UConn Center Hasheem Thabeet Should Have Stayed for His Senior Season

Hasheem Thabeet just made the biggest mistake of his life by entering into the NBA draft. He will more than likely not return to the University of Connecticut due to the fact that the 2009 draft is relatively weak.

Thabeet's mistake is that he still has a lot to work on, specifically on the offensive end and strength-wise. At 7'3" and 255 pounds, Thabeet seems to be the second coming of Shawn Bradley. Except that Bradley was a better free throw throw shooter and scorer.

Also, another problem for Thabeet is that he goes after a lot of offensive rebounds and therefore he was the last one down the floor. Michigan State Spartans exposed that and were able to get easy baskets because Thabeet continued to be the last one down the court and allowed the Spartans to be able to attack the basket without Thabeet in the play.

Strength-wise, Thabeet still has a lot of work to do in the weight room because a majority of the centers in the NBA are much heavier and stronger than Thabeet is. When Thabeet played Pittsburgh, he got constantly pushed around by the much shorter DeJuan Blair because Blair was able to use his strength and abuse Thabeet on the blocks.

Offensively though, Thabeet is very unpolished with very limited skills. In order for Thabeet to be effective, he's going to need to work on a variety of moves, including his footwork in the post and the ability to hit a 10- to 15-foot jumper.

Thabeet is not Dwight Howard so he can't rely on just one or two moves to score. Thabeet will get his chance on the offensive glass so he'll be able to score a little in the NBA, but he's not going to see much action in his first few years in the league.

So what it actually means is that Thabeet needs to go to a team that has already created a culture of winning, so he can develop his game and his strength. He will not make an immediate impact in the NBA.

Again, Thabeet shouldn't have declared and realized that he needed to work on a lot of things. Even with those adjustments and the abilities becoming more rounded if he had stayed, he wouldn't be in the top three picks in the 2010 NBA draft.

So, money-wise it was a smart decision for Thabeet because he's going to get paid, but in terms of actually producing on the floor, Thabeet isn't going to do much.

Again, this is not like the college game where he can go up against cupcake teams. He's going to go up against athletic big men who know how to use their feet and how to attack a defender, and with that Thabeet will find himself in a lot of foul trouble.

Thabeet is overhyped by the media. He will struggle in the NBA and he's going to wish that he had developed more of his skills at University of Connecticut because he's going to be eaten alive in the NBA.

There's just too much strength, athleticism, and skills that NBA players have and it will cause Thabeet to struggle mightily.