How the Miami Heat Center Is Changing the NBA

Hassan Whiteside isn't like most D-League call-ups. But with the growth of the NBA's lower division and the Miami Heat's stroke of genius in calling up Whiteside, there could be many more like him down the line.

Not so much shot-swatting, rim-rocking 7-footers, but rather young players on whom teams take low-risk, multiyear gambles.

You may remember Whiteside as the NBA's next Jeremy Lin, at least as far as overnight sensations are concerned. Like Lin with the New York Knicks back in 2012, Whiteside went from unknown D-Leaguer to a solid starter in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
But in reality, it didn't happen quite that quickly for Whiteside.
He appeared in just three games—for less than 10 minutes total—before the Heat sent him down to the D-League in mid-December. Even after Miami brought him back, Whiteside didn't start to see substantial playing time for another couple of weeks, until he put in productive minutes against Memphis, Orlando and Indiana to close out the calendar year.
The Heat were able to shuttle him between the big club and the D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, without fear of another club snatching him up, because they had signed him to a two-year, NBA-minimum deal with partial guarantees in the second year. As such, Miami could retain Whiteside's D-League rights.
Injuries to Josh McRoberts and Chris Andersen up front forced Pat Riley's hand, leading to Shannon Brown's ouster and Whiteside's arrival.
The commitment didn't cost Miami much monetarily (just under $770,000 in year one and a shade over $981,000 in year two, according to Basketball-Reference.com), but it guaranteed a valuable roster spot to a player with a checkered past.
On the whole, though, the terms heavily favored the Heat, as ProBasketballTalk's Dan Feldman explained:

He hadn’t played in the NBA in two years, so any contract – even a minimum deal – would have appealed to him. Therefore, Miami, holding leverage, fairly sought a cheap second season with no money automatically guaranteed. That way, the Heat would be rewarded for taking a chance on Whiteside if he exceeded minimum-salary production. And if he didn’t, it wouldn’t cost them anything.

Pat Riley's wager paid off handsomely. Whiteside soon emerged as a rebounding machine with the length and timing to protect the paint. By the time the 2014-15 campaign came to a close, Whiteside had piled up 22 double-doubles, including a 12-block triple-double in Chicago, and limited his opponents to 46.5 percent shooting at the rim—the fourth-lowest mark among players who faced at least eight such shots per game, according to NBA.com.
Not bad for a guy who spent time in Lebanon and China before working his way back to the States.