2009 No. 2 Overall Pick Hasheem Thabeet Attending Tryouts Seeking NBA Return
Hasheem Thabeet, the No. 2 pick in the 2009 NBA draft, worked out in front of three NBA teams Saturday as part of a comeback effort.
On Thursday, David Cobb of the Memphis Commercial Appeal provided comments from the former UConn standout about changing his game to create a fit for himself in a sport that's evolved drastically over the decade since he was the No. 2 selection of the Memphis Grizzlies.
"The game, as you can hear from a lot of people, the game has changed," Thabeet said. "So I'm trying to catch up and just do a lot of running."
Thabeet was a dominant force in his final season of college ball. He averaged 13.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.2 blocks while shooting 64 percent from the field across 36 appearances for the Huskies.
Although the 7'3'', 263-pound post player may have been an NBA star in different era, he arrived just as the game was moving toward three-point shooting and versatile bigs. It hard for a traditional center to earn consistent playing time in the current NBA.
Thabeet told Cobb that's why he's spent more time working on his shooting than trying to find opportunities to play competitively.
"One thing that might be shocking people is the past few months and few years that I haven't really been playing. I've been working on my shot," he said. "Just to be able to score away from the basket, rather than just posting up and shooting hook shots."
Thabeet never got much of a chance during his first NBA stint, which included stops with the Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Tanzania native averaged 2.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.8 blocks while playing just 10.5 minutes per game across 224 appearances (20 starts).
Now 32, Thabeet is fighting for another chance to earn regular playing time in the NBA.
"It's just that I was very limited with my time spent on the court," he told Cobb. "I need that chance, and I need to get back out there. That's how I feel."
His hopes likely rest solely on how much his offensive game has developed during the years since his time in the NBA and G League ended in 2015.
