Now, I originally wanted to write this on Shawn Bradley. But, then I realized something: Bradley would’ve sucked regardless. He wasn’t that agile, he wasn’t that muscular, he wasn’t really much of anything. His only skill in the league was to stand there and hope he was tall enough to discourage people to not dunk on him. But…he failed at that. And often. Case in point, look at how T-Mac destroyed him.
Fun times. I also thought about DeJuan Blair. But, he doesn’t have an ACL and’s still able to halfway compete in the League. So, he’s out too. And then it hit me.
Hasheem Thabeet.
Yep. We’re going there.
Drafted second overall in the 2009 NBA Draft, there were some pretty big expectations on Thabeet. I mean, he was the guy drafted after Blake Griffin and before some guys named James Harden and Stephen Curry. So, he had to have it all together, right? The 7’3″ Thabeet imposed his will, to a point, on opposing players at UConn. So, he just had to translate that into some sort of NBA success, right?
Right?
Wrong. Halfway through his rookie season with the Memphis Grizzlies, he got sent down to the D-League. Now, mind you. The 2009-2010 Grizzlies weren’t exactly the greatest team in the league. They were somewhat in contention for the playoffs for a good portion of the season, but ended the season two games under .500. When a team that ends the season two games under .500 sends you down to the D-League, problems are there.
And it got worse. Between the 2010-2011 season and the 2012-2013 season, he started in a grand total of seven games averaging somewhere around two points a game. Seven games. Not seventy. Not even seventeen. Seven. His career high in points is thirteen. And here I am thinking Kwame Brown and them were bad.
But, what could’ve been? Could Thabeet have found success had he been drafted by another team or something along those lines? As True always says, “ehhh…” Thabeet suffered from the fact that, in college, he was a big guy who could just go to the inside and do his thing. In the NBA, you need to have, at the least, something resembling a mid-range game. Thabeet’s shot selection, per BasketballReference.com, was mostly in the 0-3 foot range. With that, you’re pretty much doomed to fail offensively. Maybe if he stayed in school for that senior year, he could’ve had a chance to better his game. I mean, every year in college, he showed progression.
But, as it stands? Thabeet is a bust. Potentially a worse bust than, say, a Sam Bowie. At least Sam Bowie’s career high in points is more than 13. Hell, even Greg fucking Oden scored more than 13 points in a game at times and he’s the Ryan Leaf of the NBA (if Sam is, in some ways, the JaMarcus)
speedonthebeat.com 