2016 Rumor Mill: Trades and Players to Watch

Yet Lakers fans embraced Ron Artest. Why? Because he came to play.

http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-malice-palace/

“After we calmed down, [Artest] looked at me like, ‘Jack, you think we going to get in trouble?’ Jamaal Tinsley fell out laughing. I said, ‘Are you serious, bro? Trouble? Ron, we’ll be lucky if we have a freaking job.’ That lets me know he wasn’t in his right mind, to ask that question.” —Stephen Jackson

 

Dumb + lazy is the wrong combination for a player. If that tweet is true I want no part of Whiteside.

 

I Googled "Hassan Whitside work ethic":
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-heat/fl-dave-hyde-commentary-0129-20150128-column.html


In the beginning: "When Hassan came from Marshall, he had no clue,'' Riley said. "He just didn't have that basketball IQ. I remember seeing Marshall just put him in a zone in the middle of the court, and he just stood there. He didn't know how to play man-to-man defense."


Now: Pay Riley on Whiteside: "I hadn't seen him for a year and half, and I said, 'This is not the same Hassan,' '' he said. "His sojourn around the world, in all the different leagues, not only humbled him but he learned to play."

Whiteside matured physically from 220 pounds in college to 260 pounds. But equally noticeable to Riley was how Whiteside was harder. Hungrier.

"He'd got to the point where this was important to him,'' Riley said.

Maybe people change, and maybe there are two sides to every story.

 

DeMar DeRozan's play profile:
29.7% of his plays are PnR ball handler; he averages 0.98 PPP, which is in the 91st percentile (ahead of Westbrook, Lillard, Paul, Harden, e.g.)
17.6% of his plays are in ISO situations. He averages 0.88 PPP, which is 60th percentile.
13.7% of the time he's off a screen, for 0.79 PPP, which is in the 26th percentile.
He spots up 10.9% of the time, for .95 PPP, which is in the 51st percentile.
He posts up 10.3% of the time, putting up .95 PPP, which is 78th percentile.
7.7% of his plays are Transition; he averages 1.13 Points Per Possession, and that is in the 55th percentile.
He takes a hand off 4.3% of the time, for 0.95 PPP, which is in the 64th percentile.
He cuts 1.6% of the time, for 1.47 PPP, which is 89th percentile.
He almost never is the roll man, but he converted his only attempt.
--Aside from working off the screen, he's a good scorer, and he knows his strengths as a scorer, taking ~43% of his shots in ways in which he is in the top 1/4 of the league in terms of proficiency.

Whiteside:
22% of his plays are putbacks, for 1.17 PPP, in the 70th percentile.
22% of his plays are post ups, for 0.63 PPP, which is in the 16th percentile.
--Along with the PnR stats, there you have it - his strengths and weaknesses.

 

I've heard he's still quite a meathead over in Miami. Bosh jokes about it a lot. I don't know that you can fix "dumb", but you can fix "immature". Some of those really spoke to immaturity. If he's really grown up, then I don't see any problems. Obviously we'd have to do our homework.

 

For what it's worth Noah just separated his shoulder again...

He might be a bargain bin type of big man this summer after everything is said and done.

 

Thanks for posting that. Good read. Nuanced situation.