Photo by World Red Eye
Audio By Carbonatix
When the Miami Heat traded Hassan Whiteside to the Portland Trail Blazers for Meyers Leonard and Mo Harkless this offseason, most observers outside Miami saw the move as a loss that was an unfortunate necessity so the Heat could afford adding Jimmy Butler in free agency. The salary cap being what it is, the Heat needed to offload some money, which meant their starting seven-foot center had to go.
For those who knew better, though (see: Miami Heat fans), shipping Whiteside as far away as possible was a reason for celebration. The days of immense frustration over watching Whiteside lackadaisically play subpar, stinky basketball masked by the aerosol of empty stats was finally coming to a merciful end. Whiteside and, more important, his $20 million-plus, were now Portland’s problem. Praise him! Welcome to Miami, Jimmy!
Anything coming back in the deal for Whiteside was thought of as a bonus as far as Heat fans were concerned. Soon enough, the Blazers and their fans would get it. They’d totally understand why Heat fans were laughing and high-fiving when their team traded a human double-double stat-stuffing center for nearly nothing.
.@jeskeets has a major issue with Hassan Whiteside's effort.
From Wednesday's episode: pic.twitter.com/rh3iWZ7u9B
— No Dunks (@NoDunksInc) November 20, 2019
It appears that day came far sooner than anyone could have imagined. Portland fans are already completely over the Hassan Whiteside era. The Blazers, a team that went to the Western Conference Finals last season, are 5-10. Miami, a team that didn’t make the playoffs last season, is 10-3.
There are obviously takes about this on the internet, and it is our duty to check them out.
If the Hassan Whiteside trade don't make Miami the fraud capital of the world, I don't know what will.
— Philip Deez (@nutzpuntocom) November 20, 2019
Heat Twitter watching the Blazers burn down around Hassan Whiteside pic.twitter.com/ZQF9ZhAMLK
— Tyler Herro Stan (@brianvazquez123) November 20, 2019
The Portland Trailblazers Really traded away all their depth from their conference finals team for Hassan Whiteside pic.twitter.com/irRyjW3XnT
— Nick Barnum (@Nick_TTP) November 20, 2019
10 games of Hassan Whiteside is all it took for Blazers fans to figure it out. I'm jealous. pic.twitter.com/xyLAXVOxCS
— Ryan Yousefi (@Rizzmiggiz) November 20, 2019
95 players in the league have played 330+ minutes this season.
Hassan Whiteside is DEAD LAST in Assists https://t.co/m5f3eXXQtG
— toloverugoat (@toloverugoat) November 21, 2019
Reasons the #Blazers are bad:
1. Hassan Whiteside
2. Hassan Whiteside
3. Hassan Whiteside
4. Hassan Whiteside
5. The Wing Rotation
6. Mario Hezonja
7. Hassan Whiteside
8. Skal Labissiere
9. Hassan Whiteside
10. Hassan Whiteside— IanStan (@IanStan26) November 21, 2019
Someone described Whiteside as "tall for no reason" the other night and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.
— Nitz Bluv (@nitzbluv) November 20, 2019
So that’s how the Whiteside trade is working out for the Blazers thus far. The Heat has a huge weight lifted off its shoulders, and the Portland Trailblazers and their fans would like nothing more than to flip Whiteside to someone else for [checks notes] a back-up power forward.
Sometimes addition by subtraction is a real thing. In this case, the Heat had quite the addition in Leonard but a huge bonus subtraction in ridding the team of Whiteside. All of this is very obvious just a month into the season, but it was a clear outcome to any Heat fan paying attention for the past two seasons.
