Whiteside downplays DeAndre dig: 'I would never diss another big fella'

Hassan Whiteside has been caping up for the supposedly endangered NBA big man this season, so it was perhaps surprising to hear him slag Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan on Thursday, dismissing a comparison between the two by saying Jordan "just catches lobs."

Whiteside walked those comments back on Friday, insisting they were misconstrued and that he'd never go after his own kind.

"I would never diss another big fella," Whiteside told reporters before his Miami Heat hosted Jordan's Clippers on Friday night, according to Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post.

"I'm all for the big guys in the game. But I was just saying on the offensive end our roles were different. Obviously he's a top three rebounder and one of the best defensive players in the game. I didn't think I had to explain that, but I see I do. Quote me on that. I'm also good friends with him. He's a good guy, man. I wasn't trying to say, 'Oh, he just could do this or just can do that.' I was just saying our offensive roles, that's all I was saying."

Whiteside had also taken to Twitter earlier in the day to try to downplay the comments.

Jordan, for his part, took the ostensible slight in stride.

"I do catch lobs," he told reporters at shootaround, when informed of Whiteside's comments. "I made first-team All-NBA and first-team All-Defense doing that."

Touche.

Jordan has been an All-Defensive first-teamer the past two seasons, and cracked his first All-NBA first team last season (he made third team in 2014-15). Whiteside could do worse for a peer comparison.