Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside recently vented out his frustrations regarding line up changes. Whenever the opposing teams go small, Whiteside is forced to sit on the bench so as not to create match-up changes. Whiteside's frustrations are valid. But according to Shaquille O'Neal, NBA legend and one of the most dominant players in history, Whiteside needs to understand “strategy.”
As reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Whiteside is frustrated when his playing time gets cut off due to line-up changes:
“It’s annoying. We shouldn’t. Why are we matching up? We’ve got one of the best centers in the league. Why are we matching up?
O'Neal, however, gave his fellow big man some advice, as reported by Jackson in a separate article:
“Sometimes as a player you have to understand strategy,” O’Neal said. “Yes Whiteside is a big man; he’s a fabulous big man. But he’s not the traditional big man which you call the term five.
“If I was him, I would say OK I’m going to [let] coach do what he do, but I’m going to get a rest. Because playoff time when the game slows down, they’re going to need you, big man. Don’t let all that stuff [bother you]. I know as a player we want to play all the games. But I didn’t win championships until I had 15, 20 games off.”
These are encouraging words from one of the best. Safe to say that Whiteside took O'Neal's advice to heart. The latter has been there before. And like he said, he won championships in spite of initial frustrations of sitting it out to accommodate match-ups.
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