Had dinner the other night with a Miami Heat fan. He wished Portland the best, but said Whiteside is the laziest player he’s ever seen. Apparently the night that the Pistons came to town, Whiteside let Andre Drummond go crazy. Just stood there while Drummond gobbled up rebounds and set some kind of personal scoring record. I didn’t look this up, I’m just taking his word for it. But I think it does help explain why Olshey went out and got Pau Gasol. He knows Whiteside is a big risk, and he needs some insurance at the center position.
http://bkref.com/tiny/IlUCH The most Drummond has ever scored against Whiteside was 22 points on 3/3/18. He had 18 rebounds that game as well. Of course, Whiteside had 19 rebounds in only 24 minutes, and the Heat won. Your Heat fan friend has a faulty memory. Now, I remember a game early last season where Joel Embiid absolutely worked Whiteside, but that's a different story altogether.
no risk....contract year.....did not like his situation in Miami. I dont like that he didnt play hard. Nurk was in the same situation in Denver and that worked out for us. I am just curious how many 18+ rebound games he has this year for us. Cant wait
I agree that the reward is worth the risk. I just think we may have to take some bad along with the good. Can’t wait for the season to start and see how it all pans out.
Like you, I looked up the box scores . Makes me wonder if he's talking about the night Drummond had a game of 25-18 in 17, but Whiteside didn't play.. https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201701010MIA.html It looked, though I didn't document things, that Andre had much better games when Whiteside WASN'T playing.
Gasol is not Whiteside insurance as he doesn’t have those kind of minutes in his legs. If Whiteside goes down or plays shitty, Collins will just move back to center. But Whiteside will be fine, health permitting.
I keep hearing this lazy narrative. What I don't hear is how someone who is near the top of the league in rebounding percentage the last few years can be lazy. I can't wait to hear the justification excuses when he dominates this year like Denver fans did with Nurk.
We are going to see an energized Whiteside. He is excited to be playing with CJ and Dame. The only thing that concerns me is when Nurkic comes back. Whiteside won't be happy coming off the bench, which he will be doing if the Blazers don't trade him at the deadline (Though they probably will).
He has to know he's playing second fiddle to Nurk. He can't be that dumb. He has to know, or someone told him. So he has time to come to terms with it.
There will be enough minutes for him as I doubt they’re going to throw Nurk out there for 30 minutes a night. Could see an even split. Besides, Whiteside was benched in Miami and I don’t remember him disrupting the locker room. He can be unhappy all he wants as long as it doesn’t effect anybody else.
During the regular season I'd actually be surprised if Nurk logs more than 20 minutes in any game this year.
He has money. Dame will keep him in his place for the ring. We will go deep with them as a one two punch.
It's no coincidence Olshey is loading up on Centers. Nurk needs to take all the time in the world to come back 100.