Once the basketball stopped bouncing in a Memphis gym in November 2014, a player informed of his release, Hassan Whiteside packed his belongings and slouched down with his cell phone. This game had taken him from Sacramento to the NBA Development League, from Lebanon to China and back. This game had immersed Whiteside in various cultures, in the depths of a probable journeyman career, he never expected. No NBA offers awaited, and soon Whiteside prepared his passport for the humbling, somber flight abroad.

Being cut by the Grizzlies for a second time propelled Whiteside to the most critical decision of his professional life: return to the D-League or sign overseas again, perhaps for good. Whiteside faced a window that fall to decide on a guaranteed multi-year, multi-million dollar deal in the Chinese Basketball Association, he told Yahoo Sports. He debated but decided to decline it. The modest lifestyle of the D-League lasted a few more weeks, with Whiteside ultimately signing a non-guaranteed, two-year deal with Miami.

“I never aimed for the money,” Whiteside told Yahoo. “Before I came to the NBA last [season], per year, I would have made more going to China than on my Miami Heat contract. If I went, I might have just stayed in China. I wasn’t chasing the dollars, though. I was chasing the dream of becoming an amazing NBA player. All of that comes, obviously. The contract, the fame. Even before I knew anything about money, I was a little kid and I didn’t know how much these players made. I wanted that – to be on TV, to have people looking up to me.

“Once I left the NBA, I realized what I lost, realized the lessons that I needed in order to stay. I always had faith to keep pushing. It’s tough just to be in the league. There are only about 400 guys in the NBA, so any position that you play, it is impossible. I had a tough journey and I’m still writing my book.”

Everyone knows his tale now, an NBA revelation after toiling out of the league and being cut in the Lebanese Basketball League in 2014. In less than a year, Whiteside has posted three triple-doubles of points, rebounds and blocks – including 19 points, 17 rebounds and 11 blocks in Miami’s comeback win over Denver on Friday.

Around Whiteside, people admit his mind and game weren’t prepared for the NBA after playing one season with Marshall University before entering the NBA draft in 2010. Sacramento drafted him with the 33rd overall selection in the second round after taking DeMarcus Cousins with the fifth overall pick. There were reasons – real and perceived – why Whiteside was out of the NBA, released two years into a four-year rookie deal. He mostly shuttled to the Kings’ D-League team in Reno, but developed the reputation as a tantalizing but aloof 7-footer.

View photos Whiteside (R) protects the rim against the Raptors' James Johnson. (AP) More

So the D-League’s Iowa Energy had a choice to make once Whiteside left the Grizzlies’ training camp, where the maturation and gym workout habits continued to blossom. The franchise decided to acquire Whiteside’s rights from the Houston Rockets’ affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Then, Iowa coach Bob Donewald Jr. wrote a letter to Whiteside before training camp, promising no biases from the residue of his past.

“I told Hassan: You have a clean slate here,” Donewald told Yahoo. “His reputation wasn’t where it needed to be, so this was his chance to work. He worked and worked, pouted, and then got back to work. Rinse and repeat. We wanted to make sure he got back to being a grinder. We had to forget about whatever happened in Reno, whatever happened with the Kings.

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