 

[Black Adam]

He's just messing with us as we are with him. He knows what he's doing.

digging a deeper hole...?

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

here i will limit it

if your excuse for signing Hassan Whiteside to a 4 year 98 million dollar contract is- well other teams wouldve done the same, you are failing at life. Same with JJohnson, TJohnson, etc. etc. etc.

Go back and read line 2, then STFU, please.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

@WiggyRuss

Hassan Whiteside Deserves a Max Contract
Hassan Whiteside was out of the NBA 16 months ago. Now, he’s dominating and deserves a max contract.

Published

3 years ago
on

March 21, 2016
By

Alex Kennedy

Hassan Whiteside’s ascent to stardom is one of the best modern stories in all of professional sports. It’s an underdog tale that probably would have trouble being adapted to a movie because it seems too good to be true and, quite frankly, would probably seem unrealistic to non-sports fans.

Whiteside entered the NBA with a ton of potential after just one collegiate season at Marshall. He was a raw player, but it was clear he had talent and a ton of upside. After all, as a freshman, he averaged 13.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 5.4 blocks in just 26.1 minutes per game. Because of his inexperience and, some say, his ego, he slipped to the 33rd pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

After two forgettable seasons with Sacramento Kings in which he appeared in just 18 games (averaging 1.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and .8 blocks), Whiteside was out of the NBA altogether. He was understandably frustrated that he wasn’t playing more in Sacramento. It also didn’t help that Whiteside entered the league with the Kings, an organization that has become known for its dysfunction, and Sacramento’s decision-makers gave him a limited opportunity to prove himself and weren’t very patient with him.

Before long, Whiteside was playing in Lebanon, China and the D-League. It seemed like his NBA days were over, and he had nearly come to terms with that fact. When he surfaced in the Lebanese league (which isn’t exactly notable), it made headlines simply based on how far Whiteside had seemingly fallen in just three years – especially since was considered such a promising prospect entering the NBA.
In November of 2014, he was playing in the NBA D-League – hoping that he could do well enough to catch an NBA team’s attention and get his career back on track. Whiteside did exactly that while playing for the Iowa Energy, averaging 22 points, 15.7 rebounds and 5.3 blocks in 28.7 minutes while shooting 85.7 percent from the field. The Miami HEAT were decimated by injuries and, quite frankly, desperate. They decided to bring in a number of players on short-term deals to see what they could do, including Whiteside, Tyler Johnson, Henry Walker and Michael Beasley. Whiteside was back in the NBA, although he was on a 10-day contract.

Ever since, he has taken advantage of his opportunity with Miami and exceeded all expectations. The HEAT signed him for the rest of last season after being impressed with his production, and he finished the 2014-15 campaign averaging 11.8 points, 10 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 23.8 minutes per game.



The story could’ve ended there, with Whiteside returning to the NBA and becoming a productive role player. That would’ve been an impressive accomplishment since the NBA no longer seemed like an option for him. However, he has continued to improve this season and emerged as one of the best centers in the NBA. Through 60 games, Whiteside has averaged 13.5 points, 11.7 rebounds and an NBA-best 3.8 blocks in just 28.8 minutes per game.

He ranks fourth in the NBA in rebounds per game (11.7) behind only star centers Andre Drummond, DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard. He also ranks third among all players in field goal percentage, shooting an extremely efficient 60.5 percent. In addition to those impressive stats, he is ninth among all NBA players in PER, trailing only the league’s superstars (Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis and James Harden). By emerging as a dominant force after exiting the league and going through everything he did, his story became a completely unique and unprecedented one. There simply hasn’t been an ascent to stardom like the one Whiteside has experienced.

Even when head coach Erik Spoelstra has tinkered with his rotation and brought Whiteside off of the bench (to team him up with fellow young defenders Justise Winslow and Josh Richardson), he has continued to thrive. Take the last 10 games, for example, in which he has averaged 16.8 points, 12.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocks in 29.6 minutes off the bench. Because Whiteside has been so productive in so few minutes, his per-100-possession stats are jaw-dropping: 24.1 points, 20.8 rebounds and 6.7 blocks.

“I come in and try to bring value every minute I’m out there,” Whiteside told The Boston Globe. “I feel like every game [I’m] getting more and more comfortable each time I play on the court. I feel like I’m getting better as an NBA player.”

While he’s certainly right about improving, traditional statistics don’t tell the full story with Whiteside.

Not only is Whiteside leading the NBA in blocks, he is also ranked first in Defensive Rating (94) and block percentage (10.2 percent). That means Whiteside blocks 10.2 percent of all two-point attempts when he’s on the floor; to put that in perspective, no other NBA player has a block percentage above 5.9 percent.


Whiteside is second in the NBA in rebound percentage, grabbing 23 percent of all available rebounds when he’s on the court, and second in Defensive Box Plus/Minus (3.8). Whiteside also ranks fifth in the NBA in Defensive Win Shares – which estimates how many wins an individual player has contributed to their team due to their defense – with 4.4.

