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TM · 12-31-2006, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gtown07

if he maintains the stats he put up these past 2 months.

Coppin State, Albany, Fairfield, and Pepperdine were his best games. He had a double-double in only one of those games. Granted, he had 7+ blocks in three games, but I have a feeling the Big East is going to be a little bit better than mighty Coppin State and Fairfield.

rainman · 12-31-2006, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TM

Coppin State, Albany, Fairfield, and Pepperdine were his best games. He had a double-double in only one of those games. Granted, he had 7+ blocks in three games, but I have a feeling the Big East is going to be a little bit better than mighty Coppin State and Fairfield.

That was the softest pre-conferance schedule i've ever seen.

sov82 · 12-31-2006, 12:44 PM

Message board warriors at their best here. LSU and Indiana were suppose to be December games but got moved to January. UCONN has 8 freshmen and 4 sophmore's (none of who played significant minutes last year).

As far as Thabeet, he has never said he is leaving after this year. In fact, he's said he's staying atleast 2 years. Let's all rush to judgement on a 7'3" guy who can defend on the perimeter and when he was in the game, WVA did not come inside. When he wasn't in the game, WVA attacked the rim at will.

He's played basketball for 3 whole years. Did you guys really expect he would be an offensive machine? There are many big men in the NBA today making tons of money who still have no clue. Just based on his size alone, he got 10 FTA. If he can develop some of the more basic fundamentals on offensive over the next 4-8 weeks, you are looking at a 10-8-4 by tourney time.

TM · 12-31-2006, 01:17 PM

UConn/Thabeet homer at his best? Those are 2 decent non-conference games (and games we all heard about 20 times during the ESPN telecast yesterday

), but their first 11 games stink. I'm assuming there's a reason I haven't heard much about any of those teams. Were any picked to finish atop their conference? At least play a decent mid-major for goodness sakes. I completely understand playing easier teams or playing a lot of games at home (see Duke's '06 OOC schedule) when you have younger guys, BUT... do you really expect people not to bash you when you finally play a decent team away from the comforts of home sweet home and get beat by an unranked team?

I don't believe anyone is questioning his potential, but some of us are questioning the hype that was given to him prior to the start of this season. When popular draft sites are projecting a guy in the Top 5, you expect a guy who's at least mediocre on both ends of the court. I'm sorry, but he's not even mediocre on the offensive end. And I also don't believe any of us were expecting an "offensive machine," but I prefer guys who at least have a clue.

**RebelSun** · 12-31-2006, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rainman

As for any of these draft sites first of all thanks for the free content, i think we can all agree with that. Whether we like one or the other seems to go back and forth based on how our favorites are ranked(speaking for myself). I always thought of DraftExpress as being the better of the two(other being nbadraft.net) but their recent mock had me doing double takes, Joakim Noah over Spencer Hawes, Marco Belinelli 29th. What do i know i guess.

I give credit to Express for the work they put in and for all of their news/articles, but sometimes their mocks make me double-take as well. The most glaring positioning was Shawne Williams being placed consistently in the second round leading up to the draft. It's still a very nice resource for hoop-heads.

I think the hype, while being mindful of his present offensive abilities, is still justified because the guy's defensive potential is that scary. This isn't just a guy like Sene - long and thin that can be a great shotblocker. Thabeet could potentially be able to body up anyone in the league and be an even better shotblocker than Sene.

Like others have said too, dude just recently started playing. His mystery level is high right now, which is good for his draft stock. Again, it's also very early in the season. I think his improvement through this season will clarify things some, but even if he doesn't improve much, I couldn't see him not being a top-7 pick.

TucsonClip · 12-31-2006, 02:43 PM

He has a lot of work to do before anyone should consider him a top 5 pick. Yes, he is 7'3 and can block shots, but he also makes stupid fouls, has no offensive game at all, and needs to dominate the glass.

A player with his size and athletic ability should post double digit rebounds every night. He looked soft yesterday and continually had the ball stripped from him in the post. All he has to do is keep the ball near his chin and there is no way anyone should strip him.

Overall, he has potential, but I need to see a lot more out of him against competitive opponents before praising him as a lotto pick in any draft.

sov82 · 12-31-2006, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TM

UConn/Thabeet homer at his best? Those are 2 decent non-conference games (and games we all heard about 20 times during the ESPN telecast yesterday

), but their first 11 games stink. I'm assuming there's a reason I haven't heard much about any of those teams. Were any picked to finish atop their conference? At least play a decent mid-major for goodness sakes. I completely understand playing easier teams or playing a lot of games at home (see Duke's '06 OOC schedule) when you have younger guys, BUT... do you really expect people not to bash you when you finally play a decent team away from the comforts of home sweet home and get beat by an unranked team?

I don't believe anyone is questioning his potential, but some of us are questioning the hype that was given to him prior to the start of this season. When popular draft sites are projecting a guy in the Top 5, you expect a guy who's at least mediocre on both ends of the court. I'm sorry, but he's not even mediocre on the offensive end. And I also don't believe any of us were expecting an "offensive machine," but I prefer guys who at least have a clue.

How many games have you seen him play? How many games has ANYONE seen him play against a quality opponent. Heck, how many meaningful games has the kid played in his lifetime. The kid is a freshman playing in his first meaningful game. Did he have a great game. Heck no. Did he show he is already a massive pressence on the defensive end. Yes. Did he show his rawness on the offensive end -- you bet. (As far as me being a homer, please refer to my post in this thread on 11/23 -- perhaps you should listen to people who have actually seen him play instead of "well known draft sites" who don't get local TV in CT when UCONN is playing cupcakes).

TM · 12-31-2006, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sov82

How many games have you seen him play?

1/2. I was so unimpressed, I turned the channel and thought, "I might as well just wait to watch him, because half his game is MIA right now."

Quote:

Originally Posted by sov82

How many games has ANYONE seen him play against a quality opponent.

1. Yesterday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sov82

Heck, how many meaningful games has the kid played in his lifetime.

1, if you count yesterday. Has he even played in a game before he stepped on UConn's campus? According to the commentators yesterday, someone asked him when he was with his national team who his coach was. He paused, and said something to the effect of, "Um... I don't know."

Quote:

Originally Posted by sov82

Perhaps you should listen to people who have actually seen him play

You mean the ones who have seen him play cupcake teams in meaningless games? Right.

We've both acknowledged that the kid can play defense, yet you're still trying to debate with me. I think we've both acknowledged he can't play offense, yet you're still trying to debate with me. We've both acknowledged he has potential, yet you're still trying to debate with me.

My whole point in my initial post was, there's no way he goes top 5 in this year's draft. After the draft when he goes top 5, point this out to me, and I'll be willing to eat my crow. But, I've never seen a kid develop the kind of offensive game he needs to develop in one year.

I'll post in this thread again in several months to give him his props after he's acquired at least something that resembles an offensive game.

**HKF** · 12-31-2006, 04:19 PM

I need to see more, but I'm not impressed. He's no Bynum that's for sure.

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