Rockets trade Battier to Grizzlies for Thabeet, first round pick

rockets934life · Feb 26, 2011

hsf09 said:

Thabeet excited to join Rockets

[rquoter]HOUSTON - New Rockets center Hasheem Thabeet told FOX 26 Sports Friday he is "excited" to join the Houston organization.

The Rockets acquired Thabeet, who is 7'3", from the Memphis Grizzlies in the trade that sent Shane Battier to Memphis.

"It's crazy and great at the same time," Thabeet said. "It's a new beginning, a new opportunity and I'm very excited."

Thabeet said it's not easy to be a young player and get traded.

"It's pretty tough," Thabeet said. "I'm not the first player to be traded.

"I spoke with (Grizzlies) assistant coach Damon Stoudamire and he told me a lot of guys get traded.

"Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) was traded, so it happens."

Thabeet has already spoken with the Rockets coaches.

"They just told me to come in and play defense," Thabeet said. "They said don't worry about scoring 40 points or blocking 10 shots. They told me not to try to do too much."

Thabeet was the second-overall player chosen in the 2009 NBA Draft, but has yet to live up to his potential.

However, he doesn't join the Rockets feeling he has to prove anything.

"I'm just coming here to do my job," Thabeet said. "I believe in myself and I am going to work hard.

"I don't want to just be in the game, I want to be in the game and be a factor."

In 2009, Thabeet came to Houston to work with Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, the greatest Rocket of all time.

"He just told me to be patient," Thabeet said. "I usually put a lot pressure on myself.

"Hakeem said nothing happens in a day."

In two years in Memphis Thabeet played in 113 games, averaging 2.3 points and 2.8 rebounds.[/rquoter]
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I enjoyed both interviews and excited to hear Thabeet sound so motivated. I hope he comes in with a chip on his shoulder and ready to prove people wrong.

UTAllTheWay · Feb 26, 2011

Good to see he's very excited.

Hopefully the Rockets actually give him a shot. If he can come in and play some solid defense, that second unit with him, Dragic, Lee, Williams, and Patterson has the potential to be a very good defensive unit.

I definitely don't expect him to see the floor on Saturday, or even Sunday, though.

BMoney · Feb 26, 2011

Codman said:

I'm trying to give this one a chance, but I freakin' hate this trade with a passion.

I've read all the pros and cons, but I'd much rather have Shane than Thabeet.

There had to have been a better deal out there. Gerald Wallace was given away for a bag of peanuts.
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Patrick Patterson, Jerred Jeffires and two first round picks. Are you willing to give up all of that, because that is basically what the Trailblazers gave up.

thejav · Feb 26, 2011

excited about tonight's game..just hope the new guys get some good playing time..really wanna see what thabeet can do for id at the defensive end..

DorianTurk · Feb 26, 2011

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vFzOq_4Fedw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

woah!! the legend is back!

thejav · Feb 26, 2011

DorianTurk said:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vFzOq_4Fedw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

woah!! the legend is back!
Click to expand...

i thought those were supposed to be funny??..u should have added the brooke lopez dunk...

Batman Jones · Feb 26, 2011

I like both Battier and Brooks and I'm sorry to see them go. But both of these trades kind of remind me of the Alston trade in the way their departures make time for other players to step up. I don't think we've seen the best some of our players have to offer and that maybe that's because we haven't relied on them to produce. I don't remember anybody predicting with confidence the relative productivity and success that Brooks and Lowry would bring the day the Alston trade went down.

And as valuable a player Battier in particular was to us, for whatever reason he just seemed to refuse to look to score. Even Hayes has significantly stepped up his offensive game this year and I've been waiting since we got him to see Shane do the same, at least as much as he had in Memphis but he just never seemed to want to do it for whatever reason. It reminded me of an old interview with Robert Horry where he said something like "I could go to the basket but that's not my game." At the time I thought, why not? It used to be.

