When the Timberwolves were shopping Jimmy Butler, I was banging the drum for a trade with Miami. One particular speculative deal I liked was Butler and Gorgui Dieng to the Heat for Josh Richardson and Hassan Whiteside.
Richardson has upside and a friendly contract. Whiteside has talent but seemed like a fresh start candidate. It was win-win!
And … well … maybe that wouldn't have been such a good idea. Whiteside had some strong early games, but on Tuesday he was benched for the fourth quarter and actually just walked off the court with a little under a minute left in a 105-90 loss to Orlando. He didn't talk to reporters postgame, leaving coach Erik Spoelstra to guess that Whiteside was just upset with the outcome while teammate Dwyane Wade made the excuse that Whiteside had to use the bathroom.
Richardson, by the way, is shooting just 29.5 percent in his past five games for the 9-14 Heat.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