Whiteside’s 3.8 blocks per game not only leads all NBA players, it’s more blocks than three NBA teams currently average per game (Detroit, Dallas and Cleveland). He has rejected 226 shots this season, while no other NBA player has blocked more than 152 shots.

He has recorded four point-rebound-block triple-doubles since January 2015, while no other NBA player has recorded a single one in that span. As Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel noted, only four others players in NBA history have recorded more point-rebound-block triple-doubles than Whiteside – Dikembe Mutombo (10), Hakeem Olajuwon (nine), David Robinson (nine) and Shawn Bradley (six) – and he has posted all of his in a little over one year. Also, no NBA player in the last 19 seasons has averaged four blocks per game, but Whiteside very well could end that drought this year.

What Whiteside is doing this season would be incredible if it was a superstar player putting up these numbers. When you consider that he was out of the NBA just 16 months ago, it’s even more insane.

It’s also somewhat crazy that Whiteside isn’t getting more recognition for his fantastic defense. It’s safe to say that he’s the best shot-blocker in the NBA and his interior defense is extremely disruptive, yet his name is almost never mentioned when discussing the Defensive Player of the Year race.

For much of the season, the Defensive Player of the Year debate has been centered aroundSan Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard and Golden State’s Draymond Green. This is understandable since both players are fantastic defenders, and are leading their respective teams to terrific heights. It also makes sense since they finished first and second in an extremely close Defensive Player of the Year race last season (with only 16 voting points separating them), and there was controversy at the time since Leonard won the award despite Green receiving more first-place votes (45) than Leonard (37). Nobody is arguing that Leonard and Green are outstanding, game-changing defenders.

With that said, shouldn’t Whiteside at least be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year as well? He’s literally leading the NBA in Defensive Rating and is near the top of just about every relevant defensive stat category, yet there are people who act like Defensive Player of the Year is a two-player race between Leonard and Green.

Last season, Miami ranked 19th in the NBA in defense (allowing points per 100 possessions). This season – Whiteside’s first full year with the HEAT – Miami has the NBA’s sixth-best defense (allowing 101.1 points per 100 possessions). Coincidence? I think not.

Regardless of the recognition Whiteside receives for his strong play, one thing is clear: He’s going to get a huge pay day this summer. NBA executives are noticing just how dominant the seven-footer has been and he’ll have a long list of potential suitors this offseason.

Whiteside will be an unrestricted free agent in July, and he’s hitting the market at the perfect time since the salary cap is set to skyrocket due to the NBA’s new television rights deal. As our Steve Kyler recently noted, 17 teams currently project to have enough cap space to offer a full maximum contract (and five teams will have the ability to offer two full maximum contracts). There could be as many as 24 maximum salary slots available this summer, and Whiteside will certainly be one of the top free agents on the market.

This season, Whiteside is making just $981,348, making him one of the best bargain contracts in the NBA. In all likelihood, his next contract will be a max deal – especially with so many teams with money to spend. Big men get paid, especially 26-year-olds who put up the kind of stats Whiteside is this season.

That has to be exciting for Whiteside, who has only made a little over $2 million in his NBA career. This will be his first big contract. But give him credit because as his free agency approaches, he is saying all the right things and trying not to become a distraction.

“I just try to focus on the season,” Whiteside told the Sun-Sentinel. “I can’t control anything that’s going to happen in free agency. I just try to be the best teammate and the best guy I can be and I think everything else is going to take its place.

“[My inner circle and I] really don’t talk about it. It’s really like, ‘Whenever the time comes, it comes.’ We focus on making a deep playoff run and everything else is in due time.”

However, HEAT team president Pat Riley recently made some candid comments about Whiteside’s development and free agency – seemingly making it clear that re-signing Whiteside this summer is one of his priorities.

“I’ve never been around that kind of turnaround,” Riley told reporters, according to the Palm Beach Post. “We’ve had some players that we’ve opened our eyes up on, but I think what Hassan did last year and what he’s doing now, his level of play – it’s just all about more experience, more reps, understanding how important he is for us.

“But in my 50 years in the NBA, I have never seen that kind of phenomenon. I know this is hurting me right now as far as his free agency goes because I’m complimenting him, but he’s grown a lot.”

 

[trojanfan12]

Guess he can be that way since hes so much smarter and successful..

Only gets his lunch from top of the line vending machines.

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

No, no. He’s not really

He' s ok till the medication starts to wear off.

 

[Wamu]

digging a deeper hole...?

 

[TurnUpTheHeat]

Only gets his lunch from top of the line vending machines.

As the footage from the law offices of Wiggy, Butthurt and Longwinded, Esq. clearly shows.

 

[DJ Fieri]

He hates the Lakers because us fans keep making fun of him. Then Lebron went over there and it became twice as sweet.

He hates the Heat because the fans keep making fun of him. And the whole Lebron to Miami thing almost a decade ago.

He even hates the Wizards because tlance keeps owning him.

Basically he’ll hate any team who’s fans keep getting the upper hand of him.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner....