Thabeet & Jordan Hill: Written off too early?

[MrCheerios]

Andrew Bynum looked a lot worse in his rookie year than Thabeet does right now.

[Dr Positivity]

Jordan Hill will probably have a long career as a role player, if you're a big who rebounds and play two positions you can stick around as a 15-20mpg bench rotation guy. Still a horrible pick though, it's not that hard to find Hill types

Thabeet has been written off way too early.

[Jimmy76]

I think Jordan Hill will be like Nene is now, just smaller with a better jumper

and he is pretty skilled, already has a nice jumper and some good post moves

im a thabeet skeptic but obviously he has plenty of time to prove me wrong

[ponder276]

I would be absolutely shocked if Jordan Hill ever averages 18 PPG. Obviously anything can happen, but this guy looks very mechanical on offense, he does not flow at all and seems to have very little offensive BBIQ or ability to adapt on the fly/react to defenses. He just does not seem like a natural scorer at all, he gets by on athleticism. Dennis Rodman and Ben Wallace were both crazy athletic too, but they just never had the touch around the basket or general offensive feel for the game. Hill isn't as bad offensively as these 2, but in many ways he just lacks that natural offensive talent, and I just cannot see him averaging 18 PPG (this season there are just 11 bigs averaging 18+ PPG: Dirk, Bosh, Amare, ZBo, Lee, Boozer, West, Kaman, Lopez, Dwight and Duncan, it's not easy to do, you need a tonne of offensive talent and/or absolutely freakish physical gifts like Dwight). For Hill I think a reasonable upside would be an Anderson Varejao type, and not just cause of the hair. Both are long, athletic hustlers with great motors but limited offensive ability.

[jmb987]

LOL @ people saying Jordan Hill isn't talented and LOL @ the people saying he will never be more than a role player. You have no clue what you are talking about.

Jordan Hill has all the talent and tools to become an elite player. Will he ever be one? Only time will tell. But this guy is still so raw (even after 3 years of college) it's not even funny. He had 3 different coaches in college at Arizona and he still improved dramatically every season. Not too mention, Jordan Hill didn't start playing organized ball until he was in high school.

[Blame Rasho]

I've been saying this since his days in college, Hill will be a 18/10 player. Book it.

Um ok... cool.

[NYK 455]

I'm not sure what Jordan Hills ceiling is but he didn't get a chance here in New York. It's a shame too. I would have rather seen him play over Al Harrington and his no defense, chucking, ball movement killing ways.

[noobcake]

I would be absolutely shocked if Jordan Hill ever averages 18 PPG. Obviously anything can happen, but this guy looks very mechanical on offense, he does not flow at all and seems to have very little offensive BBIQ or ability to adapt on the fly/react to defenses. He just does not seem like a natural scorer at all, he gets by on athleticism. Dennis Rodman and Ben Wallace were both crazy athletic too, but they just never had the touch around the basket or general offensive feel for the game. Hill isn't as bad offensively as these 2, but in many ways he just lacks that natural offensive talent, and I just cannot see him averaging 18 PPG (this season there are just 11 bigs averaging 18+ PPG: Dirk, Bosh, Amare, ZBo, Lee, Boozer, West, Kaman, Lopez, Dwight and Duncan, it's not easy to do, you need a tonne of offensive talent and/or absolutely freakish physical gifts like Dwight). For Hill I think a reasonable upside would be an Anderson Varejao type, and not just cause of the hair. Both are long, athletic hustlers with great motors but limited offensive ability.

Jordan Hill has a really nice jumper for a rookie PF/C.

I agree athletic non stiff big with a great motor will always have a contract in the NBA.

[LarsV8]

Heres a good rundown of Hill w/video

http://www.red94.net/?p=1265

[SadKingsFan]

you always go with the guy with the biggest potential if you got a top 2-3 pick, ask the Magic

LOL @ thabeet having the biggest potential.

[Wizenheimer]

Anyone who writes off any player in their rookie season is an idiot.

I wrote off Adam Morrison, Saer Sene, and Patrick O'Bryant during their rookie seasons...how idiotic was that?

[ThreeYearPlan]

you always go with the guy with the biggest potential if you got a top 2-3 pick, ask the Magic

LOL @ thabeet having the biggest potential.

centers always have the biggest potential because they make the biggest impact on the game

[paul]

Andrew Bynum looked a lot worse in his rookie year than Thabeet does right now.

Andrew Bynum was 5 years younger in his rookie season than Thabeet is, the comparison is a ridiculous one. Thabeet is actually older than Bynum right now.

