After the Miami Heat's season ended at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, Heat center Hassan Whiteside aired some more grievances about his lack of playing time.
"At least give me a chance to fight," Whiteside said after Miami's Game 5 loss, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. "I can understand if I was playing 30 minutes and I played bad. At least give me a chance."
Whiteside played just 10 minutes in Game 5. He shot 0-for-4 from the field, grabbed five rebounds, blocked a shot, committed a turnover, picked up three fouls, and registered a minus-14 on-court rating. The Heat started out by matching Whiteside's minutes with Sixers center Joel Embiid's, but the issue - as it's been all series - is that Embiid was therefore able to camp out near the basket and shut down drive after drive. With the stretchier Kelly Olynyk in Whiteside's place, the Heat outscored the Sixers by three points in 37 minutes. (Olynyk finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals).
For the series, Whiteside averaged just 15.4 minutes a game, down from 25.3 minutes in the regular season, which itself was down from 32.6 last season. He averaged 5.2 points, six rebounds, 1.2 blocks, 2.4 turnovers, and 3.2 fouls, while the Heat were 10.8 points per 100 possessions worse with him on the floor.
"We played a style of play coach wanted," Whiteside said. "He wanted to utilize more spacing I guess in the playoffs, so that's why he did it."
This is not the first time Whiteside has publicly carped about his usage in recent weeks. Earlier this month, he earned himself a team-issued fine when he called a fourth-quarter benching "bull----" and said "there's a lot of teams that could use a center." After Game 3 against the Sixers last week, he vented about his role in the offense, saying, "Coach wants me to just be in the corner and set picks."
Whiteside has two years and over $52 million left on his contract (assuming he picks up his 2019-20 player option), but he isn't sure what his future in Miami looks like.
"We'll see," he said. "I can't tell you right now."