I know we'll pay dearly on defense but I'm excited to see the team start five guys who are regular threats to score.

Deckard · Feb 26, 2011

Batman Jones said:

I like both Battier and Brooks and I'm sorry to see them go. But both of these trades kind of remind me of the Alston trade in the way their departures make time for other players to step up. I don't think we've seen the best some of our players have to offer and that maybe that's because we haven't relied on them to produce. I don't remember anybody expecting the relative productivity and success that Brooks and Lowry would bring the day the Alston trade went down.

And as valuable a player Battier in particular was to us, for whatever reason he just seemed to refuse to look to score. Even Hayes has significantly stepped up his offensive game this year and I've been waiting since we got him to see Shane do the same, at least as much as he had in Memphis. I know we'll pay dearly on defense but I'm excited to see the team play offense with five guys who are regular threats to score.
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That's his biggest flaw as a Rocket. I've never understood why he passed up one scoring opportunity after another. As you point out, even Chuck has been scoring with regularity now and it certainly doesn't seem to impact his defense. Why Shane couldn't have been doing what Chuck's doing now over the last few years has me shaking my head.

rockets934life · Feb 26, 2011

When asked by the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., to describe his rookie year, Hasheem Thabeet gave an interesting response: "I was like a deer in a flashlight."
Even though Thabeet speaks five languages, that was not the English saying he was going for. Then again, the way he has played in two NBA seasons, any bright light, even the beam of a flashlight, has seemed to be too much for him.
It can be like that when you are still learning how to play the game. Thabeet grew up playing soccer in Tanzania, a country of 41 million in southeast Africa.
Thabeet, who turned 24 last week, didn't begin playing basketball until age 15, not long after his father died. For the oldest male child in one of the world's poorest countries, coming to America was a way to provide a better life for his family.
He e-mailed American universities, hoping he might earn a scholarship. An adviser spotted him at a tournament, and he ended up on a curious winding road through a couple of high schools in California and Mississippi before landing in Houston, where he moved in with a family to attend Cypress Christian High School.
When Thabeet arrived at Cypress Christian in 2005, he had difficulty performing the simplest of basketball skills. Awkward and uncoordinated, even at 7-3, he had trouble dunking a basketball.
The general consensus was Thabeet couldn't play big-time Division I basketball.
That's what University of Connecticut assistant coach Andre LaFleur thought the first time he saw Thabeet play. When he saw him a second time, Thabeet was much improved. The third time, he was even better.
LaFleur was in Houston when the 7-3 center battled Blake Griffin at a tournament in Kingwood. LaFleur's report back to UConn coach Jim Calhoun was that Thabeet could someday be the No. 1 pick in the NBA.
Thabeet ended up being the No. 2 pick in the 2009 draft, behind Griffin.
Thabeet goes on
"He played basketball like he was playing soccer," LaFleur said, "but the key was every time you saw him, he got better.
"You have to consider: Every time he experiences something it is a first for him. His background is so different from American players who dream of being NBA stars. Just making it to college made him a star back home. He had to learn about setting new goals. He just didn't know."
Now, almost two years into his NBA career, many see Thabeet in much the same way as LaFleur did that first time ï¿½ tall, raw and not likely to be able to contribute.
The Rockets, who traded Shane Battier and Ish Smith to Memphis for Thabeet, DeMarre Carroll and a first-round pick, are hoping the big man's early struggle in the NBA is the same as what he experienced in high school and college.
"Obviously we need a center on our team," Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said. "Hasheem Thabeet is someone who has the potential to develop into a very significant interior defender, a very significant center over time. Right now he's not there. If he was there, we would not have been able to get him."
Pride pushes him to excel
Thabeet's confidence has taken a hit, but LaFleur said Thabeet is a prideful person. The sensitivity of being so heavily criticized might sting, but being considered a bust hurts more.
"Usually if a player outplayed him the first time they met, he turned the tables completely the next time," LaFleur said. "That's pride."
By the time he left Cypress Christian, the big man who could barely dunk when he arrived in Houston had cracked a rim throwing down so hard. By the time he left UConn, the kid who wasn't a highly rated recruit until late in his senior season, was the Big East Co-Player of the Year and a two-time national defensive player of the year.
Now he is being told he can't play in the NBA and is one of the most disappointing No. 2 draft picks ever.
"I know that defensively I am effective although I can always improve," Thabeet wrote in an e-mail to the Chronicle's Rockets writer Jonathan Feigen on Friday. "One thing I've learned is that you can always get better. I am here to work hard, learn the Rockets system and I'm excited about this opportunity."
Bob Lanier has worked with him. Thabeet worked out a bit with his idol Hakeem Olajuwon before his rookie season. He has studied tapes of other great big men like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But he hasn't mastered any of the moves.
Just needs nurturing
"At the least, I see him being a very impactful player in the league," LaFleur said. "I think he is at the point where now he has experienced it. He has been in the NBA and he hasn't played, so that hurts. It's not like him not to fight back. He's a tough kid.
"To come from where he came, to accomplish what he has to a degree he had realized his dreams. Now it is on him to expand that dream. Dream bigger.
"I know the NBA isn't a nurturing league, but if the Rockets put the time in with him, and I think they will, he will respond. I know he can. I have seen him do it."
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/7446867.html

