| AT A GLANCE - Hasheem Thabeet |
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Strengths:
• Incredible Size
• True center
• Frame
• Wingspan
• Mobility
• Ability to run floor
• Explosiveness off feet
• Gets out in transition
• Shoots a high percentage
• Solid free throw shooter
• Ability to draw fouls
• Confidence improved
• Game-changing presence defensively
• Excellent shot-blocker
• Only playing basketball for few years
• Upside
Weaknesses:
• Extremely limited offensively
• Limited footwork/Mechanical
• Poor hands
• Core strength/balance
• Passing out of the post
• Feel for game
• Man to man defense
• Gets backed down
• Lateral quickness defensively
• Poor rebounder
• Activity level
• Effort wavers
• Work ethic?
• True age?
• Track record of African players |
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NCAA Weekly Performers, 1/31/08-- Part Two
February 1, 2008
It’s been an up and down season for UConn sophomore Hasheem Thabeet so far, with plenty of highs and lows individually, mixed in with a good amount of success his team has enjoyed lately.
Thabeet has noticeably improved on the offensive end, pushing his points per-40 minute pace adjusted averages from a dismal 9.8 to 14.2 currently. That still puts him just 77th amongst the 84 NCAA players ranked on our 2008 or 2009 mock drafts, but it’s a clear improvement over last year, when he was second to last. He’s also shooting the ball at a better clip from the field, 63% compared to 55% last year. Unfortunately, Thabeet’s rebounding, assists, and blocked-shots have all decreased per-40 minutes when taking his extra playing time into account so far, although he is turning the ball over less and committing fewer fouls. Very notable has been the significant improvement he’s shown from the free throw line, from 51 to 70.5%. The points he’s no longer leaving at the charity stripe in fact account for nearly half of his added scoring output this year.
Regardless of his statistical output, any intrigue around Thabeet as an NBA draft prospect starts and ends for the most part with his physical tools, which are nothing short of amazing considering how rare of a class he’s in. Standing 7-3, with a phenomenal frame that should be able to carry significantly more weight, a terrific wingspan, huge hands, and excellent mobility relative to his size, Thabeet looks the part of future defensive stopper and then some on first glance. He gets up and down the floor awkwardly (almost with a strange limp), but clearly has solid mobility (especially getting out in transition), and is especially impressive getting off his feet to finish plays or challenge shots in the lane.
Offensively, Thabeet is for the most part limited to within five feet of the basket. He can really overpower smaller opponents by establishing deep position in the paint and using his size and length to make his presence felt from close range, sometimes with a ferocious dunk. His hands look better than they were last year, but he’ll still fumble the occasional pass or just have balls deflect right off his palm after not being able to react in time. He’s getting out and running with his guards fairly impressive on fast-breaks on occasion, and has been on the receiving end of a couple of highlight reel caliber alleyoop plays.
Once taken out of his comfort zone offensively, (meaning catching and finishing for the most part), Thabeet’s inexperience as a basketball player really comes out. His footwork is poor, and he’s fairly slow and mechanical trying to create any type of offense for himself if he needs to make a real move. He also lacks a left hand or any type of counter moves, often just throwing the ball up on the rim with poor touch, hoping it drops. He clearly lacks core strength and especially balance here, falling over on the floor quite easily and looking somewhat fragile in general if forced to react to something unexpected out on the court. He’s also an extremely poor passer, currently tied for having the second worst assist rate in the country amongst all players in our database, and also ranking near the bottom in assist to turnover ratio. Considering the lack of polish he shows on the offensive end, it’s not a stretch to say that he’s probably never going to be much of an option here in the NBA.
Defensively, though, Thabeet’s potential as a game-changer inside the paint is hard to ignore. He has excellent timing for blocked shots, and has started get better at keeping the ball in-bounds after a block. His mere presence in the paint is a huge deterrence for opposing teams at this level, as he’s not only 7-3, but also exceptionally long, and capable of getting off his feet. He makes a big impact in the paint as far as team defense goes, ranking 7th in the country in blocks per-40 minutes pace adjusted.
