Miami Heat News: Wade Impressed With Whiteside's 'Controlled Aggression', Pays Tribute To Laquan McDonald On Shoes
The Miami Heat's superstar shooting guard Dwyane Wade is impressed with teammate Hassan Whiteside's "controlled aggression" as of late. He also paid tribute to slain teenager Laquan McDonald through one of his shoes. Whiteside has been in various troubles in the past regarding his on-court behavior.
According to a report by The Sun Sentinel, the 26-year old big man for the Heat finished last season with seven technical fouls, two ejections, which happened to be the league's all-time high, and a flagrant foul.
He is tied for 19th overall in the NBA. Wade did confirm that his teammate has shown major improvement with his demeanor inside the court, as well as in his style of play.
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"He's grown a lot. I think defensively he's gotten smarter," Wade said. "He's stayed out of foul trouble for the most part. It's all growth. And it's all him wanting to be on the court, understanding how important he is to the game."
"We need him out there," he added. "Obviously he's not playing as many minutes as the other bigs around the league. But on our team, he hasn't need to. But the minutes he's out there, he's dominating."
Wade also paid tribute to slain African-American teenager Laquan McDonald. The 17-year old boy was shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer in October 2014. According to the New York Daily News, Jason Van Dyke, the officer in question, was held without bond on first-degree murder on November 24th.
A raw video of the shooting was released on the same said day. For his part, Wade paid tribute to McDonald through an Instagram post, showing a photo of one of his pair of shoes with the message "#LaquanMcDonald #Justice".
According to WGNTV.com, Wade spent part of his childhood and teenage years in Robbins, Illinois and went to Harold L. Richards High School in Oak Lawn, which is located within mere miles from where the shooting took place.
