I'm no expert but I do have a pretty good idea of what makes a winning team. The players first need to want to be here. Some blue chip player has to make this team his own. Like Kobe has with Los Angeles and Lebron is with Cleveland. I'm not so sure Thabeet is the one for Memphis. Not showing up for a tryout is not a good sign. Hakeem Thabeet missed a scheduled audition to show Memphis scouts his skills. One of the biggest issues the Grizzlies face is their image problem.For some reason the players don't want to come to Memphis even for millions of dollars. Everybody that comes here to play blossoms after they leave. Our latest visions of "what could have been" is Pau Gasol after he went to the Los Angeles Lakers. We have been disappointed on several occasions. Making it hard to count our chickens before they hatch.I found myself being a fan of Hakeem Thabeet during this years NCAA tournament. Not because he was the best, but because he was so new to the game itself. He is loaded with natural ability and a competitive spirit. He played like a man among boys. I was hoping and thought him and Connecticut was going to win the whole thing. But they didn't. I say he because he was the focal point of the team. Much like he would be if things worked out with the Grizzlies. The jury is still out as to whether he will be a good decision. We'll just have to wait and see. Keep the faith.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/jun/22/griz-may-turn-to-thabeet-to-shoulder-load/
Grizzlies select Hasheem Thabeet with No. 2 pick in NBA draft
ReplyDeleteBy Scott Cacciola (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Originally published 06:50 p.m., June 25, 2009
Updated 10:44 p.m., June 25, 2009
Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace said the franchise selected three players in tonight’s NBA draft who will help the team’s “defense, toughness and athleticism,” a crop of young players headlined by Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet, who was taken with the second pick overall.
With the 27th pick, the Grizzlies took Missouri’s DeMarre Carroll, a high-energy forward who averaged 16.6 points and 6.5 rebounds last season. And at 36, they took Pittsburgh swingman Sam Young, who had been pegged by some draft gurus as a late first-round pick.
“Sam Young was a gift from heaven, fell out of the sky,” Wallace said. “I never fathomed Sam Young would be there at 36 when he woke up this morning.”
Thabeet developed into a defensive force in three seasons at UConn, where he averaged 13.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.2 blocks as a junior and helped lead the Huskies to the Final Four. At 7-3, Thabeet has rare athleticism for a player that big, but his offensive skills are raw, which is not altogether surprising: He grew up in Tanzania and did not play organized basketball until age 15.
“The music, the barbecue, the humidity,” Thabeet said when asked what he knew about Memphis. “For somebody who has played basketball seven years, I’ve been working hard to get where I am. … Oh God, I feel like I’ve got a ways to go, feel like I’m getting better every day.”
The Clippers, as expected, selected Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin with the top overall pick.
Thabeet said he was excited to join the Grizzlies and has developed friendships with Rudy Gay, Darrell Arthur, O.J. Mayo and Marc Gasol, with whom he will compete for playing time. Before the draft lottery, according to Thabeet, Mayo told him he hoped the Grizzlies could land the No. 2 pick so they could be teammates. Mayo got his wish, though fans seem divided on the pick.
Wallace said the team addressed a key need -- shoring up the team’s interior defense.
“Hasheem Thabeet is the best defensive center this franchise has had since its inception,” Wallace said. “We felt a player of that size and defensive ability wasn’t going to come waltzing down Beale Street every day, and we had to take him.”
Coach Lionel Hollins said the entire draft process has been difficult and full of debate.
“We’ve gone back and forth, up and down,” he said. “And then you start taking straw votes, who likes who. We’ve had multiple players at that pick. But we keep watching film, keep seeing the kid’s athleticism, his instincts to block shots, rebound.”
Hollins said there will be an open competition for the starting spot at center between Thabeet and Gasol, the former Lausanne standout who had a solid rookie season. Hollins said both could be on the court at the same time, depending on the circumstances, but one will come off the bench.
“The best man is going to win the job,” said Hollins, who added: “As we went through the draft process, there were a lot of people that came up, came to mind. We kept going through it, watching film, everybody debating the merits, the negatives, we felt like this was the best fit for us.”
Some high-profile trades added intrigue before the draft even started, with the Phoenix Suns working as the prime player. On Wednesday night, the Suns dealt Shaquille O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers. There also are indications that the Suns are shopping all-star forward Amare Stoudemire.
He didn't work out.
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