In his 140-game NBA career, Hassan Whiteside has recorded a grand total of 35 assists. The Miami Heat have replaced Dwyane Wade with better shooters, but the question is if Whiteside can help create open shots for the likes of (the returning) Josh Richardson, Dion Waiters and Wayne Ellington. The South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman talked to Ellington about that topic:
Actually, the conversation was about the potential for the Heat to successfully play inside-out, an approach that could maximize Ellington’s ability to contribute.
And that made the conversation about Hassan Whiteside, which it has to be, as much for what Whiteside realized in the offseason (a four-year, $98 million contract) as what he hasn’t often otherwise realized (35 total assists over the past two seasons).
To put Whiteside’s lack of a passing into perspective, consider that based on the NBA’s player-tracking statistics, Whiteside ranked 80th among centers last season in points created off assists, at 0.9 per game (as compared to Pau Gasol’s league-leading 9.6).
That’s 80th among centers in a league with only 30 teams.
The ball simply didn’t come out of those hands that often, with Whiteside 40th among centers last season in passes per game and 40th in secondary assists created (the pass that leads to the pass for an assist).
“It’s no question. That’s something big for us,” Ellington said of getting Whiteside and the Heat’s outside threats on the same page. “And being able to get on the same page with Hassan and the other big guys is crucial. Gaining that attention and defenses being so focused on him, being able to go out and find the open guys is going to be huge for us.”
