Hassan Whiteside has been a force to be reckoned with on both ends of the court
Someone who rhymes with ‘bliteside’ is whiting out the competition, while Mo Williams firmly left his imprint on T-Wolves’ history. Jeff Green laid down a ‘Grizzly’ jam, Russell Westbrook furthered his MVP case with a crazy triple-double, and Andrew Wiggins just keeps getting better.
This is The Week That Was.
He’s the D-League’s greatest prize … He’s Mr. Whiteside!
Who is this guy? He’s only the guy who has the Heat fan base the most ecstatic they’ve been since they’ve been in the post-LeBron era. He recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds in the first half of the Heat’s win against the Clippers on Sunday, going on to finish with career-highs of 23 points and 16 boards. He even added a couple steals and blocks for good measure, and did all of that damage in just 29 minutes.
#WhitesideForMVP https://t.co/C7fOo9TvKO via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) January 14, 2015
-This Vine was posted by Page Q Sports
Ever since that performance, the hysteria around this man is rising to potentially Jeremy Lin sanity-like levels. You look at his game and it seems like there’s nothing he can’t do. He’s an athletic and agile 260-pound seven footer who blocks a ton of shots. He’s got an even better offensive game to boot. For about a couple weeks, Whiteside has given the Heat the team’s best big man basketball since Shaq. I know you think I must be absolutely insane to say that, but let’s look at the numbers.
As of the afternoon of January 13th, Hassan Whiteside has a higher career block percentage (11.1) than any qualified player in league history. He averages 4.9 blocks per 36 minutes for his career. When he’s been on the court for the Heat, opponents have had an effective shooting percentage of 45.9 percent, but opponents have an effective shooting percentage of 52.5 when Whiteside is on the bench. That’s cray cray, right? It’s not as crazy as watching him deny Blake Griffin, though.
https://t.co/ea4vSPER9G via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) January 14, 2015
-This Vine was posted by mfr234
Whiteside’s offensive game is even more impressive, surprisingly. He can post up, which is something that even Dwight Howard is just starting to add to his game. Whiteside has also shown prowess with his hook shot, some of the league’s best defenders have struggled to stop it. Watch Whiteside post up and use a right hook on DeAndre Jordan.
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-This GIF can be found on SBNation.com
This next ‘GIF’ shows Whiteside’s persistence and resilience. He gets his shot blocked by DeAndre Jordan, but rebounds his own shot and then powerfully drives his right shoulder into Jordan’s chest to setup a left hook.
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-This GIF can be found on SBNation.com
Let’s not start to compare Whiteside to any Hall of Famers, but it’s safe to say that he has a fair amount of potential. He could be just what the Heat need to get themselves back in the thick of the Eastern Conference race. Fans have already started singing praises of Whiteside.
Watch out Kobe and LeBron, ‘The Hitman’ is in the house
Every so often, there will be one random ‘no-name’ guy who will enter the spotlight with a completely unexpected game. On January 14th, the basketball gods chose Mo Williams, aka ‘The Hitman,’ as that guy. Williams put up a Timberwolves franchise record 52 points and was the first player of the season to score 50 points in a game. One of his buckets was this insane heave:
Mo Williams for 52!! https://t.co/HHaGKO6WPo via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) January 14, 2015
-This Vine was posted by StreetHistory
That prompted this ‘seriously,’ reaction from Paul George:
-This GIF can be found on Gfycat.com
We all know Williams as a decent scorer, but this is just ridiculous! After this game, his points per game for the season rose to 12.4. Listen to his reaction as he found out he broke a record. Way to go Mo!
Mo finds out he set the TWolves scoring record https://t.co/2zj7TSYyOq via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) January 14, 2015
-This Vine was posted by Becks
Jeff Green arrives in Memphis and utterly annihilates Victor Oladipo
Jeff Green was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Memphis Grizzlies in a three-team deal that took place on January 12th. The ‘Grizz’ dealt Tayshaun Prince and a protected future first-round pick to the Celtics and Quincy Pondexter and a 2015 second round pick to the Pelicans. Memphis received Russ Smith, a 2015 second rounder, and a trade exception from New Orleans, with Boston acquiring Austin Rivers from the Pelicans. Overall, Jeff Green provides Memphis the offensive firepower they need in the offense-heavy West, while Boston was able to get rid of Green, who they were unsure they’d be able to keep in Boston, and restore some clarity to their future. Austin Rivers is Doc Rivers’ son, and the Celtics will likely trade him to the Clippers very soon. You can read more information about this trade here.
In only his second game with his new team, Jeff Green took to the skies to help the Memphis drop the proverbial hammer on the lowly Magic on January 16.
Jeff Green's stare down after this dunk tho #Grizzlies https://t.co/KDcaZlYCLx via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) January 19, 2015
-This Vine was posted by Ananth Pandian
Green is one of the best dunkers in the league, but his aerial abilities have often been overlooked by fans. So here he is reminding you that he can crush it hard and posterize with the best of them. Well done, Mr. Green!
Welcome to Westbrook’s world
On January 16th, Russell Westbrook cooked up a delicious triple-double as the Thunder rolled over the Warriors 127-115. The stat line for Westbrook was 17 points, 15 boards and 17 dimes, in what was his first triple-double of the season. The Warriors let him run wild all night, and it looked as if he could do whatever he wished, whenever he wanted. Even if what he wanted would require almost as much luck as Trevor Booker had a couple weeks ago, and would have a .0001 percent chance of pulling off … watch what I’m talking about.
-This GIF can be found on HoldOutSports.com
Easily the luckiest basket of his NBA career. Very few can claim the missed dunk that bounces into the net, so props to Westbrook for being so good that he can actually influence gravity and luck.
Andrew Wiggins continues to go wild
So I know I wrote about Wiggins last week, but he’s actually managed to get better as a player since then. His golden nugget of a performance in Denver on Saturday, January 17th was by far the best game of his rookie season. He scored a career-high 31 points, marking his 13th consecutive game scoring in double figures, going for 20 points in at 10 of those contests. His scoring ability has progressed to near-elite levels and his athleticism enables him to attack the basket quicker and with more aggression than most. Wiggins demonstrated his dynamic scoring ability by hitting his first six shots, and by the end he had connected on four of his five triples. He finished the game 11-of-17 from the floor, and outside he shooting he turned in nine boards, four assists, three blocks and one steal. The only other teen to record at least 31 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks is LeBron James. Following the Nuggets game, Wiggins has averaged 22 points on 50.3 percent shooting, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.6 blocks in nine games since January 1.
Look at the innate athleticism on display here. He makes this cut to the basket look so simple and seamless. All he does is catch the ball, pro-hop, and leap for the jam, but he doesn’t actually gear up for the jump. He just does it. That kind of athleticism is better than what you will find from at least 95 percent of NBA athletes.
Effortless https://t.co/F0HVNfM8DS via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) January 19, 2015
-This Vine was posted by Zach Harper
Later on, he rolled to the left corner, spread out the defense, and knocked down a three just before help could arrive to contest the shot. Wiggins has hit 41.4 percent of his threes this season.
Effortless Part 2: Droppin' Treys https://t.co/3E0ab5hAsT via @vine
— Jonathan Ebanks (@hogz4lyfe) January 19, 2015
-The Vine was posted by Zach Harper
It’s good to see that he’s starting to understand the basics of how to space the floor to create easy shots. While he still needs to improve in that area, his overall game is already forming into a complete one. Since January 1st, Wiggins has looked like an elite NBA player and the sky is the limit for this 19-year-old.
Jonathan Ebanks is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Jonathan, check out his archive and follow him @hogz4lyfe.