Coming into the draft the Grizz had an excellent 24 year old center tied up for the next 3 years on rookie money yet needed strongly needed help in the backcourt, so what do they do?

Pass over backcourt prospects of the highest quality in Evans, Rubio, Curry, Jennings and possibly Flynn and instead choose a 22 year old center with a much lower ceiling but higher pay packet than the guy you've already got to bring off the bench and back him up.

It was an idiotic pick no matter how Thabeet turns out unless he's a superstar, which there's absolutely no way he will be. How would any of those guards mentioned look on that Griz squad right now? I'm not writing off Thabeet, but the pick was idiotic.

[GrizzledGrizzFan]

Andrew Bynum was 5 years younger in his rookie season than Thabeet is, the comparison is a ridiculous one. Thabeet is actually older than Bynum right now.

Coming into the draft the Grizz had an excellent 24 year old center tied up for the next 3 years on rookie money yet needed strongly needed help in the backcourt, so what do they do?

Pass over backcourt prospects of the highest quality in Evans, Rubio, Curry, Jennings and possibly Flynn and instead choose a 22 year old center with a much lower ceiling but higher pay packet than the guy you've already got to bring off the bench and back him up.

It was an idiotic pick no matter how Thabeet turns out unless he's a superstar, which there's absolutely no way he will be. How would any of those guards mentioned look on that Griz squad right now? I'm not writing off Thabeet, but the pick was idiotic.

This, +1

[MG20]

Like most of the rookies that don't perform well in the first months.

Jordan Hill really didn't have a lot of playing time in New York, so it's difficult to judge, but most of the time he played he looked really awkward, for not saying awful. Now he is looking good, but he still haven't block a single shot since he is a Rocket and his hands are still a rock. The potential is there, but it looks more probable for him to became a glorified Mikki Moore (which is not a bad thing) than a Chris Bosh.

Thabeet have played well when the Grizzlies gave him minutes. The fact that he went to the D-League means nothing. He have work ethic to add to his intangibles.

[DraftBoy10]

Like most of the rookies that don't perform well in the first months.

Jordan Hill really didn't have a lot of playing time in New York, so it's difficult to judge, but most of the time he played he looked really awkward, for not saying awful. Now he is looking good, but he still haven't block a single shot since he is a Rocket and his hands are still a rock. The potential is there, but it looks more probable for him to became a glorified Mikki Moore (which is not a bad thing) than a Chris Bosh.

Thabeet have played well when the Grizzlies gave him minutes. The fact that he went to the D-League means nothing. He have work ethic to add to his intangibles.

His hands are a rock?

You haven't watched him at all. His hands are great, he's getting good passes, snatching rebounds down and dunking with authority.

The awkward part....you are right. Everything else, no he's actually much better than given credit for. He's agile, steps out on picks(rare for big men), makes very good rotations on D he just is weak physically and a bit uncomfortable out there. It's nothing that experience can't change.

[MG20]

Like most of the rookies that don't perform well in the first months.

Jordan Hill really didn't have a lot of playing time in New York, so it's difficult to judge, but most of the time he played he looked really awkward, for not saying awful. Now he is looking good, but he still haven't block a single shot since he is a Rocket and his hands are still a rock. The potential is there, but it looks more probable for him to became a glorified Mikki Moore (which is not a bad thing) than a Chris Bosh.

Thabeet have played well when the Grizzlies gave him minutes. The fact that he went to the D-League means nothing. He have work ethic to add to his intangibles.

His hands are a rock?

You haven't watched him at all. His hands are great, he's getting good passes, snatching rebounds down and dunking with authority.

The awkward part....you are right. Everything else, no he's actually much better than given credit for. He's agile, steps out on picks(rare for big men), makes very good rotations on D he just is weak physically and a bit uncomfortable out there. It's nothing that experience can't change.

Well, in NY he can't catch a brick and a lot of passes and rebounds slip off his hands. I also remember him being brutal in setting picks (usually offensive fouls) and lost on D. These are two things i won't blame him because he is young and the knicks in the deffensive side are a mess, but i will stand with the notion that he have rock hands, not terrible, but not good at all.

[dballislife]

hill is pretty much wilcox, but thabeet can be good

[Basileus777]

Coming into the draft the Grizz had an excellent 24 year old center tied up for the next 3 years on rookie money

But they didn't have that. Marc Gasol was hardly a proven commodity last summer.

[DraftBoy10]

hill is pretty much wilcox, but thabeet can be good

Wow. Hill is nothing like Wilcox. Move over Chosen01, dballislife is taking your spot.