NY Times: At Home in Tanzania, Hasheem Thabeet Plays the Motivator

Carl Herrera · Apr 3, 2013

At Home in Tanzania, Thabeet Plays the Motivator
By STEVE MCPHERSON

MINNEAPOLIS — There’s a popular bumper sticker on the streets of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, that reads, “This car is protected by the blood of Jesus.” But there’s one teacher at the International School of Tanganyika who needs one that reads, “This car is protected by Hasheem Thabeet.”

On one occasion when that teacher was stopped at a red light, a group of children ran up and started cleaning her windows — a common occurrence in the streets of the country’s largest city. But as she tried to tell them she didn’t need that assistance, the light turned green and they ran from the car, leaving the windshield wipers up. She quickly pulled off to the side of the road to fix the wipers and talk to the kids.

That’s when a luxury car pulled over behind her and Thabeet unfolded all 7 feet, 3 inches of himself from it, asking if everything was all right, if she needed any help. They spoke to the kids and got her car’s wipers sorted out and then Thabeet was off.

At the mention of the story, the Oklahoma City Thunder center’s eyes lit up in the visitors’ locker room after a 101-93 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night. “Ah,” he said appreciatively in a low voice that was surprising in its softness. “I.S.T.—that’s where I work when I go back in the summer.”

In the offseason, Thabeet returns to his native Tanzania to work with schools like I.S.T. and others. “I do basketball clinics for little kids, help with building libraries and stuff. Mostly I try to go into schools and talk. Every time I go back, I travel through the country and talk to the kids.”

N.B.A. fans in the U.S. might look at Thabeet and see disappointment. After being selected by the Memphis Grizzlies with the second overall pick in the 2009 draft, he bounced from Memphis to Houston to Portland and now to Oklahoma City. This is the first season since he was rookie that he has managed double-digit minutes per game, and his career averages of 2.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game are far below expectations for such a high draft pick.

But his achievements are put into a different context when he goes home for that one month a year.

“It’s a blessing,” he said. “Every time I get a chance, I go back home. Try to motivate kids. When I was growing up, your parents, if they were lawyers, everybody in that family would be lawyers. My dad was in architecture but he didn’t push me to be an architect.

“When I go back, I tell kids, ‘Don’t be pushed to do stuff by your family.’ There’s a lot of opportunities and a lot of chances to do special things. But you’ve got to want it, you’ve got to show that you want it.”

Now 26 and finishing his fourth year in the league, there are questions about whether Thabeet wants it when it comes to competing at the N.B.A. level. He may never develop into the dominant defensive force that scouts saw evidence of when he was at Connecticut, but with the Thunder poised to make a deep run in the playoffs as the favorites in the Western Conference, there’s a chance he will play some small but steady role on a championship team.

But what might be most important for him is doing his small but steady part to change the culture he grew up in, a culture that he said was more invested in the status quo than in taking a chance.

“A lot of friends I grew up with ended up not getting any job,” he said, “because they all wanted to be lawyers, bankers and accountants like their dads. There’s not that many jobs out there like that.

“Where I’m from, they don’t believe you can have a life through sports. That’s how we grew up. Some still embrace that, but I don’t believe it.”
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http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/at-home-in-tanzania-thabeet-plays-the-motivator/

Thabeet seems like a nice guy but, motivator?

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NY Times: At Home in Tanzania, Hasheem Thabeet Plays the Motivator

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