Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Intriguing Mavs
Free agent pitch impressed Heat’s Whiteside.
MIAMI —This was “Shark Tank” in reverse.
Oh, Mark Cuban again arrived with money to invest, but this time he also was doing the pitching.
And Hassan Whiteside was listening. Intently.
That was something the shotblocking center wanted to make clear after Wednesday’s practice at AmericanAirlines Arena, that for all of the assumption that his return to the Miami Heat was a done deal at the start of last summer’s NBA free agency, he very much gave thought to the Dallas Mavericks’ courtship, which began mere minutes after Pat Riley and his staff made their pitch.
“Mark Cuban is a good guy,” Whiteside said of the Mavericks owner, as the Heat prepared to face Dallas tonight. “They came in to talk at about 1 a.m., right after the Heat.
“They told me just how much they can help me on the offensive end and give me the ball more and how much they could utilize what I can do.”
It was Whiteside said Wednesday, an impressive overture, as much for what Mavericks coach
Rick Carlisle and his staff presented as for the brash straightforwardness of Cuban.
“I just felt so comfortable with the Heat,” he said of hours later announcing his decision to go with the Heat’s four-year, $98 million maximum offer. “Maybe if I liked the Heat a little less, you know, I definitely would have considered the Mavericks a lot more.”
Unlike how the Los Angeles Clippers swooped back in to reclaim DeAndre Jordan during the signing moratorium after Jordan had reached an initial agreement with the Mavericks at the start of 2015 free agency, Cuban played it straight from there.
“We were happy with the direction we were going in and we had made our pitch to Hassan, but we didn’t really think he was going to leave,” Cuban said at the time.
And, yet, doors were not slammed shut, either.
“I won’t be surprised if Cuban tries the next time I’m a free agent,” Whiteside said. “We never know. I signed a four-year deal, not a 10-year deal.”
In the interim, the Mavericks first worked out a deal for Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut and then, with Bogut injured, moved to a smallball approach that now has Dirk Nowitzki at center, Harrison Barnes at power forward and Wesley Matthews at small forward. The realignment has Dallas on a three-game winning streak.
For Whiteside, there will be no choice but to step up by stepping outside defensively.
“It’s just something you’ve got to adapt to,” Whiteside said of tonight’s defensive assignment against Nowitzki. “You’ve got to make them pay for that, too. But I’m just going to be out there playing defense.”
For all the concern about the shrinking role of the NBA big man, practically all of Whiteside’s matchups to this stage at midseason have involved big-muscle matchups, the exceptions limited to the likes of the occasional Plumlee, Gasol or perimeter-oriented Al Horford.
But now comes a twoway test.
“This is the way the league has been trending,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So it’s not the first time he’s had to do it. Even last week against Golden State, playing against their speed lineup with [Draymond] Green at the five, he had to face a lot of that. He’s getting much better with it. And it’s a byproduct of experience.
“Now, you’re playing against a Hall of Famer, that doesn’t make it easy. But, hey, there’s not much in this league that is easy. So you have to find a way to overcome it.”
To his credit, Whiteside has gotten better at stepping out when necessary, mostly when involved in pick-and-rolls. Three times during Tuesday’s 109-103 victory over the Rockets, Whiteside found himself with no fear of the beard, twice forcing missed shots by James Harden and another time being called for the type of contact that Harden draws against the best of perimeter defenders.
“I’m a defensive-minded guy,” Whiteside said. “I’m a guy who takes pride in defense, regardless of wherever we’re at on the court.”
This also will be a referendum on the Heat’s commitment to its powerful big man.
Even with the Mavericks opening this twogame trip with a 99-98 victory Tuesday over the Chicago Bulls, Bulls center Robin Lopez was able to outscore Nowitzki 21-10, powering his way to a 10-of-15 high-percentage shooting night.
“I’m going to call for the ball,” Whiteside said. “I trust in the guards to find me. But I’m not going to try to force the issue. But I’m definitely going to call for the ball.”