The greatness that is/might be Hassan Whiteside

Gary

Gary

All-Star
KingsFanSince85 said:
In their defense, I believe most are upset just from a player development perspective, not necessarily because of what he may or may not produce this upcoming season.

As has been brought up already, Wes Matthews was once in Moreland's situation as a Summer League prospect that had potential but was perceived as a bottom of the roster player. We all know how he developed. Gerald Wallace was once buried deep on the Kings bench trying to develop his jump shot and was eventually exposed to the supplemental draft as a result. A year or two later, the Kings fans that were upset about the move when it happened were proven to be right. I have no idea whether the story will end similarly for Moreland, but I can certainly understand why those that see potential in him object to the move.
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Whiteside... That one hurt..
 
The Hammer said:
It did. And I could see it coming a mile away. I knew he was going to blow up.
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Damn, you did??? My hat is off to you, I sure didn't. I saw a young man with some physical gifts who was not NBA ready, seemed disinterested in working on his game or honing those naturally gifted assets. Oddly, the Kings staff, the Grizzlies staff, the D league staff and even his Lebanese team staff seemed to share that opinion.... I am not even sure what happened with the China team he only played 17 games for. He was a young man who needed a brutal wake up call to even become INTERESTED in applying himself..... not sure I even want that type of player anywhere around our guys.
 
Kingsgurl said:
Damn, you did??? My hat is off to you, I sure didn't. I saw a young man with some physical gifts who was not NBA ready, seemed disinterested in working on his game or honing those naturally gifted assets. Oddly, the Kings staff, the Grizzlies staff, the D league staff and even his Lebanese team staff seemed to share that opinion.... I am not even sure what happened with the China team he only played 17 games for. He was a young man who needed a brutal wake up call to even become INTERESTED in applying himself..... not sure I even want that type of player anywhere around our guys.
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I knew he just had to figure some things out and adjust. I never saw a kid who lacked drive. He bulked up a TON when he was with us, and that takes effort. Not easy. He had all the tools. I have no idea why we couldn't keep him around as a 12-15 man and just let him find his way. I mean seriously. Who was our 15th man that was more important than him?
 
The Hammer said:
He had ADD/HD.

And yes, I did know. Thought it was ridiculous for us to just let him walk. Do you think Miami knew??!!
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Miami had nothing to lose, they had two championship trophies in a span of four years so they took a flier on him. Even last season in Miami, he was throwing tantrums and scuffling with other players. The jury is NOT out on him just quite yet, one season doesn't vindicate him getting a big pay day...he didn't even play a full season anyway.
 
kingsboi said:
Miami had nothing to lose, they had two championship trophies in a span of four years so they took a flier on him. Even last season in Miami, he was throwing tantrums and scuffling with other players. The jury is NOT out on him just quite yet, one season doesn't vindicate him getting a big pay day...he didn't even play a full season anyway.
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WE HAD NOTHING TO LOSE.

But I think you mean the jury is indeed still out on him.

Under a stable organization, he would have been fine, he will be fine.
 
I could be wrong, but I seem to remember someone on this bd suggesting that Hassan and DMC clashed while here? If there was truth to that then the thing to lose was professionalism of our team. I wouldn't have minded sending him to the D-League.

I was very happy to see him have a pretty good year (minus the blowups he was having). I do think the jury is still out on him.

The big regret I think is that our team had a very bad internal culture at the time that was not developing our young players appropriately.
 
The Hammer said:
WE HAD NOTHING TO LOSE.

But I think you mean the jury is indeed still out on him.

Under a stable organization, he would have been fine, he will be fine.
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I thought the 2010 draft was an absolute HAUL for the Kings. Cousins in the first round and Whiteside in the 2nd? It was like the gods decided to bless Sacramento with a perfectly paired set of frontcourt players to lead them into a dominant future. And then I watched Whiteside in summer league. And I listened to his interviews. Not a bad kid, but horribly immature, flat out lost on the court and seemingly not self aware enough to realize that was the case. Dalembert's insistence that he was an offensive force that just needed more touches always made me smile, but Whiteside's perception of his skill level was cartoonish in comparison. I was half wondering if he was an Kaufmann-like comedy genius who was just playing us all because on the surface he seemed downright delusional. When asked at the combine what parts of his game he most needed to work on his answer was "nothing". He showed up for measurements and athletic testing wearing flip-flops. He just didn't get it.

I think Whiteside NEEDED to get bounced out of the NBA, ping pong among D-League teams, find success in the Chinese Basketball Association, get waived by a team in Lebanon, get cut by the Grizzlies and bounce around the D-League again.

I think it took 3 solid years after the Kings for him to mature, to realize the reality of his situation and to be willing to do the dirty work that the Heat finally convinced him to focus on. Do I wish the Kings signed him back into the NBA with a team friendly 3 year deal instead of Miami? Absolutely. But do I think he'd be the same player today if the Kings had just held on to him and resigned him? Nope.
 
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