As a man to man defender, Thabeet leaves something to be desired still. Skilled back to the basket centers (a rare commodity in the NCAA) have proven to be very effective against him, as he gets pushed around and posted up quite easily, not looking to fight back that much, standing too upright, giving up excessive space, and not moving his feet very well to stay with them. He does a very poor job in particular of stepping out onto the perimeter to hedge a screen or defend a big man who is capable of facing the basket, showing poor awareness in space and looking fairly lost in the process. Nowhere was that more evident than in the Georgetown game a few weeks ago, where Thabeet lost his man Roy Hibbert completely and thus gave him a great deal of time to set his feet and knock down the game winning 3-pointer from behind the arc. Big matchups in general have been a problem for Thabeet over the last two years, as every time he faces a team with anything even resembling an NBA caliber big man, he struggles badly.
Rebounding-wise, you’d probably expect Thabeet to make more of an impact than he currently does considering his awesome physical tools. He in fact ranks just 47th of the 56 NCAA centers that are in our database in this category per 40 minutes pace adjusted, despite standing 7-3. His poor hands are most evident in this part of his game, as are his lack of fundamentals--boxing out his man lackadaisically, and going after rebounds with just one hand. He’ll often take himself out of position for rebounds by chasing blocked shots excessively, which further hurts him in this category.
Another problem here is that Thabeet doesn’t seem to be the most active player in the world, rarely going out of his area for rebounds, and not really showing the type of fire and passion you see out of players who just want the ball more than their opponents. At times you get the feeling that Thabeet is not going 100%, as he’ll look sleepy, distant, and not involved in what’s going on on the floor. There have been question marks raised constantly regarding his motor, work ethic and love for the game, which is a huge concern considering how far off he is at the moment from reaching his full potential, and how much individual work he’ll have to put in to get there.
With that said, Thabeet seems to be making some clear strides as a player this year, and obviously has a lot more room to grow. He’ll be tempted to enter the draft this year already and possibly cash in on being selected somewhere in the first round, but would clearly benefit long-term from being patient and spending another year in college under Coach Calhoun, who has a sparkling reputation for developing NBA big men.
 [Read Full Article]
Top NBA Draft Prospects in the Big East (Part One: #1-#5)
October 20, 2007
Imported from Tanzania, Thabeet gained attention on the AAU scene after his senior year in high school, and choose to play for Jim Calhoun at UConn. Though there was much buzz about his draft potential entering his freshman season, but he proved to be even rawer than advertised, though he did manage to make a considerable impact on the defensive end of the court. After flirting with the decision to enter the NBA Draft, Thabeet opted to polish his game with another season at Connecticut.
His physical tools alone will keep NBA scouts in the gym at every single game to watch Thabeet. He looks like he was built to play basketball, standing at 7’3” with a massive wingspan and huge hands. Combine this with a chiseled body, and outstanding mobility for a player his size, and it becomes obvious that few prospects in the college game compare to Thabeet physically.
Defensively, the center from Tanzania made a big impact his freshman season, swatting 3 shots per game in just over 24 minutes of playing time—ranking him second in the country in this category per 40 minutes. Thabeet improved his understanding of proper help defense as the season progressed, and opposing players began to challenge him less in the paint. Foul trouble plagued the inexperienced center early in the conference season until he became comfortable with the idea that he could block shots with his wingspan and vertical leap alone.
Though effective as a shot-blocker, most other areas of Thabeet’s game need serious work based on his play last season. Offensively, he scored the majority of his points by just finding the open spot behind the defense, and dunking the ball-- if he managed to catch the pass. With his back to the basket, Thabeet found himself sometimes shying away from contact rather than going to the hoop aggressively. The timid mindset seems to stem from his lack of experience, and it is possible that we see a more aggressive player as he learns the game. Two areas must improve for Thabeet before he becomes a potent offensively threat based on size alone. First of all, he needs to work on his touch inside 10 feet, and secondly he must be stronger and more aggressive with the ball. On numerous occasions, the defense stripped the ball from him on plays that should have resulted in an easy dunk.
