Hasheem Thabeet

Hasheem Thabeet
Player information
Full name	Hashim Thabit Manka
birthday	February 16, 1987
place of birth	Dar es Salaam , Tanzania
size	221 cm
position	center
college	Connecticut
NBA draft	2009 , 2nd pick, Memphis Grizzlies
Club information
society	without a club
Clubs as active
2009–2011 Memphis Grizzlies → 2010 Dakota Wizards ( D-League ) 2011–2012 Houston Rockets → 2011 Rio Grande Valley Vipers 2012 Portland Trail Blazers 2012–2014 Oklahoma City Thunder 2014–2015 Grand Rapids Drive ( D-League ) 00 00 00 00
1 As of February 14, 2011

Hasheem Thabeet (born February 16, 1987 in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania ) is a Tanzanian basketball player who was last in the service of Grand Rapids Drive in the D-League . He plays on the position of the center . Thabeet is seen by many fans and experts as a disappointment who was never able to meet his high draft position and the expectations that came with it.

college

After his parents moved to the United States from Tanzania , he attended Cypress Christian High School in Houston . He then attended the University of Connecticut where he played basketball for the Connecticut Huskies from 2006 to 2009 . As a freshman, that is, in his first season, he averaged 6.3 points and 3.8 blocks per game. On December 3, 2006, he set a university record: he made 10 blocks in one game. Thabeet made it to the All-Big East team along with his teammate Jerome Dyson.

As a sophomore he had more playing time and averaged 10.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game during the season. On January 5, 2008, he set his own record of 10 blocks in a game against the University of Notre Dame. Thabeet was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year and was named to the second team of the All-Big East Conference. As a junior (in his third year), Thabeet first appeared on the national scene. He scored 13.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. He also managed his first triple-double against Providence College on January 31, 2009, with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks. He was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year for the second time and was named Co-Big East Player of the Year with DeJuan Blair . Thabeet cracked the 1000 point mark in a game against Purdue. He was the third player on his team to do that this season (Jerome Dyson and AJ Price were the others). Thabeet also helped his team to the first Final Four entry since 2004. He decided not to play another season at university and signed up for the 2009 NBA Draft instead .

Memphis Grizzlies (2009-2011)

Thabeet was elected in second place in the 2009 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies , becoming the first Tanzanian player to ever be drafted into the NBA. His first season with the Memphis Grizzlies was going to be a difficult one. On November 10th, he was suspended for several weeks because of a broken jaw. Due to the great competition in his position from Marc Gasol , Hamed Haddadi, Steven Hunter and Zach Randolph , Thabeet did not lose much playing time. It also became apparent that he had some problems adjusting his game to the physically harder game in the NBA. Therefore, in February 2010 he was sent by the Grizzlies to the Dakota Wizards in the NBA D-League . Thabeet became the highest drafted player of all time, who was sent by his team to the NBA development league. At the beginning of March 2010 he was brought back to the squad by the Grizzlies. His statistics for the 2009/2010 season amount to a meager 2.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

In the 2010-2011 NBA season, his playing time after 43 games was only 8.1 minutes per game, which is very unusual for a second pick in an NBA draft. Many experts wanted to tick Thabeet as a failure, but the Grizzlies initially continued to stand by him and trusted that he would develop in the coming seasons.

Houston Rockets (2011-2012)

Thabeet never lived up to the expectations placed on him and was traded to the Houston Rockets on February 24th. In return, veteran Shane Battier went to the Grizzlies. After 2 games for the Rockets, in which he could not convince, Thabeet was sent back to the development league, to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. For many experts, Thabeet was already considered a "draft bust" despite his young age (a player who was highly drafted but could never meet expectations).

Portland Trail Blazers (2012)

On March 15, 2012 Thabeet was transferred to the Portland Trail Blazers along with Jonny Flynn and a second-round draft pick in exchange for Marcus Camby . However, the Blazers did not submit a new contract offer to him for the 2012/2013 season and so Thabeet left the club after a few months.

Oklahoma City Thunder (2012-2014)

In early July 2012, the Oklahoma City Thunder announced that Thabeet had received a 2-year contract with them. The parties have agreed not to disclose the exact remuneration. Even with the Thunder, Thabeet was rarely given time to play, so that he did not make the breakthrough. After two years he left the Thunder.

D-League (2014-15)

After failing to make the jump to the Detroit Pistons roster, Thabeet signed with Grand Rapids Drive in the D-League Development League . In the drive, he achieved 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in 49 games. In the Summer League 2015 he played for a selection of D-League players in order to recommend himself for the NBA, but he was not signed by any NBA team at the start of the 2015/16 season.

Web links

• Hasheem Thabeet - player profile on NBA.com
• Hasheem Thabeet - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• Interview with Men's Journal

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} nba.com: Player biography ( memento of the original from March 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b c} UConn Huskies: player profile
3. ↑ nba.com: Career statistics ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Grizzlies don't regret drafting Thabeet