I know many of us aren't tremendously optimistic (if at all) regarding the future development of Thabeet. After listening to Morey's comments about his "solid" rookie season, I wanted to look a little closer to see what he may have been talking about. Initially you notice the much better field goal percentage in his rookie year - although that's not what we need badly anyway. Not a big deal, but I did notice he started 13 games. Not a huge deal considering Memphis wasn't a good team last year, but being a rookie, that says a little something. But, the main thing I noticed was his "Per 36" averages in his ROOKIE season. 8.6 points per game, 10.0 rebounds and, most importantly.... 3.6 blocks. He did average 6.7 fouls per 36, however. By no means am I saying he can or will be the next Dikembe for us, but MAYBE there is something to work with there, at least defensively. (still would like to sign Tyson Chandler in the off season!)
How does one average 6.7 fouls per 36 minutes? In fact, how can anyone ever average more than 6 fouls?
One doesn't play a full 36 minutes. For example, if you foul out with 6 in only 9 minutes of play each night, your average per 36 would be 24 fouls.
There's nothing really new said here. It's been discussed before. Per 36 is misleading for a player that plays 10-15 minutes a game and for a player that averages over 6 fouls per 36 minutes. Thabeet's ability to block shots hasn't ever really been in question, to my knowledge. It's his ability to fit within a team's defensive system, rotate in the defense, play defense without heavy fouling rates, and not kill a team on the offensive end. Thabeet shows some areas of strength, but it's his weaknesses that make him unplayable right now and give many people a sense of hopelessness regarding his development. I have hope that he makes a big leap during the summer. But I don't expect it.
I agree that Per 36 is misleading and also that he is unplayable right now (as T Will nearly is, unfortunately). Maybe I am just looking for SOMETHING since I too have the sense of hopelessness you mentioned...lol. I was just happy to see SOMETHING positive (besides a youtube highlight video).
We shouldn't worry too much about whether Hasheem will blossom or not. The trade for him was really for two reasons, both due to us wanting to get something out of Battier's contract: a) A short look at Hasheem Thabeet. There really isn't much time to get a good look at him with only 23 or so games after we traded for him. As well, with the lockout looming, we may not even get much of the summer to try to get a better look. Unfortunately, we have a very small sample size of data to look at from his rookie season, but it's just not enough. So this was really only a minor part of what we wanted to get out of the trade. b) The key, it has been said, was getting that 2013 lottery protected 1st round pick from Memphis. If Hasheem doesn't pan out for us, then we still have that pick available to use in trades during the offseason and beyond. If he does show some promise in his short time here, then he might be able to develop into a position of need. But either way, it's nothing to lose sleep over. We got the pick, and that was the key to bringing Hasheem to the Rockets. Again, I hope he works out for us. I hope he takes a huge step forward before we have to decide whether to pick up his fourth year. But I'm just not expecting it to happen. There's hope. Just low expectations.
In the 2009-2010 season (Thabeet's rookie season), he played 21 minutes or more in just 11 games. Here are the averages for that sample size: 26.27 minutes 7.27 rebounds 2.72 blocks 3.45 fouls 6.09 points Not bad for a raw rookie. clearly the kid has the tools to be a double diget rebounder, and the blocks go without saying. If our coaches can work with him so that he's not such a foul machine, then we might have something here.
Morey kinda sorta HAS to play up the "but maybe!" angle with Thabeet, given that we're on the hook to waste a roster spot and $5M on this tall sack of crap for another calendar year. If you're 7'3 and your offensive game is limited to point blank tip ins and dunks, it's ridiculous for you to be under the 50% FG mark. How he managed to get that down to sub-44% is something for physicists around the globe to ponder. He's averaging a TO for every two shots he takes, which is scary, considering that most of his attempts come from offensive boards. It's not like they're running the offense through him in the post. Per minute stats are always deceiving, because it ignores the intangibles that help determine the minutes received (such as, Thabeet spends most of his time on the court being yelled at by teammates for being out of position) Double his rookie minutes and you get: 26 mpg, 6 ppg, 7 rpg, 2.6 blocks, 1.2 TO, 5 fouls Adjust this year's to match and... 26 mpg, 4 ppg, 5 rpg, 1 block, 1.3 TO, 5 fouls Pathetic. Maybe I eat my words, but I have FAR less hope for him than I did Dorsey.
Aruba, you hit the nail on the head, its his wreckless fouling that has hurt him in getting minutes on the court. I think once he gets regular minutes most of the fouling will go away and his confidence will slowly come back. If Memphis was not in a position to make the playoffs and if Gay is not hurt, I don't think Morey would have any shot at aquiring him. If he turns out to be Mutombo-lite then Morey will have hit an out of the park homerun.
^ Not just any home run. More like, a walk-off grand slam, after being down three, in the bottom of the ninth
a walk-off grand slam after being down three, in the bottom of the ninth of the last game of 7-game world chamipion series. :grin:
Things Thabeet needs to be able to do to be a Home run for the Rockets= 1.) Take up space in the middle to simply change shots or make the offensive player think twice about going there 2.) Do that without getting 3 second violations or illegal defense's 3.) Do that without fouling (partly to blame by poor perimeter defense) 4.) Find a way to NOT be a liability on offense (might not work in Adelman's offense. Will require tweeking from gameplan.) 5.) Get a rebound every once in awhile 6.) Don't become a knucklehead
I hope Hasheems learns how to affect a shot without going for the block/fouling, because that is all he needs to do to be effective.