What It Means:

"Just continue the overall development with his body, working on his conditioning, getting stronger while maintaining his weight and flexibility," Spoelstra explained. "And he will have to be able to absorb more minutes, more responsibility, more games, which is a different level of training in the weight room." Despite logging just 29.1 minutes per game last year, Whiteside still produced first-round standard league value, so this should only bode well for his production. Spoelstra added that he believes his young big man has the potential to be one of the best players in the league, so the organization clearly has high hopes for the 27 year-old.

The volatile Whiteside finished the season with a 12.4 nERD, good for ninth in the NBA, while averaging 14.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and a league-best 3.7 blocks per game.