Hasheem Thabeet

Hasheem Thabeet (born 16 February 1987 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania ) is a Tanzanian professional basketball player who is currently in the employ of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA. He plays the position of center.

College

After his parents had moved from Tanzania to the U.S., he attended Cypress Christian High School in Houston. He then attended the University of Connecticut where he played from 2006 to 2009 for the Connecticut Huskies Basketball. As a freshman, that is in his first season, he scored an average of 6.3 points and 3.8 blocks per game. On 3 December 2006, he hired a record of the university: he made in a game 10 blocks. Thabeet made ​​it to the All- Big East team together with his teammate Jerome Dyson.

As a sophomore he had more playing time and reached an average of 10.5 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game in the season. On January 5, 2008, he presented his own record of 10 blocks in a game against the University of Notre Dame. Was Thabeet Big East Defensive Player of the Year and was appointed to the second team All- Big East Conference. As a junior ( in its third year ) Thabeet first appeared on the national scene. He scored 13.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. In addition, he made his first triple -double against Providence College January 31, 2009, with 15 points 11 rebounds and 10 blocks. He was nominated for the second time Big East Defensive Player of the Year and Co - Big East Player of the Year DeJuan Blair with together. Thabeet broke the 1000 -point mark in a game against Purdue. He was the third player from his team, which the managed this season ( Jerome Dyson and AJ Price were the others). Thabeet helped his team is also the first Final Four catchment since 2004. He decided no more season at the university to play and signed up instead for the NBA Draft 2009.

Memphis Grizzlies (2009-2011)

Drafts 2009 Thabeet selected by the Memphis Grizzlies in the second position of the NBA and was thus the first player from Tanzania that was ever drafted into the NBA. His first season with the Memphis Grizzlies, however, should be a difficult. On November 10, he had to stop due to a broken jaw for several weeks. Due to the huge competition at his position by Marc Gasol, Hamed Haddadi, Steven Hunter and Zach Randolph made ​​a not much playing time for Thabeet. In addition, it was found that he had some problems to switch his game to the physically tougher game in the NBA. Therefore, he was sent by the Grizzlies to the Dakota Wizards in the NBA D -League in February 2010. Thabeet, becoming the highest they drafted players of all time, who was sent by his team in the development league of the NBA. In early March 2010, he was then retrieved from the Grizzlies back in the squad. His stats of the season 2009/2010 amounted to a mere 2.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

In the NBA 2010-2011 season, his playing time was after 43 games in only 8.1 minutes per game which is very unusual for a second pick in a NBA Draft. Many experts wanted Thabeet check off as a failure, but the Grizzlies were initially continue to him and trusted that he would continue to develop in the coming seasons.

Houston Rockets (2011-2012)

Thabeet could never meet up to expectations and was traded on February 24 to the Houston Rockets. In return, veteran Shane Battier went to the Grizzlies. After 2 games for the Rockets, where he could not convince them, Thabeet was sent back to the developmental league to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. For many experts Thabeet defies his young age already as "Draft Bust " (player who was drafted high, but never was able to meet the expectations).

Portland Trail Blazers (2012 )

On March 15, 2012 Thabeet has been transferred along with Jonny Flynn and a second-round draft pick in exchange for Marcus Camby to the Portland Trail Blazers. However, the Blazers submitted him for the season 2012/2013 no new contract offer and so Thabeet left the club after a few months.

Oklahoma City Thunder ( Since 2012 )

Beginning of July 2012 announced the Oklahoma City Thunder that Thabeet had received a contract for 2 years with them. The exact compensation was not disclosed.