A disgruntled Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside looked to be on his way out this offseason after seeing very few minutes on the floor during the regular season and the playoffs, which set him off, imploding in front of the media after being eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round.
President Pat Riley didn't sugarcoat his words during exit interviews, saying he would serve as a mediator between him and coach Erik Spoelstra, who had clearly relied more in new signing Kelly Olynyk, and rookie Bam Adebayo at the center position.
“Two months ago I said that and there has been movement. I think you need to let a season sort of end and then you need to let how the season ended, which was, you know the season ended on a negative note. Not just for our players, they were disappointed, our coaches were disappointed,” said Riley, according to Anthony Chiang of The Palm Beach Post. “Any time you lose in the first round there’s a lot of emotion. Whatever happened then was two months ago, you move on and you make the best of it. I think that’s where we are right now.”
Riley, as customary, went straight to the point — putting to bed any hope of placing the 7-footer in the trade market.
“I expect a lot out of Hassan contrary to what people might think about us trading him,” said Riley. “We haven’t offered him to anybody really, to be honest with you. So, you go through an emotional period with a player and you deal with it and you come back and you work things out.”
Whiteside seemed poised for a brilliant start to the season, posting 26 points and 22 rebounds before going down to injury after his season debut. Since, the big man has dealt with injuries off an on throughout the entire season, which has put his conditioning and work ethic in question.
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