At Las Vegas Summer League last July, Hassan Whiteside was a member of the Toronto Raptors’ team. Come training camp, they opted to invite Greg Stiemsma as the team’s potential third center instead of Whiteside, who went to camp with the Memphis Grizzlies instead. After the Grizzlies decided they, too, didn’t need the 7-footer, he dominated the D-League, earning an NBA call-up with the Miami Heat in short order.
The rest is well-known history at this point. Whiteside was the breakout star of the 2015-16 season, with only his limited number of games keeping him from being among the league’s leaders in several categories (rebounding, shot-blocking, field-goal percentage, total flexing) and that, plus his absence from the league in the two years prior, precluded him from making a serious case for Most Improved Player. He was awesome and he remains awesome, and as annoying as that is for a team that could have had him on the cheap, the story, too, is awesome.
Except it wasn’t on Sunday. And apparently any lingering regret from having watched Whiteside slip through their fingers did not manifest itself in the game plan against the Heat – not only was Whiteside presented with a veritable buffet of floaters to destroy in the lane, but he was boxed out infrequently.
Because it’s so frustrating and because Raptors fans haven’t yet jumped on the “road team Grandstand” bandwagon, we look to a Heat highlight for tonight’s highlight of the night. Or rather, a Raptors lowlight. Look at how easy this is:
Check out the fan-made highlight of the brain fart on Grandstand here.
There were a half-dozen other examples we could have gone with, too, but this dude’s awesome seats give his video the nod. Whiteside finished the game with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, 11 rebounds, and six blocks in 24 minutes.
This game sucked.
On the new sports app, you can share your own Raptors highlights, and watch other fans’ videos straight from the crowd.
Download Grandstand on the App Store or at Grandstand.me
