Hassan Whiteside on the NBA's new wave of centers: 'I don't have a day off'
Hassan Whiteside knew he was in for a workout when he took on Philadelphia rookie phenom Joel Embiid on Monday evening, and he got one. Embiid has been the toast of the NBA, every other night at least, since the exhibition season, and he clanked glasses in Philly’s first pair of consecutive wins in 32 months: 22 points, five rebounds and three blocks in just 22 minutes of play.
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Whiteside, the well-heeled Miami Heat center, more than held his own with a career-best 32 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks …
… but the fact remains that his team was bested. The idea that the center position is a space best held by those working in the distant past – like major Embiid fan Patrick Ewing – seems less rooted in reality than the certainty of Miami’s most recent loss and 4-9 record.
Killer centers are everywhere. Just ask Hassan Whiteside:
“I don’t know who ‘they’ are. ‘They’ don’t watch basketball if it’s not centers. I don’t have a day off at the center position.”
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“And when you hear it from the players, they’re saying it, Embiid saying it, I don’t know who ‘they’ are, But they must not watch basketball, because every night I’ve got Dwight [Howard], Drummond, [DeMarcus] Cousins. I got a really good center every night. So I don’t know where these nights off are happening.”
Neither do I. Neither should anyone at your Thanksgiving dinner table this Thursday. Inform them of much, and then get on to that dreaded discussion about Gerrymandering.
Hassan Whiteside has already taken on Nikola Vucevic (18 and 9 last year), Pau Gasol, DeMarcus Cousins, Jonas Valanciunas, and Stephen Adams with Enes Kanter coming off the bench. He’s gone up against Rudy Gobert, Dwight Howard, and Embiid. Missing the cut above are Robin Lopez, former All-Star Roy Hibbert, and the constantly bullying Marcin Gortat. Only Milwaukee, out of Miami’s 12 opponents thus far (they’ve played Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge and the Spurs twice), has provided a breather for Hassan in the form of John Henson, a center with career averages of 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks per game per 36 minutes played. Greg Monroe, a double-double machine when starting, comes off the Buck bench.
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Andre Drummond is up next for Whiteside and the Heat, followed by two games against Marc Gasol and a pairing with Al Horford. This isn’t even getting into the work of Brook Lopez, DeAndre Jordan, Anthony Davis for spells, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Tyson Chandler. Joakim Noah and Andrew Bogut, when healthy, remain wily.
Compare this to Whiteside’s predecessor, his long-ago predecessor Alonzo Mourning. On the occasion of Michael Jordan’s most recent honor, let’s look at what Zo went up against during Jordan’s last season with the Chicago Bulls:
Shaquille O’Neal roamed the earth during 1997-98, but an aging Patrick Ewing missed most of the season due to a thumb and wrist injury. David Robinson was uneasily returning from major back and foot injuries, while Hakeem Olajuwon was past his prime. Vlade Divac was slumming in Charlotte, Jayson Williams could rebound, Rik Smits was working through his lone All-Star season, while Arvydas Sabonis and rookie Zydrunas Ilgauskas were straining just to not hurt anything. Zo himself missed 24 games that year with a bum knee.
Beyond that, you had major starting seasons from Terry Davis, Ervin Johnson, Luc Longley, Greg Ostertag, Jim McIlvaine, Dean Garrett, Olden Polynice, Ike Austin, Cherokee Parks and Stanley Roberts in Minnesota, Hot Rod Williams at age 35, and Travis Knight. The oft-mocked Bryant “Big Country” Reeves, Shawn Bradley and Bison Dele actually far outpaced that lacking crew in 1997-98.
This was back when life was easier for big men, when abolished zones made it so centers had either low post all to themselves whenever they wanted it. The lanes were set to dominate, and many fell short in that regard.
It’s true that no current big man is dominating in the way that Shaquille O’Neal – then still struggling with conditioning and fit in his second season with Los Angeles – did that particular year, but the lack of low post ubiquity matters little when Embiid and Anthony-Towns are pushing young teams to competitive action with play both inside and out.
Hassan Whiteside does not rank as a night off. He’s averaged 18.8 points, 15.9 rebounds and 2.9 blocks so far on the season, and while his unorthodox rise toward the realm of the franchise player may have hurt his Q Rating, one has to recognize that he’s done some special work thus far, while banging away nearly nightly against those that deserve our respect.
Centers, good centers, are everywhere. Tell your old man to drag Drummond and Gasol (pick a Gasol, either Gasol) up and down the court for 33.2 minutes a night.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
