Posted by jimimou:
Posted by Bippity10:
here's a good article on the comparison. imho - i think deke in college took rebounding and (especially) shotblocking more personal then thabeet does - the gtown deke would go after dudes comin through the lane and block their shots like they were trying to rob his house:
I'm up in the air about that. It's difficult to judge how personal a player takes things. How do you judge this? By them waving their finger? By them growling or talking trash? Judging by how many shots he blocks and how many times he laughs and shakes his head after swatting a shot back, I think he relishes in his shotblocking. I think as he plays more and becomes more confident you may see him being more ****y as he blocks shots. That being said Mutombo did feel he owned the paint and not many could match is defensive intensity. All I know is Thabeet attempts to block everything, has amazing timing and takes pride in scaring teams so bad that they simply won't take a shot within 15 feet. Many people got on him for his lack of offense, but the true reason Uconn made it to the final four was because of his defensive intensity and intididation.
My only worry about Thabeet is the same worry that I always have about guys whose potential is all you have to go by. You never know what those dollar signs will do to someone. Will he work as hard? Will he improve? Will he just stay where he is, which at the moment probably isn't good enough?
If he improves over the next 3 years at the same pace he is improving now, you do however have your center for the next 17 years.
good points bip. by 'personal' i meant that he had this unusual nastiness about him, an intimidation factor that you dont find in many...same one zo had, same one ewing had....it becomes evident even in the way they used to dunk the ball - trying to break the rim off with each dunk...does that make sense? i agree w you its a hard thing to judge, but that's how i see it. to your point, if thabeet continues to develop at this pace, then he will be a beast. if he doesn't, kwame brown comes to mind.
I can't disagree with anything you said. I think players change over time(if they aren't pansies to begin with) and can become more ferocious as they build confidence. But I agree, at the moment it doesn't appear that he has that attitude that those 3 guys had. Sometimes at Uconn he was content to take a backseat. That worries me, but you never know if he can develop it. I don't ever seen him being the growling, angry in your face type of guy. But I can imagine him being in the Duncan mode where he's quiet but you know he wants to take the game over offensively/defensively. That's an area where Thabeet really needs to improve.
About the Kwame comment: Thats what makes Thabeet a tough pick. If he doesn't improve his offensive instincts, hands, strength, develop a go to move(that's a long list I just made) then what do you have. You have a shotblocker who you can't give major minutes to because he can't catch the ball, is getting overpowered and is a liability on the offensive end. NBa teams will adapt to him and just go right at his chest. He's going to have to work hard and I think it will be at least 3 years before you get what you want from him. But if he does.........Your in the top 10 in defense for the next 10 years even with D'Antoni as coach.
[Edited by - bippity10 on 23-04-2009 4:14 PM]
