Draft Countdown: Hasheem Thabeet

[Shaazzam]

Depends on how good of a rebounder he is. It's easier to run off of misses than makes.

[OAKLEY_2]

If we could get that pick without Bosh being involved but with the intention to move Bosh for the 2nd pick then a Rubio/Thabeet draft would be an almost grand slam. If we had a front court of Bargnani/Thabeet/Odum I would think we would have made significant improvements. We can sign or trade for wings. I see no reason we couldn't trade our 9th plus Roko plus future first plus and cash for the number 3 as teams will definitely want to trade down. Thabeet may even go 4th or 5th. Colangelo has states he wants to pick where they are at and later but how Bosh works out or doesn't work out affects everything. Thabeet would be a real centre something we have never really had.

[RiZ]

i kno hes "projected" to go #3 right now but i dont think raps should pick him if they get #3 unless they get a nice sg somehow

[Fats Elmore]

Massive project I would avoid. I think he can give about 40% of Deke-ness. He needs to dramatically transform his body, has poor hands, poor rebounder etc. Too many things to develop and he's most likely older than 22.

[RonaldArtest]

Huh? No one's said it yet? Ok fine.

In my best Dicky Vitale voice - "You can't teach 7'3" baybee!"

He's a huge project, but if he's taught properly and shown some patience, the risky move could pay dividends. He's got a huge body, but the thing about his frame is that he looks like he could add 15-25 lbs of muscle no problem with a regimented training schedule. That'll help hold position against the stronger, smaller players (see Dejuan Blair)

He's a risky pick, but from all accounts he's a hard worker which should help him realize his potential. Couple that with his huge body, great length and that he began playing basketball WELL after others in this draft, and I dont think he'll be a Shawn Bradley 2.0

Time will tell I guess.

[The Notic]

Depends on how good of a rebounder he is. It's easier to run off of misses than makes.

he's a pretty crappy rebounder.

[trick]

I forgot who mentioned this before and I'm going to paraphrase what was said,
Thabeet started to play and learn basketball under Jim Calhoun. This is signifcant because he doesn't develop any bad habits than a player at a young age would have if they were to start out on their own. He has solid fundamentals from a fundamentally-sound coaching regime and you know he'll get better with his fundamentals with more experience and teachings.

If the Raptors do happen to get Thabeet, I would seriously start looking at some prime cadidates to fill in that SG/SF spot by putting Bosh on the trading block (i.e. Caron Butler).

[Dr Positivity]

Yea I'd take him at 3. A defensively competant center is THE most important position in the game, and well, we don't have one. Basically every championship team has had a big defensive presence down low. I think both Thabeet's bust possibility and upside are overblown. At worst I see him as a competant enough borderline starter C, at best something around a healthy Tyson Chandler with more shotblocking. But you take that at #3 in this draft

Since I assume Bosh is being traded, I'd love to build around Bargnani/Thabeet. A perfect fit

[trick]

Yea I'd take him at 3. A defensively competant center is THE most important position in the game, and well, we don't have one. Basically every championship team has had a big defensive presence down low. I think both Thabeet's bust possibility and upside are overblown. At worst I see him as a competant enough borderline starter C, at best something around a healthy Tyson Chandler with more shotblocking. But you take that at #3 in this draft

Since I assume Bosh is being traded, I'd love to build around Bargnani/Thabeet. A perfect fit

I personally like a more-athletic Dikembe Mutombo with less offensive awareness. Thabeet is going to be all about the D when his career is over with numerous spots on the NBA All-Defensive Team.

[MacDaddy]

the looks like a giraffe when he runs, like he might just topple over. As a couple of people pointed out if you have 2-3 years to wait while he gets strong enough and learns a little bit about NBA defenses he would be fine, but currently he would not be that useful to us.

[ATLTimekeeper]

He seems to end up on the ground a lot, which isn't a good thing for a big man and makes me think he'll have some injury problems.

I'd just be frightened off by the many things that can go wrong with him.

[SpaceJam]

We have to take the BPA this time. The last time BC drafted a need for the team he drafted a player that would take a couple years to develop. This time he needs to get the bpa as to the player that will be able to provide for our needs right now. A player that has a peak earlier in his career rather than later on will help the team this following year instead of three-four years down the road.

[mcleex]

Woah...

[JN]

Raw. They say big men take 3 years to develop. This guy is a classic case. He needs to go to a team that can give him tons of minutes without worrying about losing. And he'll foul out of a bunch of games this year.

Maybe you should look at his NCAA foul rates which are extremely low in comparison to past prospects. He is the best fundamental defensive big man in this decade.

He will be a fundamentally sound defensive presence right away in the league, so he can actually give big minutes to a good team. HE IS NOT A HUGE PROJECT DEFENSIVELY. He is a huge project offensively As I have noted before there is no better developer of NCAA talent then Jim Calhoun and his staff. This guy did not have any habits when he arrived at UConn... he learned to play defence with his size the right way.

Sorry to pick on you specificially, but this entire thread is full of inaccurate generic tall skinny guy stuff. He is actually one of the most NBA ready prospects in this entire draft class. If he goes to a team with great scoring options, he can be a solid 25-30 minute player right from the start.

[trick]

I'll be shocked if Thabeet doesn't go #3. Just as shocked as Darko being picked over Carmelo, or an Atlanta team chock-full of SF's and heavily depleted on PG depth picking another SF prospect over two can-contribute-right-away PG prospects.

Or! Or!

"Hoffa over Iggy"-like shockness.

[JN]

I think the Bradley comparison is pretty good. Whoever said Thabeet is strong, he isn't. He constantly got pushed around by 6'9'' guys at the college level.

Let me guess... you saw him get hip tossed and get tossed around by DeJuan Blair. DeJuan Blair would have done the same thing to Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani.... at the same time.

Your comment about him getting constantly pushed around is not really true from my perspective. He's not a strong beast, but he has decent strenght... plus he can position himslef well in lieu of strength.

[J-Roc]

Sorry to pick on you specificially, but this entire thread is full of inaccurate generic tall skinny guy stuff. He is actually one of the most NBA ready prospects in this entire draft class. If he goes to a team with great scoring options, he can be a solid 25-30 minute player right from the start.

No matter who the rookie is, they get picked on by refs with fouls. And with a shotblocker, who knows his role is to be aggressive on D, it only gets worse. It takes at least a year, if not two, to be treated normally.

[kingr]

I wouldn't want us to draft thabeet. However if we did, trade bargnani.

[chsh22]

If we wind up with #3, I hope we trade down to another team with a pick around when we figure a swing we've targeted will be there.

We have two solid 20+PPG 4/5 guys already, and I don't think Thabeet is one of those guys who will be able to ride the pine (because of his skill, not attitude).

[D-Wins-RingsIMO]

bussssssssssst imo

There's a reason there's so few guys like Camby or Birdman that make it as 5's in this league. And Camby can be counted on to knock down an open 16 footer and Birdman can bang inside.

Maybe bust is being a bit harsh but I don't seem him progressing beyond a role player .... could be fun though if he does become a defensive beast.