The jury is still out on Hassan Whiteside.
The new Blazers center—acquired two weeks ago from the Heat in a trade that sent Moe Harkless to the Clippers and Meyers Leonard to his spiritual homeland of Miami—came out of nowhere (or rather, the D-League) in 2015, emerging as a rebounding and shot-blocking machine. But since that breakout season, he's struggled with consistency, health and attitude issues.
So when the trade went down, Blazers Twitter reacted with a certain amount of skepticism. But hey, at least Whiteside seems to be digging his new town.
Over the last few days, the 30-year-old big man has been documenting his arrival in Portland on Instagram. Yesterday, he explored downtown Portland—and, like any new arrival, stopped at Voodoo Doughnut. He then went around handing them out to strangers, which is really the best use for a box of Voodoo.
"Go Blazers!" he shouted, followed by what's quickly becoming his catchphrase: "We got shooters!"
Whiteside’s embracing Rip City ✊
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 9, 2019
New Blazers big man is giving out donuts in Portland: “More love, we don’t do the hate”
(via @youngwhiteside) pic.twitter.com/KdsIaP3laL
He's clearly embraced the city. Will the city embrace him?
Oh, who are we kidding? We embrace everyone. Welcome to Portland, Young Whiteside!