Hassan Whiteside Appears To Call Out The Heat For Not Letting Him Shoot Threes


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The Miami Heat face an interesting summer after their 2017-18 campaign ended with a five-game loss to the Sixers in the first round of the playoffs. Miami’s team is set for years to come given their cap situation having given large, long-term deals to the majority of their roster, but there are significant questions about whether this group has already hit its ceiling and should be shaken up by way of a trade.

The player at the center of most discussion about potentially being shipped out of Miami is center Hassan Whiteside, who clashed with Erik Spoelstra and the Heat coaching staff towards the end of the season over playing time. Whiteside regularly found him being benched late in games when opponents went small, which led to multiple outbursts over the final weeks of the season and postseason.

Pat Riley wasn’t shy in offering a critique of Whiteside in exit interviews, and the relationship between the Heat and their center seems to be frayed beyond repair. The latest video Whiteside posted to his Instagram account seems to only show that divide as he shows off his shooting range while explaining there’s a difference between “can’t shoot and not being allowed,” which seems like a pretty direct shot at the Heat.

Whiteside is clearly not pleased with the way he’s portrayed as a big man with limited range and offensive ability and wants to show that, if he were given the opportunity, he’d be able to flourish. However, it’s one thing to knock down a shot in an empty gym and a completely different thing to do so on a consistent basis in an NBA game.

That said, it would certainly make Whiteside a more attractive player in the modern NBA if he could expand his range (even if not to the three-point line, but to have a more diverse offensive game). This probably won’t go over especially well in Miami and it would seem Whiteside’s days in South Beach are numbered, provided they can find a team that wants to take him on with his contract.

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