Hassan Whiteside

Hassan Niam Whiteside (born June 13, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association. He played college basketball for the Marshall Thundering Herd before being selected in the second round by the Sacramento Kings in the 2010 NBA draft. After joining the Miami Heat in 2014, Whiteside was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2016, when he also led the NBA in blocks. He led the league in rebounding in 2017. He was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers and again led the league in blocks in his first season with Portland. Whiteside has also played on Chinese, Lebanese and Puerto Rico teams.

Whiteside grew up with six siblings and a single mother. Born and raised in Gastonia, North Carolina, he attended three high schools in two years within the area: Hunter Huss High School, Ashbrook High School, and Forestview High School.^{[citation needed]}

For his junior year of high school in 2006–2007, Whiteside moved in with his father in Newark, New Jersey, playing at East Side High School. After averaging 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 5.5 blocked shots per game, Whiteside went back to North Carolina for the 2007–2008 school year and attended Hope Christian Academy in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. In 2008–2009, he played prep basketball at The Patterson School in Lenoir, North Carolina, where he helped lead Patterson to a 34–2 record and a No. 1 national ranking with future Marshall teammate DeAndre Kane.

Whiteside was rated as the No. 19 center in the Class of 2009 according to Scout.com, and ranked as the No. 87 recruit in the Class of 2009 by Rivals.com. He played in the 2009 Reebok All-American preview game, and was a member of both the United Celtics (NC) AAU Team and the New Jersey Panthers AAU team as a high schooler.

Whiteside chose Marshall over UNC Charlotte, South Carolina, Kentucky, Auburn, and Mississippi State.

Whiteside came to Marshall University under the radar during the start of the 2009–10 season, but it did not take long for him to make national attention. He was spotlighted in the edition of December 28 of ESPN The Magazine's College Basketball column after he amassed 14 points, 17 rebounds and nine blocked shots over 29 minutes in a 60–53 win over the Ohio University Bobcats on November 28. A few weeks later on December 12, Whiteside recorded the Thundering Herd's first triple-double in a 105–54 rout of the Brescia Bearcats, scoring 17 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking 11 shots. Whiteside would go on to have two more triple-doubles on the year against the UCF Knights on January 13, and February 27. He finished the season as the nation's leader in blocked shots with 182, and he also broke the C-USA record held by Tulsa's Jerome Jordan for most blocked shots in a single season and the Marshall record for the most blocked shots in a single season and career all in his first year. The 182 blocks were also a national record for a freshman in a single season, topping 177 by BYU's Shawn Bradley in 1990–91.

On March 29, 2010, Whiteside declared himself eligible for the 2010 NBA draft, after Marshall head coach, Donnie Jones, accepted the head coaching job at Conference USA rival UCF Knights.

Whiteside was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 33rd overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft. He played in the Kings' season opener, recording two fouls in two minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves, before failing to appear in another game for the Kings all season. He spent time with the Kings' D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, between November 29 and January 9, before being ruled out for four to six months on March 4 after undergoing surgery to repair a partially torn patellar tendon in his left knee.