thetatomatis · Feb 26, 2011

Our greatest strength is developing big men. Thabeet came to the right place.

Plowman · Feb 26, 2011

rockets934life said:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/7446867.html
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nice piece

Red.Glare · Feb 26, 2011

Thanks for that article. Knew he'd worked with Hakeem, Deke and Yao, on a limited basis. Didn't know about Lanier. Sounds encouraging though, if CD, Sikma and Hayes are able to spend the time needed to teach this kid. This supposed "bust", could turn around and bite Memphis once again.

Tom Bombadillo · Feb 26, 2011

Being 7-3, he is a huge upgrade to Jordan Hill on defense, and we don't even go to Jordan Hill on offense anyway. Thabeet has to master the handoff, and the offensive rebound. That is IT.

Chuck could have the largest impact on his game. He has got to figure out how to stay out of foul trouble and be that backline defender...

Commodore · Feb 26, 2011

DorianTurk said: ↑

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vFzOq_4Fedw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

woah!! the legend is back!
Click to expand...

did you make this? Brilliant!!!

would rep you if it was working

arjun · Feb 26, 2011

I think Thabeet's biggest issue will be staying on the floor...i looked at allhis game logs, in most games that he played more than 10 minutes he had ATLEAST 4 fouls...

MojoMan · Feb 26, 2011

If Shane Battier's contract expires at the end of this year, what are the chances he re-signs with the Rockets this summer? His home and his family are here, and he has no desire to move. Why couldn't he just finish up the season in Memphis and then rejoin the Rocket's after that?

J.R. · Feb 26, 2011

Thabeet to wear #32 when in uniform and Carroll will Brooks' # - #0

Artie_Fufkin · Feb 26, 2011

hsf09 said: ↑

Thabeet to wear #32 when in uniform and Carroll will Brooks' # - #0
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Wait...we're not retiring #0?

J.R. · Feb 26, 2011

Artie_Fufkin said: ↑

Wait...we're not retiring #0?
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I guess not.

AroundTheWorld · Feb 26, 2011

MojoMan said: ↑

If Shane Battier's contract expires at the end of this year, what are the chances he re-signs with the Rockets this summer? His home and his family are here, and he has no desire to move. Why couldn't he just finish up the season in Memphis and then rejoin the Rocket's after that?
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That's what I'm hoping for.

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Rockets trade Battier to Grizzlies for Thabeet, first round pick

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Rockets trade Battier to Grizzlies for Thabeet, first round pick

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