I would not worry about Thabeets slow start

[ScottyKCMO]

DeMarre Carroll > Hasheem Thabust

[twinthunder3]

Daquen cook or insert own no-name NBA player>>>> Thabeet. And no one knows who the hell cook is.

[Jmonty580]

I've watched Thabeet play his whole career at Uconn, and I will say this. His offensive game still stinks, but believe it or not it has improved alot from when he first started at Uconn. I remember going to see him play in the garden and dude was shooting free throws better than anyone else on the floor. With the right coaching he will get better, he defientely puts in the work and has a desire to win.

On the defensive end, I think he will take a little bit of time to adjust, but once he gets a feel for how to play against these different types of NBA bigmen, he'll be great. Everyone talks about how Daujan Blair pushed Thabeet around in that one game when Pitt beat Uconn, but nobody talks about the next time the 2 teams faced off and Blair couldnt even stay on the floor, when he did, he ddnt do much on Thabeet. Thabeet adusted his defense, and what was working against him before wasnt working anymore. dude also had 14 points in the first half and was scoring with ease. Uconn lost the game because the gaurds couldnt get the ball into Thabeet in the second half (and not because Thabeet wasnt getting into position to recieve the ball).

Give the kid a chance to get a feel for how to adjust his defensive tactics and he'll be fine. At 7-3 with his defensive abilities, he is going to be a great asset in this league, and a very neice peice to this grizzlies team imo.

[JMillott]

I think they made a mistake not in getting Thabeet but in not trading down to do so.

I actually think he'll develop into a hell of a defensive center and that his offense will come around to the point where he can handle a role similar to how Mutombo was used during his prime. You just need to understand that Mutombo came in to the NBA at age 25 after spending four years practicing against Alonzo Mourning under one of the greatest bigmen coaches the college game has ever had playing in the summers with the like of Patrick Ewing as well.

Thabeet is much more raw and although he did receive good coaching at Uconn he did not receive the added benefit of practicing against a second great center prospect or the coaching of John Thompson.

So where Mutombo was undervalued in his draft because he was largely a finished product and likely should've been the #2 overall pick Thabeet was overvalued in this draft because he isn't a finished product.

I thought Thabeet made the wrong choice to turn pro for this years draft because he has improved and received an increased role every year at Uconn it was likely he would've been given the only chance he'd have ever gotten to spend a year as a teams #1 offensive option as a senior.

Now i'm not saying he'd have thrived in that role but the experience of that expanded role would've surely given him a better feel for the game offensively and forced him to be more assertive at that end of the floor.

If he had done so I firmly believe he'd have been ready to be a reasonably effective starting center as a rookie. Right now he is far to raw offensively and unsure of himself to be able to give any type of consistent offensive impact at the NBA level when he had just begun to feel comfortable at the college level.