One year after signing a big free
agent deal with the Miami Heat, center Hassan Whiteside says he’s ready to take
on a bigger role, both on and off the court. Speaking to the Miami Herald’s
Manny Navarro, Whiteside says he wants to help the Heat win another title:
Hassan Whiteside has kept himself busy since the Miami Heat’s season came to an
abrupt and unfulfilling end on April 12.
He’s been playing football and basketball with Steelers All-Pro wide receiver
and Miami native Antonio Brown, working out with his own Heat teammates down at
AmericanAirlines Arena, and last week he bought his mother a six-bedroom dream
home in a suburb outside of Charlotte, N.C.
Life is certainly different than it was a year ago when Whiteside, 27, was about
to hit free agency unsure where his future might be.
Now, he says, he has “a base.” He wants to recruit and focus on leading the Heat
to a championship.
“It’s different you know [than it was last summer],” Whiteside said Sunday at
Bayfront Park as he attended the Mountain Dew NBA 3X tournament among a throng
of Heat fans who played NBA2K with him. “I can watch film. I can do a little
recruiting, get a couple good free agents in here, big free agents. I can focus
on the season next year.”
The Heat, which will have roughly $38 million in cap space once it releases
11-time All-Star Chris Bosh, could go a couple different directions when free
agency opens next month.
Team president Pat Riley could spend most of team’s remaining cap space on an
All-Star like Gordon Hayward, Paul Millsap or Blake Griffin. Or, Riley could
turn around and use what’s available to sign the Heat’s own free agents while
adding a new piece here or there.
Whiteside said he’s “very confident” Dion Waiters and James Johnson, who emerged
during their first season with the Heat, will be back. Whiteside says he checks
in with both players frequently.
“I’m not even thinking about them being gone,” he said. “I’m thinking like they
will be here next year… [those] guys want to be here.”
Whiteside said he still believes the Heat, which barely missed the playoffs at
41-41 after a 30-11 second half finish, would have gone very deep into the
postseason had it reached the playoffs.
And despite how easy Golden State and Cleveland made it look getting to the NBA
Finals, Whiteside said he doesn’t believe the Heat needs to build a Super Team
to contend for a title.
“I think we got a chance next year, honestly,” Whiteside said. “You know, these
guys are coming into their own. You don’t know what a guy like Dion is going to
bring and Goran [Dragic]. Them guys can become superstars themselves. So you
might not even have to go get anybody else. It might be enough.”
