Hassan Whiteside is seemingly experiencing something of a career resurgence as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. After spending 5 productive seasons with the Miami Heat, the team sent Whiteside away to the Blazers as part of the exceedingly complex Jimmy Butler trade.
Despite putting up monster rebound and block numbers throughout his career, Whiteside has seemingly always had the “low-effort” label tagged onto him during his 8-year tenure in the NBA. According to a recent story by Jason Quick of The Athletic, Whiteside is getting tired of those same tropes and criticisms:
“I think people have a misconception of me,” Whiteside said in Quick’s story. “I don’t know what it is, where it is coming from, I really don’t know. But my friends, we talk about it all the time … yesterday, today, tomorrow … it’s always there.”
When pressed about his game-sealing offensive rebound and putback against the Bulls on Friday, Whiteside elaborated about his thoughts on the narrative surrounding him:
“They are probably saying I didn’t put in no effort tonight,” Whiteside said. “I don’t know, I’m so sick of hearing that s***. I’m here busting my a** on defense every day. I’m so tired of it. Tired of hearing it. I came from the bottom, and I gotta hear that s***.”
Indeed, Whiteside’s numbers are up after seemingly being Erik Spoelstra’s doghouse in Miami the past few seasons. In fact, Whiteside’s 10 blocks in Friday’s Blazers win is a franchise-record for Portland and only one away from his career-high of 11 – set in Miami in 2016.
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