Whiteside heated
Miami centre fined for speaking out against coaching staff
The Miami Heat do things a certain way.
Hard work, trust, falling in line are some of the tenets of one of the NBA’s most successful franchises.
So Hassan Whiteside’s decision to question the coaching staff about sitting down the stretch of a recent game was met with a predictable response: an undisclosed fine.
Whiteside didn’t like not playing in the fourth quarter of a onepoint loss against Brooklyn because Miami went small, like the Nets.
“Man, it’s annoying,” Whiteside told reporters.
“Why we matching up? We got one of the best centres in the league. Why we matching up? A lot of teams don’t have a good centre. They’re going to use their strength.
“It’s bull—. It’s really bull—, man,” Whiteside continued. “There’s a lot of teams that could use a centre. S—. That’s bull—.”
Whiteside then hinted that he might be better off somewhere else. “I don’t know, maybe.” Whiteside is owed $24 million US next season and $27 million the following one and later said he was just frustrated because he really wanted to win the game (Miami is in a dogfight for a 6-8 seed in the playoffs).
“I could have handled it different,” he said, adding he trusted head coach Erik Spoelstra’s decisions.
Spoelstra said it was poor judgment and suggested Whiteside cool off more next time and maybe express his feelings a day later.