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CHICAGO -- With Hassan Whiteside, it all depends on the day of the week. There's simply just no telling at any given moment where the soft-spoken, 7-foot center will trace the source of motivation on his path from initial NBA washout to what on Sunday became a spot ahead of Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning in the Miami Heat's record book for most blocks in a game. Every day, it seems, Whiteside offers a new revelation of an adventure or adversity he has endured. When Whiteside first signed with the Heat in December, he pointed to moments when he played in front of armed soldiers during stints with professional leagues in the Middle East. After dominating Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in a win against the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this month, Whiteside counted Doc Rivers among NBA coaches and executives who overlooked him when he left Marshall after one season and fell to Sacramento in the second round of the 2010 draft.  And before the Heat wrapped up that same 3-2 West Coast trip with a win against the Kings, Whiteside sarcastically questioned how smart Sacramento's former front office executives look now for cutting him after he played just 19 games over two seasons.
But on Sunday, Whiteside outdid himself in multiple ways. He managed to sandwich two compelling tales around a remarkable triple-double -- 14 points, 13 rebounds and a franchise-record 12 blocks -- in Miami's 96-84 victory over the Chicago Bulls. One thing is becoming clear about Whiteside: His stories are every bit as amazing as his stats. Before facing the Bulls, the 25-year-old anchor of the Heat's defense spoke in the pregame locker room about how he was just thankful and blessed to even play basketball after he survived being hit by a car when he was 10 years old. After the game, he chose to share a memory from his more recent past. NBA training camps had already opened last October, but the only teams that showed interest in Whiteside were the groups that gathered regularly at the YMCA in downtown Charlotte. "Like I told my teammates, you won't believe how things work out in life," Whiteside said after his first nationally televised breakout game. "Three months ago -- ask anybody in Charlotte at the downtown Y -- I was just there just chilling, working my game. I couldn't even get a team to pick up the phone." That phone is buzzing frequently these days. And now, so is the NBA. The league hasn't seen a player this obscure have an impact this compelling on a team since the Linsanity movement surrounding Jeremy Lin with the Knicks three seasons ago. Whiteside's dominant effort Sunday upstaged the homecoming of teammate and Chicago native Dwyane Wade and overshadowed Luol Deng's first game back in the United Center since the Bulls traded him a year ago. It almost sounded silly when Whiteside's name was mentioned in connection with O'Neal, Mourning and LeBron James in Heat lore on Sunday. But there stood Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, saying he figured Mourning would have had a game at some point during his Hall of Fame career when he had as many blocks as Whiteside did on Sunday. Nope. Mourning's career-high for rejections in a game was nine. "Clearly he gives this team a different dimension," Spoelstra said of Whiteside. "That's exactly what this team needs. He just needed time to develop. Big guys sometimes take longer. He had to go through his trials and tribulations of being in the league, but also playing in China and Lebanon to get to a point where he was really ready to embrace what was necessary. You root for guys like this." Whiteside's first career triple-double was his fourth game with double figures in points and rebounds. He has 46 blocks in 18 games, and that 2.5-per-game average would be second in the league behind Anthony Davis if he had enough games to qualify for the NBA's statistical rankings. Offensively, Whiteside is basically dunking on every touch. He had four in the second half and is shooting a team-best 67.4 percent from the field this season. In one 60-second stretch Sunday, Whiteside grabbed two rebounds, scored on a put back and blocked two shots. This latest outburst left Wade sitting in his locker afterward drawing comparisons between Whiteside and the impact O'Neal had in his first seasons with the Heat almost a decade ago. "It's special," Wade said of the presence Whiteside adds. "We didn't have that during our [last two] championship runs. That was our one missing piece. A guy like Hassan, he's special. You can't teach what he has. He has great timing, tenacity. When he gets it, he's going up to dunk every time." Wade is among a group of Heat players who won't allow Whiteside to ever feel satisfied. Even in the midst of a career game, Whiteside was still challenged by Wade when he was late to rotate into the lane to contest a layup by Bulls guard Aaron Brooks. "I told him, 'That's your paint. Protect it and block everything that comes down there,'" Wade said. Whiteside took it literally. "He was everywhere," Bulls forward Taj Gibson said. "One thing about the scouting report ... we saw [only] a couple of clips, but in this league, you can't take guys for granted." Whiteside remains driven by the fact that he has been repeatedly overlooked. It's no coincidence he specializes in rejections, coming out of nowhere. A North Carolina native, Whiteside had to take the back roads route to college ball at Marshall instead of shining with one of the traditional Tobacco Road powers in his home state. "In high school, it was like, 'Where he come from?'" Whiteside said. "And even five years ago, if anybody followed my Marshall career -- I did one year [and] didn't even start until later in the season. After the season, it was like, 'Oh, he's projected [in the] lottery. Who is this guy?' It's been like that all my life." Had Heat forward Chris Bosh ever heard of Whiteside before he arrived Dec. 15 from the D-League? "Nope," Bosh quickly shot back. "I said, 'Where'd he come from?' It's truly remarkable the way he's slipped through the cracks. But I'm glad. When we signed him, I didn't know how big he was. When I saw how big he was and saw his athleticism, I was thinking, 'Man, he could really help us out.' Now, what he's doing is, of course, more than I expected. But I just want him to stay grounded." Because Whiteside doesn't lack for confidence, multiple Heat players said they must keep him focused and make sure he understands that it's a long season. Miami has had impressive wins this season over the Mavericks, Cavaliers, Clippers and Bulls but the 20-24 record is more reflective of its inconsistency. Whiteside has been one of the few bright spots in an underachieving season tarnished by injuries. He's described as a prankster who has one of the biggest appetites on the team when it comes to food. But he also seems to know and accept his place. It's Whiteside's second stint in the NBA, but he still has rookie responsibilities within the locker room. That didn't change Sunday as he boarded the team bus after emphatically placing himself on the NBA map again. There were towels and bags to grab and food orders to take for veterans, just like always. "Hell yeah," said longtime Heat forward and co-captain Udonis Haslem. "It's whatever we ask him to do. Change that. I meant it's whatever we tell him to do. Get towels. Get food. Get water. And if we slap it out of your hands, go get another one. And that ain't gonna change." No problem, Whiteside insists. Through it all, there's only thing he counts more than his blocks. Those would be his NBA blessings.
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