Hasheem Thabeet on the Comeback Trail | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Hasheem Thabeet on the Comeback Trail

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Thabeet never got enough credit for how much he improved each of his two off seasons at UConn. Please remember -- when he showed up in November of '06, he was horrible. Horrible. All he was was big, and if we had wanted to win in 06-07 it was never clear to me that we wouldn't have been better with Edwards or Kelly getting more minutes. But Calhoun saw what Thabeet would be with patience, and two seasons later he was a force. Yes, his utility was based on his height, but he could hit free throws, and foul line jumpers, and play 35 minutes a game rarely getting in foul trouble.

Never understood why someone who must have worked his butt off to get better in college couldn't keep getting better as a professional.
 
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The lasting image I have of Thabeet is sitting at courtside at a Heat game with huge diamond earrings well before the NBA Draft. He seemed to have gone Hollywood too quickly and never worked hard enough to succeed in the NBA. Very different game now, hope he can shoot the three. Would be great for the program though if he had a good comeback.

Similarly, my lasting image is him watching the national championship game between UNC and Michigan State possibly wearing womans sunglasses and Bill Raferty saying something like "that doesn't look like someone coming back for his senior year"

Hasheem Thabeet gets caught in his girlfriend's sunglasses
 
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Thabeet never got enough credit for how much he improved each of his two off seasons at UConn. Please remember -- when he showed up in November of '06, he was horrible. Horrible. All he was was big, and if we had wanted to win in 06-07 it was never clear to me that we wouldn't have been better with Edwards or Kelly getting more minutes. But Calhoun saw what Thabeet would be with patience, and two seasons later he was a force. Yes, his utility was based on his height, but he could hit free throws, and foul line jumpers, and play 35 minutes a game rarely getting in foul trouble.

Never understood why someone who must have worked his butt off to get better in college couldn't keep getting better as a professional.
Excellent point. It was fun watching that whole group (Thabeet, Price, Stanley, Dyson, Adrien) improve from missing both the NCAA and NIT in 07, to a 4 seed in 08, to a Final Four in 09. Thabeet as a JR was on another planet compared to what he was as a FR.
 
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Do you get this easily upset offline? I can't imagine it's a good recipe for success.
This is great, thanks for the laugh. The guy who took 2 years longer than everyone else on the board to acknowledge KO wasn’t the guy to lead this program while constantly telling people for $3 million per year we couldn’t do any better is judging other people on their success offline. Do you make similarly slow and bad decisions offline? That doesn’t sound like a recipe for success Stain.
 

Stainmaster

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This is great, thanks for the laugh. The guy who took 2 years longer than everyone else on the board to acknowledge KO wasn’t the guy to lead this program while constantly telling people for $3 million per year we couldn’t do any better is judging other people on their success offline. Do you make similarly slow and bad decisions offline? That doesn’t sound like a recipe for success Stain.

You think wearing earrings is an indicator of work ethic. Do you even have the capacity to button a shirt or tie a pair of shoes?
 
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Yeah but Emeka wasn't terrible at basketball

EXACTLY correct! He was a great shot blocker and could intimidate driving guards and forwards, but his offensive skills were limited to dunking offensive rebounds when he was able to catch them. Beyond that....forget about it!
 
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I seem to be the only one who was never sold on HT. I remember literally laughing watching the draft when he was picked #2. He had absolutely no post game and like the guy said in the video you could throw the ball to him but if it was in anyway not perfectly placed he was going to fumble it around and likely turn it over. He was always falling over and was just a mess. The nail in the coffin for me was the absolute destruction he suffered at the hands of Dujuan Blair of Pitt.
Sure he averaged 14 and 10 and a bunch of blocks but at 7`4 in college you should be able to put that up in your sleep playing against a bunch of 6`8 kids. He wont be making a comeback all the way to the NBA. Hes not pro material especially not in todays NBA.

You are not the only HT detractor. Two or three weeks ago I had the unmitigated gall to suggest that he was at best a marginal player and made the same claims you did in your post; and, was given a solid spanking by those who profess to know better.

I am happy to see that I am not alone in what seems to me to be an obvious conclusion if you watched him during his Husky career.
 

Stainmaster

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You are not the only HT detractor. Two or three weeks ago I had the unmitigated gall to suggest that he was at best a marginal player and made the same claims you did in your post; and, was given a solid spanking by those who profess to know better.

I am happy to see that I am not alone in what seems to me to be an obvious conclusion if you watched him during his Husky career.

It's not obvious at all, and we do know better.
 