Thabeet shows good natural instincts on the glass, possessing all the tools to become an excellent rebounder down the road. Better hands will again be more important in this area, but he has both the timing and positioning down.
Projecting Hasheem Thabeet’s draft position remains a difficult task, though he clearly has his mind on making the jump to the next level. With his natural athleticism and shot-blocking ability, he has all the tools to become a top 10 pick some day. On the other hand, the raw offensive game and lack of experience really hurt his game as of now. Couple that with the fact that questions about his true age are starting to pop up, and the picture gets even muddier. Choosing to return to school was obviously a smart choice for Thabeet basketball wise, and Jim Calhoun has a great deal of experience in turning raw big men into NBA-caliber players. Thabeet will have to go the extra mile himself, though, as he doesn’t stand a chance unless he truly develops an outstanding work ethic and love for the game.
[Read Full Article]
LeBron James Skills Academy Day Three
July 10, 2007
The Tanzanian big man looked just as raw in Akron as he did throughout his freshman season at UCONN on the offensive end, looking puzzled as to what to do the ball each and every time he touched it. Surprisingly, his hands were noticeably worse then they were at UCONN, with Thabeet bobbling just about every single pass he received. It should be noted that his left hand was heavily taped earlier in the day, suggesting some sort of possible injury. Either way, it was clear that Hasheem was quite a ways behind both of the Lopez twins in terms of productivity on both ends of the floor, and has a lot of work to do before he should consider entering the NBA Draft.
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Striking While the Iron is Cold? Hasheem Thabeet
February 9, 2007
One of the more disturbing cases considering the magnitude of his decision as far as his long-term development goes, we’re receiving strong indications from numerous sources that UConn's freshman Hasheem Thabeet is seriously considering entering the draft. This has all the makings of a potential disaster, eerily reminiscent to another highly regarded Big East prospect a few years ago--Chris Taft.
 | | AP |
Compared to Tyrus Thomas, and billed as "an athletic Mutombo" by a preseason article written by Andy Katz, Thabeet has been blocking shots at a nice rate, but everything else about him so far has been a massive disappointment. He's cracked double-digits in the scoring column just five times this season thus far--against Fairfield, Albany, Pepperdine, Coppin State and St. John's--and has used his massive 7-3 frame to pull down 10 rebounds just four times, again against the weakest competition UConn has faced. Defensively, beyond his shot-blocking, Thabeet has been lit up by every (even marginal) NBA prospect he's gone up against, whether it’s giving up 13 points and 10 rebounds to an equally raw freshman in Omar Samham (St. Mary's); 19 points, 11 rebounds to Herbert Hill (Providence); 19 points, 11 rebounds to David Padgett (Louisville); 21 points to DJ White (Indiana); or 22 points, 19 rebounds to Aaron Gray (Pitt).
Offensively, we've seen little to no progress since the beginning of the season. Thabeet still shoots the ball from the back of his hand, still doesn't understand how to properly bend his knees and go up for a simple dunk, is not able to palm the ball despite having very big hands, and is almost incapable of catching a post-entry pass due to his poor hands and non-existent reaction time. At this point, considering the way he looks, it's safe to say that he’s light years away from being able to contribute anything on this end of the floor.
Most people would tell you that's fine, because Thabeet is 7-3, has a very good frame, and moves better than 98% of the 7-footers we've evaluated...meaning he has a very good upside. “Saer Sene was drafted 10th!” they say, not realizing the difference between last year’s draft class and this one, while also failing to take into consideration the stark differences between the two players as far as their work ethic and attitudes are concerned.
The fact that he has a huge upside is probably true, but at the same time, we have to consider just what the likelihood is of Thabeet ever actually reaching his ceiling and achieving that upside, which is just as important a part of the equation, particularly if he’s to rot on an NBA bench for the next four years. That probability of reaching said upside takes a significant nose dive when you actually watch him play, look at the way he carries himself on the floor, and talk to people who have spent time watching him practice.
