Thabeet

[Zerosumgame]

Out there logging pretty big minutes in the second round of the playoffs for a top contender guarding the best player on the other team. It's good to see him out there given most thought he was out of the league once his rookie deal ended. I know people like to ridicule the guy and he's a bust being the second pick, but it's not his fault he went that high. Think he'll take a lot of Perkins minutes for the rest of this series and might even replace him next season.

 

[huskyniner]

Hasheem and Durant seem like they're best buds. I wish Durant was a Husky. I know we were a finalist in his recruitment.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

He's never going to be a star, but he's found a nice niche and a perfect team for him. Comes in, plays good defense, and gets some putbacks and open looks around the baskets. I hope in the next couple seasons he can expand his offensive game just a little bit, but even as it stands, he's a nice guy to have on the bench.

 

[intlzncster]

I don't see how anyone ever saw him as a star, at least not any UConn fans. Emeka was better in just about every way, and he's only average in the NBA.

 

[PacificStorm]

I can still see Thabeet becoming a regular starter like Tyson Chandler whose offense consists of put-backs and dunks only. If more P&Rs were designed specifically for Thabeet, he could learn to score. His defense is still not as good as Chandler's but he has been in the league only a few years and is playing decent minutes only recently. Memphis screwed up on his development. He deserved baby steps but was dismissed to the D-League from the get-go. I hope Jeremy Lamb will not self-destruct since he is going through the same process. I hope Oklahoma really has come up with a meaningful program in place to further develop them both. Thabeet and Lamb are unfinished gems.

 

[champs99and04]

Hash is a great kid and a serviceable 10th or 11th man, but objectively speaking, he doesn't have much place seeing the floor in a competitve semi-finals match-up between two good teams. He isn't fundamentally sound defensively, he fouls at an insane rate, and he's a complete non-entity offensively. I love the guy, and he's one of the best players in UConn history, but he lacks the instincts to be more than an emergency back-up. Fortunately he'll likely play in the NBA for as long as he wants because he's 7'3, he's instrumental in terms of building team chemistry, and if nothing else, he adds a valuable practice body. Having said that, the fact that he played 13 minutes last night was just the latest in a long line of head-scratching personnel decisions Scottie Brooks has made the last couple years. I'm unsure why they don't play small, double the post, force a poor thee point shooting team to beat them from deep, and present a quickness mis-match on the other end with Randolph having to guard Durant.

 

[Doggie Style]

I don't see how anyone ever saw him as a star, at least not any UConn fans. Emeka was better in just about every way, and he's only average in the NBA.

I could not agree more! I thought for sure he was gonna be a wasted pick..... Emeka almost has his MBA, this pro thing is just going to give him a jump on a very successful future in business IMO

 

[Huskies4ever]

I don't see how anyone ever saw him as a star, at least not any UConn fans. Emeka was better in just about every way, and he's only average in the NBA.

Size, size, size, length, size, and size.

At Emeka's size, you can be an excellent big in college, but it is much harder in the NBA. In this regard, Thabeet was believed to have more potential.

They were both drafted numbrt 2.

 

[pj]

Size, size, size, length, size, and size.

At Emeka's size, you can be an excellent big in college, but it is much harder in the NBA. In this regard, Thabeet was believed to have more potential.

They were both drafted numbrt 2.

This is it.

Basically, 20% of all 7 footers born in the US end up as NBA players. They do not need to be good athletes, they just need to be big and willing to push people around, obstruct them, and grab rebounds. Hasheem has 3 extra inches and is a pretty good runner. All a 7'3" guy has to do is dedicate himself to the game and he'll be in the NBA for many years. If Hasheem doesn't become an 8-year NBA starter, it will reflect an unwillingness to work.

 

[Scoe]

Anyone who watched Hasheem closely like most of us Uconn fans knew he would never live up to the hype of a number 2 pick, he can still have a long productive career and earn a ton of money as long as he is smart with it.

Marc Gasol has got to be the best Center in the NBa right now, well really its Dwight Howard.

 

[Huskies4ever]

This is it.

Basically, 20% of all 7 footers born in the US end up as NBA players. They do not need to be good athletes, they just need to be big and willing to push people around, obstruct them, and grab rebounds. Hasheem has 3 extra inches and is a pretty good runner. All a 7'3" guy has to do is dedicate himself to the game and he'll be in the NBA for many years. If Hasheem doesn't become an 8-year NBA starter, it will reflect an unwillingness to work.

I remember watching an OKC game early this season, pj. Reggie Miller was astonished by how much space in the paint Thaneet takes up. It really makes a huge difference on both ends of the floor.

 

[HooperScooper]

This is it.

Basically, 20% of all 7 footers born in the US end up as NBA players.

Do you have a link to that statistic being published anywhere? I have a hard time believing that. I doubt even 20% of the 7 footers in college basketball make the NBA.

