Portland Trail Blazers: Hassan Whiteside, ten block night

Hassan Whiteside had his best performance in a Trail Blazers uniform in the recent matchup with the Bulls. Recording an astounding ten blocks, he protected the rim the way the fans had hoped for all year.

Rightly or wrongly, Hassan Whiteside has copped a lot of flak for his performances in a Trail Blazers uniform this year. Be it the injuries he was dealing with, playing on a new team for the first time in five years, or being part of a struggling team on both ends, he had struggled initially to integrate himself into this team.

Though one performance doesn’t paper over all the cracks, its important to dig a little deeper to see how he can be best used. This Bulls performance showed that in the right units he can still have great impact. This ten block performance was not only the most recorded in a Blazers uniform but the culmination of everything coming together for this team.

Whiteside is noticeably close with Damian Lillard, and it also looks like Carmelo Anthony has taken a liking to him and helped him in the two weeks he has been with the team.

Melo has really tried hard to be a positive presence in the locker room, even taking control of the pregame huddle on occasion. Whiteside’s respect for him and Lillard seems to have had an impact on his play.

This performance with the ten blocks alongside the other two wins, have coincided with his and Lillard’s return from injury along with Melo’s strongest performances for this team.

The extra spacing on offense along with the extra size of Melo at the four has meant that Whiteside hasn’t had to work as hard on both ends. Melo being able to box out for him or Melo attacking the rim protector leaving Whiteside to attack the offensive rebounds has worked well on both ends.

The evidence in the line-up data is pretty clear for the units that Whiteside performs best in.

The Lillard / CJ McCollum / Rodney Hood / Melo / Whiteside line-up has an amazing net rating of plus 12 points per 100 possessions. This line-up did the most damage in the game against Bulls.

The extra size of Hood at the three rather than the four, with the spacing he provides, gives this team a great mix of skill and shooting.

In the Bulls game, with the extra size on the floor of Hood and Melo, Whiteside was free to roam the paint looking for help side blocks. After a week or so of rest he seemed to have better timing on his block attempts, and was sliding his feet well and deterring attempts at the rim also.

Whiteside has been put in a better situation personnel wise now. He has extra size next to him at the four and the three. He has extra spacing on the offensive end making rebounding easier on offense. He will be double teamed less in the post now with the threat of Melo’s mid range game also.

All these factors will go into Whiteside being in a situation where he can now succeed. The onus is now on him to succeed.