A: That's a reasonable comparison. One that hits closer to home is to Rony Seikaly, and how Kevin Loughery insisted that Seikaly never was going to be what the Heat needed. So the Heat gave up on Seikaly, brought in Kevin Willis and plodded a path through mediocrity until Pat Riley arrived. Now, that doesn't mean that Seikaly might have amounted to anything greater had he remained with the Heat. But it clearly was a case of a coach, and, by extension, a front office, running out of patience and perhaps not considering the ultimate consequences. The NBA is replete with cases of players whose careers started on uneven footing, only to emerge as long-term serviceable players. The question with Hassan is if his uneven moments with the Heat amount to an initial NBA misstep, or after passing through the Kings and Grizzlies, whether a conclusive NBA evaluation can be made. In this case, if the Heat do punt on Whiteside, it's not as if there even would be a Kevin Willis type to replace him.