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I seem to be the only one who was never sold on HT. I remember literally laughing watching the draft when he was picked #2. He had absolutely no post game and like the guy said in the video you could throw the ball to him but if it was in anyway not perfectly placed he was going to fumble it around and likely turn it over. He was always falling over and was just a mess. The nail in the coffin for me was the absolute destruction he suffered at the hands of Dujuan Blair of Pitt.
Sure he averaged 14 and 10 and a bunch of blocks but at 7`4 in college you should be able to put that up in your sleep playing against a bunch of 6`8 kids. He wont be making a comeback all the way to the NBA. Hes not pro material especially not in todays NBA.

That's not the guy I saw who improved every year. The line above you said on any 7'1" guy putting up those numbers in his sleep vs the Big East isn't close but everyone has an opinion.
 

Stainmaster

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But of course you do! That being the case, please explain why he was a total failure at the next level.

If NBA success is your benchmark for considering someone better than "marginal at best," which UConn centers have ever met your standards? Emeka, AD, who else? It must be disappointing for you having seen so many centers who were bad basketball players.
 

joober jones

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From all available information, he had a great work ethic while playing in OKC and an even greater one in his current comeback attempt.
 
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You think wearing earrings is an indicator of work ethic. Do you even have the capacity to button a shirt or tie a pair of shoes?
Now you’re really reaching. You just love to fight with people who actually make sense. You used to trash Husky, Towney, Tenpros and anyone who logically argued the old coaching staff needed to be replaced. And to top it off you called fans expecting a good basketball program for $3 million a year as “spoiled”. You probably have velcro sneakers yourself, go back to your loser mentality that this program can’t attract a good coach and should remain mediocre.
 

Stainmaster

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Now you’re really reaching. You just love to fight with people who actually make sense. You used to trash Husky, Towney, Tenpros and anyone who logically argued the old coaching staff needed to be replaced. And to top it off you called fans expecting a good basketball program for $3 million a year as “spoiled”. You probably have velcro sneakers yourself, go back to your loser mentality that this program can’t attract a good coach and should remain mediocre.

If anyone ever told you that you made sense, they were lying to make you feel better. Your performance in this thread demonstrates that you have some pretty serious issues with critical thinking skills. I would feel bad for you if you weren't so unpleasant.

None of those people brought logic to the table. Tenspro is still just as full of the same pessimism and endless whining as he was under the previous regime. In fact, I'd argue that during the Hurley era, he's been even more repetitive and hyperbolic about how terrible he thinks the players are and how he can't wait for Hurley to run some of them off. You can currently find him on the women's board talking about how unacceptable it is for them to lose at all during the regular season. This program will never meet his standards. Towney? I give him credit for trying to stretch low-level administrative experience into some sort of pseudo-insider role here, but anyone who picks "never recruit JUCO players" as a hill to die on does not know how to make a logical argument.

And you know what? You all are spoiled. We hired a great new coach who has the best possible background for a high-level coach in this part of the country. He's signed three Top 100 kids in the past two months, beat a ranked Syracuse team at MSG for the first time since the miracle run in '11, and has given the first semblance of decent transition basketball we've seen in years. Yet people are still bellyaching to their heart's content. Hurley=Ollie, Hurley=Bob Diaco, you name it...the university did everything that needed to be done to get the program back on the right track. It just wasn't enough, and never will be apparently. There's a difference between accepting mediocrity and not being a little brat if everything doesn't work out perfectly right when you want it to.

Your parents clearly never said the word "no" to any of you, and the rest of us who have to wade through the crap you post are worse off for it. There's nothing that screams "loser mentality" more than throwing a temper tantrum every time you don't get what you want.
 
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Hasheem was a force by his Junior season averaging 13.6 points and 10.8 rebounds and loads of blocked shots. By comparison, Taco Fall at 7'6" averages 9.8 and 7.1 . Thabeet was a VERY good college player, but other than some G league success, he never did anything as a pro.
 
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If anyone ever told you that you made sense, they were lying to make you feel better. Your performance in this thread demonstrates that you have some pretty serious issues with critical thinking skills. I would feel bad for you if you weren't so unpleasant.

None of those people brought logic to the table. Tenspro is still just as full of the same pessimism and endless whining as he was under the previous regime. In fact, I'd argue that during the Hurley era, he's been even more repetitive and hyperbolic about how terrible he thinks the players are and how he can't wait for Hurley to run some of them off. You can currently find him on the women's board talking about how unacceptable it is for them to lose at all during the regular season. This program will never meet his standards. Towney? I give him credit for trying to stretch low-level administrative experience into some sort of pseudo-insider role here, but anyone who picks "never recruit JUCO players" as a hill to die on does not know how to make a logical argument.

