Guaranteed bust in tonight draft

[richfame]

Tonight there is no doubt in my mind that there will be a bust being drafted in the top 3 of tonights NBA draft. Hasheem Thabeet is one of the most overrated big men to come out of college in recent years.

Sure Thabeet with block some shots and shore up a defense but hes extremely limited and very well might be out of the league within 5 years. IMO Thabeet still struggles with simple basketball skills such as catching and shooting.

This is not to say that im always dead on about projecting how college kids will fair in the league. I thought Jameer Nelson was going to be a bust and ive been dead wrong. But Lets Face it this is the weakest draft in years. Outside the top 6 picks this draft is a crap shoot. But that being said, Thabeet will not continue the UCONN tradition of solid pro's....

Hello European League.

[justabballfan]

Jun 25, 2009 17:50:05 GMT -5 richfame said:

Tonight there is no doubt in my mind that there will be a bust being drafted in the top 3 of tonights NBA draft. Hasheem Thabeet is one of the most overrated big men to come out of college in recent years.

Sure Thabeet with block some shots and shore up a defense but hes extremely limited and very well might be out of the league within 5 years. IMO Thabeet still struggles with simple basketball skills such as catching and shooting.

This is not to say that im always dead on about projecting how college kids will fair in the league. I thought Jameer Nelson was going to be a bust and ive been dead wrong. But Lets Face it this is the weakest draft in years. Outside the top 6 picks this draft is a crap shoot. But that being said, Thabeet will not continue the UCONN tradition of solid pro's....

Hello European League.

I think he will be an alright pro, but he will always be considered a bust, because he is going to go top 3.

[jgalt]

Jun 25, 2009 17:56:47 GMT -5 @justabballfan said:

I think he will be an alright pro, but he will always be considered a bust, because he is going to go top 3.

Yeah. And it sucks for him because this draft is so weak. Especially the centers. I have made it known that i find BJ Mullen's game to be ghastly, so him being drafted this year, period is tough for me to take. The guy wasnt even the starting center on his own team for goodness sakes. That is all

[hoyas big supporter]

hanbrough 13??!?!? puh-leese
but the real question is which pg minnesota is going to keep

[hoyas big supporter]

westbrook, harden, durant, green, mullens???

[SFHoya99]

I'm no Mullens fan, but that was a nice trade to take a chance on some size with talent that was falling. I think they wanted Thabeet, but will take a 2G and a shot at a C later. That's a fun lineup.

[damnhoya]

I agree with SF. I don't like Mullens at all but Presti is doing a great job putting a team together. Westbrook, Harden, Green and Durant. That could be a formidable line up in a couple years. I just hate listening to people talk about the Thunder because they always mention Durant (and Westbrook now) without giving Green any love.

[SSHoya]

Thabeet = Olowakandi?

[Deleted]

Hi Richfame.

I think you are going to be proven wrong. Shot blockers are worth their weight in gold in the NBA. Akeem Aloujawon (sp?) came into the NBA with no offensive game at all and became an all pro.
Thabeet can shoot. He will learn the offensive moves. He will also put on weight

If you can block shots you don't need offensive moves anyway.

Now let's see, if I remember correctly, Mutombo doesn't have much of an offensive. all he does is guard the interior and block shots. He seems to have done OK and is still around.

How about Ben Wallace?? He can't do anything offensively, but dunk. He can't shoot free throws. He has done pretty well

3 point shooting is getting so good that guards try to penetrate and then dish out to a team mate for a 3 point shot, when everyone collapses on him. With Thabeet there, the forwards don't need to collapse on the driver.

I will do you one better. I believe that thabeet will have more impact than any other player in the draft. Time will tell.

Jerry

[richfame]

Jerry- I respect your opinion and well see what happens. I do agree he made a leap from his frosh year to this year. His First year i swear he was tripping on the court lines.

Lets take a look at Emeka Okafor do you think thabeet was a better prospect than okafor? I dont think hes going to come close to teh player okafor is. As far as Hakeem Olajuwon, hakeem was nasty in college and was a no doubt star. I dont know this guy has never impressed me but we will see.

