Heat center Hassan Whiteside named to NBA All-Defensive Second Team

Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside was named Wednesday to the 2015-16 NBA All-Defensive Second Team. He was the top vote-getter on the second team with 126 points. DeAndre Jordan barely edged him out as the league's premier center by a slim 137 to 126 margin, with 47 first-team votes to Whiteside's 44.

San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard was the sole unanimous selection to the first-team, while the Jordan-Whiteside contest was the closest positional battle among first-and-second team finishers. Dwyane Wade received the only other vote for a Heat member.

Few tidbits on the selections,

• On first team, 4 out of 5 selections were from Western Conference
• On second team, 4 out of 5 selections were from Eastern Conference
• Whiteside was the only player selected with less than 321 career NBA games: his resume consists of 140 games in the NBA. Voters usually favor a proven track of two full seasons or more.
• Hassan contract was under $1 million, the biggest bargain by far on both lists.

2015-16 NBA ALL-DEFENSIVE FIRST TEAM

2015-16 NBA ALL-DEFENSIVE SECOND TEAM

The press release from Heat reads,

Whiteside, who finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting this season, blocked an NBA-leading 269 shots, 92 more than the next highest player in the league, and the second-most blocks during a single-season in HEAT history.

He helped anchor Miami’s defense that averaged a franchise-best 6.48 blocks and team-best 531 rejections this season while giving up just 98.4 points per game to opponents, ranking as the third-least amount of points in the Eastern Conference and the fifth-least in the entire NBA.

The HEAT finished in the top six for points allowed for the seventh consecutive season, tying for the fifth-longest streak over the last 40 years. Whiteside’s 9.7 block percentage was the highest in the NBA, no other player had a percentage higher than 6.1, and, according to Basketball Reference, his defensive rating of 95 was the best in the NBA this season and the best rating in the league over the last five years.

He became just the second player in NBA history to block at least 250 shots and shoot over 60 percent (.606) from the field, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who accomplished the feat during the 1979-80 season and he also became just the third player over the last 20 years to post at least 1,000 points (1,040) and block at least 250 shots, joining Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.

He recorded 22 five-plus block games, the second-most during a single-season in HEAT history and blocked multiple shots in 23-striaght overall games, the longest such streak in franchise history while also beginning the season blocking multiple shots in 21 consecutive games, the third-longest streak to start a season over the last 30 years, only Mark Eaton (1988-89) and Shaquille O’Neal (1992-93) had longer streaks.

He led Miami in rebounds a team-high 55 times and grabbed double-figure rebounds a team-high 53 times, just three short of tying the single-season team record of 56 held by Rony Seikaly in 1991-92.

He averaged 11.8 rebounds per game, the highest single-season rebound average in team history and grabbed his 1,000th rebound as a member of the HEAT on February 22, doing so in his 95th game, becoming the all-time quickest player in team history to reach the 1,000-rebound plateau.

Whiteside posted a team-high 41 double-doubles, the fifth-most for a single-season in HEAT history, including 24 double-doubles off the bench, the most by a reserve during a single-season in franchise history.

He posted 13 consecutive games of at least 10 points, five rebounds and a block off the bench, the longest such streak by any reserve in league history and recorded seven games of at least 10 points and five blocks off the bench, the most by a reserve in the NBA over the last 40 years.

Additionally, he recorded three triple-doubles, all including blocks, and posted a 25-point, 23-rebound game on February 20, all off the bench in just 29:18 minutes of action, marking the most rebounds by a reserve in team history and just the second player in the NBA since 1970-71 (when starting line-ups were kept) to post at least 25 points and 20 rebounds off the bench in under 30 minutes.