In a league of coddled superstars and guys riding seven-figure salaries since they were teenagers, Hassan Whiteside is the rare star-in-the-making who actually earned it. After a year at Marshall University, Whiteside played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Iowa Energy, the Sichuan Blue Whales in China, and Al Mouttahed Tripoli of the Lebanese Basketball League. But in 2015, perhaps the bleakest year in Miami Heat history, Whiteside took his chance in the NBA by pulling down rebounds as if they were lemons hanging on a tree and blocking shots as if he were swatting mosquitoes. Once, he dunked so hard his hand required multiple stitches. Another time, he put up numbers on the boards and from the field that the Heat has never seen, not even in the days of Shaquille O'Neal. This past February 4, he totaled 24 points on 12-of-13 shooting while pulling down 20 rebounds. He's the heart of the next-generation Heat, and he's probably not headed back to Lebanon anytime soon.
Readers' choice: Dwyane Wade