Thabeet seems to have little to no interest in using his size and strength to help his team as a rebounder, not playing with much energy, refusing to get dirty and go after loose balls, and displaying a very low basketball IQ in everything to do with his anticipation skills. In practice, people who have watched him have come away with the impression that Thabeet is not a hard worker at all. He makes faces when asked to do extra work, and generally acts like he's being punished by being required to do crucial drills for his development that other players don't participate in. This lack of a high-energy motor and work ethic is usually the kiss of death for a player who is as raw as he is. He will need years of individual work before anything can be expected from him at the NBA level. Once teams find out what we're learning, if they haven't already, it can be more than enough to drop a player like him into the second round. Contrary to popular opinion, the NBA is not nearly as interested in developing raw talent from scratch as many would lead you to believe, as the coaching staff just doesn’t have time to teach the fundamentals of the game during a grueling 82 game season.
Usually we would not go out of our way to blast a freshman who clearly came into college with the billing of a project, having only played basketball for a few years. The thing is: we feel that considering the unaccountable hype around him--currently projected as the #6 pick in the 2007 draft by nbadraft.net and the 16th best prospect by ESPN's Chad Ford—there needs to be another side out there to put things in proper perspective. Players, families, AAU coaches and agents process all this information and often act on it without being able to find anyone that’s able to give them a second opinion (NBA people are generally not interested in taking part in this process), but when disaster strikes, the player will have to pick the pieces up by himself while outlets like ours move onto the next batch of prospects. Chris Taft was rated similarly by the same exact people at this point in the season two years ago (ourselves included). He ended up going in the mid-second round and is currently out of the NBA.
What’s sad is that Thabeet is actually contemplating making a selfless decision that has just as much to do with his family situation as it does with himself. His mother and siblings are still in Tanzania, and his father passed away just a few years ago. It’s a difficult decision indeed for a teenager to make, especially with the lure of so much money looking so close. The question is: how much in long-term earnings will he be losing by leaving so early? No one can say that for sure, and plenty depends on Thabeet’s internal motivation.
We don't doubt the fact that Thabeet could very well end up figuring things out and reach his massive potential in a couple of years, but his chances of doing so while sitting on an NBA bench significantly lessen in our opinion, as compared with opting to stay in college and learning from his very well respected coach, Jim Calhoun. UConn has developed players like Emeka Okafor and Hilton Armstrong into lottery picks despite starting off with much less to work with in terms of pure physical attributes, but it took them three and four years in college respectively. For the final word on this topic, we'll defer to Louisville Head Coach and former NBA head coach and General Manger Rick Pitino, who has sent quite a few players to the league in his own right:
"A guy like Thabeet, who we recruited, three years from now will be one of the best players in college basketball…Or, if people put the notion in his head because he's 7-foot-3, he'll sit [on] the bench [in the NBA], he'll never make a second contract, and never make any money in his life. So, hopefully, the right people get hold of him and be intelligent."
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Weekly Top Performers: Holiday Edition
December 20, 2006
Thabeet generally showed how far off he is, but the flashes of potential he displays are still downright staggering. He is already running the floor much better than he did early in the season, and is improving his mental awareness slowly but surely. The one area where he is furthest along is on the glass, where he does a solid job of sealing his man and corrals just about anything in sight with ease. When he reacts naturally on the defensive end, the results are scary. However, he still doesn't use his length to its full potential - oftentimes opponents can get the ball over his arms by shooting it quickly, due to that slow reaction time. Offensively, Thabeet is well behind the curve. If it isn't a layup or dunk, Thabeet probably shouldn't be shooting it at this point.
Nonetheless, it is hard not to get caught up in what Thabeet could become if he continues to develop as a player. At the same time, Samhan is a youngster worth keeping an eye on. Players this young and this big are rarely this far along skill-wise.
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