[gtowndynasty]

Ah Rich dont underestimate the ability of Thabeet on D. The shots he doesnt block, he challenges. He also isnt prone to foul trouble like some bigs. And he runs like a gazelle without tiring too fast. I think I read that his family has a background in cross country running so he doesnt tire out like one would expect. He is no where near nba level offensively, but he can play D and he is good for 8-10 ppg, 8-10 rpg, 2-3 blocks, and a number of challenges at the rim that will alter the opponents shots.

I think the more accurate comparison to Hasheem is Mutombo.

[sleepy]

Jun 26, 2009 14:11:51 GMT -5 gtowndynasty said:

Ah Rich dont underestimate the ability of Thabeet on D. The shots he doesnt block, he challenges. He also isnt prone to foul trouble like some bigs. And he runs like a gazelle without tiring too fast. I think I read that his family has a background in cross country running so he doesnt tire out like one would expect. He is no where near nba level offensively, but he can play D and he is good for 8-10 ppg, 8-10 rpg, 2-3 blocks, and a number of challenges at the rim that will alter the opponents shots.

I think the more accurate comparison to Hasheem is Mutombo.

Yes, but is that really what you want out of the #2 pick in the draft? Those numbers are end of lotto-mid first round. Not the second pick who is in consideration for number 1 pick. Hence the term bust.

[Deleted]

Let's all remember this thread and revisit this issue next June. Should be interesting

Jerry

[richfame]

Sleepy is 100 percent right. Hes a nice player that will help but not an impact player at least not that i can see in the near future.

[hoyaboy1]

Thabeet is a much worse rebounder and 1-1 defender than Mutumbo was, so it's not a great comparison.

[Deleted]

just remember that he is only a Junior and the improvement from just a couple of years is enormous. Also remember that he only started playing basketball when he was 15. Not only that, he can shoot. He just doesn't have the moves yet.

Thabeet averaged 10.8 rebounds a game. That is pretty good on a team that had two other, excellent, strong forwards. Here are Thabeets stats for each year

Freshman year, he averaged 6.2 points and 3.8 blocks per game
Sophomore year he averaged 10.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 4.5 blocks per game
Junior year, he averaged 13.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game (and that doesn't include the shots that he challenged).

Anyway, we will know soon enough.

Jerry

[SFHoya99]

Comparisons to Hakeem are ridiculous for Thabeet.

Furthermore, the comparisons to Mutombo aren't all that great, either, to my mind. He got shot blocks but UConn's defense was never all that special while he was there. Calhoun has always taught shot blocks over actual defense and I'm always somewhat suspect of a team that blocks that many shots but isn't an elite defense.

[sleepy]

Jun 27, 2009 0:57:29 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

Comparisons to Hakeem are ridiculous for Thabeet.

Furthermore, the comparisons to Mutombo aren't all that great, either, to my mind. He got shot blocks but UConn's defense was never all that special while he was there. Calhoun has always taught shot blocks over actual defense and I'm always somewhat suspect of a team that blocks that many shots but isn't an elite defense.

Good point SF. The past 5+ years Uconns perimeter defense has been nonexistent. All they do is funnel it into the shot blockers in the middle, which in a way inflates the block numbers. We took advantage of that in the Uconn game, and thats why we won.

[MCIGuy]

Jun 26, 2009 14:34:14 GMT -5 hoyaboy1 said:

Thabeet is a much worse rebounder and 1-1 defender than Mutumbo was, so it's not a great comparison.

Thank you. This guy doesn't handle contact well either. And it seems like all of his great games came against the worst of teams and the smallest of front courts. When he went against the elite big men in college he mostly ended up being outplayed. I don't think Mutombo was ever punked on the court in college as Thabeet was against players like DeJuan Blair. And Mutombo had to face guys like Larry freakin' Johnson and Derrick Coleman. Plus Mutombo's hands were not as bad as Thabeet's.

Also Thabeet while at UConn had a reputation as being a lazy guy who did not react well to criticism by his coaches. This suggests perhaps a character flaw and makes me wonder just how hard he will work now that he has the money.

[SFHoya99]

That all said, I think Jerry has some good points -- Thabeet doesn't have to be Mutombo to be valuable. And Thabeet can be valuable on defense. Though I think he will be more in the little "upper middle class man's Sam Dalembert" rather than Mutombo.