http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/?mId=8686485 Some Röckëts-related nuggets. Thorpe liked working with him and says Adelman and McHale ignored Thabeet. Says OKC is perfect for him since Presti was high on him in 2009. Then again, Thorpe said a lot of good things about Yi Jianlian, too.
This. Thabeet isn't like most raw uber-athletic big men, he's actually been exposed to B-ball at an early age. He had someone trying to teach him some basic post moves in high school, studied bball in college for 3 years, and then went pro. During all these years I don't think he learned a single thing apart from stand in the middle and swat shots, Memphis got him and tried to make him Gasol 2.0, and then CD tried working on him during the summer and basically gave up. Now that his 5M a year contract is done everyone's acting surprised and saying what a "steal" OKC got. The point is I'll never trust Thabust again until he spends 2+ years putting up huge numbers. Dude just doesn't like bball, and if I was a GM I wouldn't trust him to play so aggressively after he gets his contract.
The one thing I've noticed with him is that he seems to have filled out. The guy was absolutely butch last night.
This is really the difference right here. He was a clumsy stickman with the Rockets, but his strength and conditioning are off the charts now. Huge NBA body.
I guess I should add that if it took his having to play for another contract for him to work on his body, that's pretty pitiful, but it wouldn't make Thabeet the first player to ever work only for a contract nor the last.
