Prospect Profile: Hasheem Thabeet

In the days leading up to the NBA's May 19 Draft Lottery, NYKnicks.com will look at the top-rated players potentially available to teams with lottery picks in the 2009 NBA Draft. We offer these profiles for fans to familiarize themselves with some of the biggest names in the draft. A player's inclusion in this series of articles is based purely on his rankings in the scouting services and mainstream media and does not necessarily reflect the Knicks organization's preferences for the June 25 Draft at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden.

We continue our series with a profile of UConn center Hasheem Thabeet, a top lottery pick according to major scouting services and numerous publications.

Long, lean and athletic, UConn junior center Hasheem Thabeet is the type of shot-blocking machine that all NBA teams covet but only a rare few possess.

Arguably the top shot-blocking prospect to enter the draft since Dikembe Mutombo, whom the 7-foot-3, 265-pounder is often compared to, Thabeet figures to hear his name called early on draft night mainly because he has the potential to be a true game changer.

The 22-year old native of Tanzania, who has recorded double-digit blocks in a game three times in his collegiate career, was named 2009’s National Defensive Player of the Year, ranking second in the nation with 4.2 blocks per game. Thabeet’s 243 career rejections in three seasons rank second all-time in the history of the Big East, just five below Patrick Ewing who swatted 248 over four years at Georgetown.

Asides from his defense, scouts rave about Thabeet’s work ethic, and true to form, he improved steadily at UConn from one year to the next. This past season, he averaged 13.6 ppg and 10.8 rpg while shooting 64.0-percent from the field, up from 10.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 60.3-percent shooting in 2007-08. As a result, the big man was named the 2009 Big East Player of the Year (along with Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair).

Thabeet’s signature game came against Providence on January 31, when he recorded a triple-double against the Friars with 15 points, 11 boards and 10 rebounds in just 28 minutes.

While there are concerns about his basketball IQ and his offensive game, where he doesn’t dominate like someone who is well over seven feet tall should, Thabeet’s rare ability to act as a human eraser on the defensive end far outweighs the fears and trepidations some scouts may have. Thus, expect Thabeet to be off the board fairly early come June 25.