And you know what? You all are spoiled. We hired a great new coach who has the best possible background for a high-level coach in this part of the country. He's signed three Top 100 kids in the past two months, beat a ranked Syracuse team at MSG for the first time since the miracle run in '11, and has given the first semblance of decent transition basketball we've seen in years. Yet people are still bellyaching to their heart's content. Hurley=Ollie, Hurley=Bob Diaco, you name it...the university did everything that needed to be done to get the program back on the right track. It just wasn't enough, and never will be apparently. There's a difference between accepting mediocrity and not being a little brat if everything doesn't work out perfectly right when you want it to.

Your parents clearly never said the word "no" to any of you, and the rest of us who have to wade through the crap you post are worse off for it. There's nothing that screams "loser mentality" more than throwing a temper tantrum every time you don't get what you want.
I’m unpleasant? You’re the one who started with name calling and thinly veiled attacks questioning my success “offline”. You started with your dumb comment about earrings, hoping your supporters would give you a few likes. Problem is your supporters are now few and far between. I liked the board a lot better when you hid with your tail between your legs after telling us for months UConn couldn’t afford to get rid of Ollie and get someone better, And now you’re extolling the virtues of Hurley and saying how fortunate we are to have him? You’re a confrontational hypocrite who needs to get out of his mom’s basement and not be on this board all day.
 
C

Chief00

Thabeet never got enough credit for how much he improved each of his two off seasons at UConn. Please remember -- when he showed up in November of '06, he was horrible. Horrible. All he was was big, and if we had wanted to win in 06-07 it was never clear to me that we wouldn't have been better with Edwards or Kelly getting more minutes. But Calhoun saw what Thabeet would be with patience, and two seasons later he was a force. Yes, his utility was based on his height, but he could hit free throws, and foul line jumpers, and play 35 minutes a game rarely getting in foul trouble.

Never understood why someone who must have worked his butt off to get better in college couldn't keep getting better as a professional.
Calhoun stayed on him.
 

Stainmaster

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I’m unpleasant? You’re the one who started with name calling and thinly veiled attacks questioning my success “offline”. You started with your dumb comment about earrings, hoping your supporters would give you a few likes. Problem is your supporters are now few and far between. I liked the board a lot better when you hid with your tail between your legs after telling us for months UConn couldn’t afford to get rid of Ollie and get someone better, And now you’re extolling the virtues of Hurley and saying how fortunate we are to have him? You’re a confrontational hypocrite who needs to get out of his mom’s basement and not be on this board all day.

I don't care about how popular I am here because I'm not a teenage girl. You should learn from me and grow up. The only dumb comment about earrings was yours that somehow connected them to someone's work ethic. I wanted KO fired ever since the Arkansas game on 11/26/17 (you can search through my post history to confirm), and I've been 100% behind Hurley ever since he was hired. I'm going to stick around and continue to discuss UConn basketball with other like-minded people no matter how much it triggers you.
 
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You are not the only HT detractor. Two or three weeks ago I had the unmitigated gall to suggest that he was at best a marginal player and made the same claims you did in your post; and, was given a solid spanking by those who profess to know better.

I am happy to see that I am not alone in what seems to me to be an obvious conclusion if you watched him during his Husky career.
Yeah ive had the same reaction especially when he was still at Uconn and said he wouldnt be much at the NBA level when some said he was the next Mutombo lol! Its like now i look at this Uconn team and i see no NBA players and im including the very overrated Jalen Adams.
 
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That's not the guy I saw who improved every year. The line above you said on any 7'1" guy putting up those numbers in his sleep vs the Big East isn't close but everyone has an opinion.
I wrote 7`4 which is not 7`1. The guy was 7`3 officially i believe and weighed 265lbs with a decent amount of athleticsm. Considering he was the biggest guy in the BE at the time he shouldve put up atleast the numbers he did. Im not saying he was a complete bum because he wasnt. What i am saying is that i didnt see a guy who would translate well to the NBA like many here thought and bashed me for it. I thought at best he`d be a guy off the bench who could grab a couple rebounds and block a couple shots but definitely not worth the #2 pick in the draft! I liked HT and thought he made some strides while he was here and am glad we had him.
 
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Your handle glorifies the guy who drove our program off a cliff
Right, I have to change it at some point. I’d argue that ESPN/The ACC drove the program to the cliff, KO and injuries pushed it off.
 

Hans Sprungfeld

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You think wearing earrings is an indicator of work ethic. Do you even have the capacity to button a shirt or tie a pair of shoes?
I have no dog in this fight, but when it ports over to CBS Sports Network, one of you is wearing a bow tie.

And while the subject is ripe, @tentoes4rings, today between the ECU game and Super Bowl would be an ideal slot to migrate to & announce your new handle. @JimHurley did it in a couple hours after it was suggested. We've already got Some Guy; let's lose "some point."
 
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