 

[nomar]

People tend to forget that teams literally did not attempt shots in the paint when Thabeet was in there. I wouldn't say he was a better overall defender than Emeka, but I think teams were actually more scared to take it to the hoop against Thabeet. A guy would get swatted twice and then jack up quick shots the rest of the game.

He was absolutely dominant. A once-in-a-decade collegiate shotblocker. The question was whether he could do anything else at the next level. The answer (contrary to our hopes and predictions) turned out to be: not really. But he can improve. And you can't teach 7'3".

 

[Gurleyman]

He's just always lacked fluidity in his movements. He shows reasonable agility making one movement - to block a shot, say. But when he has to do a second thing - such as change direction, or react to a deflection, or land, he just doesn't look coordinated

 

[CAHUSKY]

Do you have a link to that statistic being published anywhere? I have a hard time believing that. I doubt even 20% of the 7 footers in college basketball make the NBA.

http://www.truthaboutit.net/2012/05/true-or-false-half-of-all-7-footers-are-in-the-nba.html

This says you have a 17% chance of making the NBA if you're 7ft.

 

[Huskybass]

[quote="intlzncster, post: 596971,yh]I don't see how anyone ever saw him as a star, at least not any UConn fans. Emeka was better in just about every way, and he's only average in the NBA.[/quote]

I would argue that Emeka has been better than average in the NBA. He has averaged a double double over the course of a decade in the league.

 

[mauconnfan]

He was the reason UConn went to their 3rd FF no one else.....he began to score by his junior year on top of creating complete chaos for the offense of the other team every night....I am glad he is still in the NBA, smiling and trying to play when he gets a shot but it's not his fault the scouts didn't see his shortcomings and took him too early......he loved UConn and is and always will be a Husky.....people that call him a bust just don't get it!!

 

[James]

I feel like I'm living in a bizzaro world when Roy hibbert is a borderline elite 5 and hasheem hasn't made any imprint at all in the league. Never would have guessed that when they matched up in college.

 

[pj]

Do you have a link to that statistic being published anywhere? I have a hard time believing that. I doubt even 20% of the 7 footers in college basketball make the NBA.

It could be more than 20%; http://www.truthaboutit.net/2012/05/true-or-false-half-of-all-7-footers-are-in-the-nba.html:

Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control, Sports Illustrated estimated that there are fewer than 70 7-footers between the ages of 20 and 40 in the United States. Seventy 7-footers; 30 starting NBA centers....

I went to the indispensable Basketball-Reference.com for the most comprehensive review, based on listed heights and NBA appearances.
Here’s what B-R tells us:

• In the past two decades, 88 different players identifying as U.S.-born and at least 7-feet tall have played at least one minute in the NBA. (Fifty-two list themselves as an even 7-feet.)
• Thirty-five of them, from greats like David Robinson to curiosities like Chuck Nevitt, are now over-40-years-old.
• That leaves 53 seven-footers in our target age and nationality.

It’s hard to know how many of those 7-footers are actually rounding up by a few inches, unfortunately. But even assuming that half are fibbing (probably those closer to an even-7-feet) still gives us about 25-to-30 legitimate 7-foot NBA players and alums.

 

[HooperScooper]

http://www.truthaboutit.net/2012/05/true-or-false-half-of-all-7-footers-are-in-the-nba.html

This says you have a 17% chance of making the NBA if you're 7ft.

Thanks. Kind of surprised at that. I knew I should have taken those human growth hormones the doctor offered me when I was young!

 

[ZenConn]

Thanks. Kind of surprised at that. I knew I should have taken those human growth hormones the doctor offered me when I was young!

There's nothing wrong with taking human growth hormone when you're older. - Barry Bonds

 

[RS9999X]

Thabeet in 25 years

http://www.celticslife.com/2010/07/what-hell-happened-togreg-kite.html?m=1

 

[mauconnfan]

Thabeet in 25 years

http://www.celticslife.com/2010/07/what-hell-happened-togreg-kite.html?m=1

Yeah what a crappy life....bunch of years in the NBA (because so many guys do that huh?) with different teams. In the days where the 10th-12th guy didn't make all that much money but I'm sure his life is better than most. Now a VP? Pretty sure Hasheem will live fine as he seems grounded and I am sure there are many of us here who wish we were the "bust" he is!!!

 

[CAHUSKY]

Thabeet in 25 years

http://www.celticslife.com/2010/07/what-hell-happened-togreg-kite.html?m=1

I'm pretty sure thabeet would be happy with an 18 year NBA career like Kite. At his current salary that would earn him roughly $23,000,000. That sucks. :/

 

[James]

Thabeet is essentially guaranteed a contract as long as he can walk. I just wish he wasnt just content with cashing checks, but more about working on his game a la hibbert and becoming a starter.but he is who he is