really had a very enlightening game from a scouting perspective, illuminating very clearly what his strengths and weaknesses are as a prospect for the next level. He finished with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in 36 minutes, hitting 6-13 shots from the field.
Offensively, Thabeet managed to be far more effective than he’s been in any tournament game thus far, with the exception of the Chattanooga contest in the first round. A major target for UConn inside thanks to his far superior size, his 17 points came almost exclusively off layups right at the rim and free throws, except for a small stretch in the second half where he managed to convert two very nice jump-hook shots, one with either hand. He also showed good agility in transition on one possession, converting an and one opportunity. Other than that, Thabeet showed his very obvious limitations on this end, missing the rim completely on two of his attempts, and showing very little touch on many others, often from just a few feet away. He really seemed to be forcing the issue at times, heaving up a couple of bad-looking bricks.
The most evident thing to come out of this game was how much Thabeet dislikes contact around the basket. He was knocked to the floor a good 12-15 times by the much more physical (yet extremely undersized) Spartans, and looked extremely frustrated in turn. His extreme lack of balance has never looked more obvious, as he looked about as clumsy as he has since his freshman year with the amount of time he spent laying on the ground.
A huge key to this game for Michigan State was the way they were able crash the offensive glass (to the tune of 16 offensive rebounds) despite their lack of size and athleticism, and Thabeet was clearly a big factor in this. He was easily boxed out by the likes of
Delvon Roe,
Goran Suton and
Raymar Morgan all night long, being constantly bumped out of position, and only coming up with 3 defensive rebounds in 36 minutes in turn. His inability to go outside his area and come away with loose balls really hurt his team tonight, and it really seemed like he lacked some focus here, even being hit in the face by a potential defensive rebound on one occasion.
Defensively, Thabeet’s shot-blocking ability was for the most part neutralized tonight, as Tom Izzo knew how to pull him just far away from the basket to make him a non-factor. He only came up with two blocks, and didn’t change anywhere near as many shots as he normally does thanks to his incredible size and length.
There seem to be enough NBA teams in love with Thabeet to not make this one game that much of an issue considering his overall resume. After all, these are all well-known and well-scouted problems that have been on display for the past few years, and the fact that he did manage to score 17 points is clearly a positive development. You can’t help but ignore how much he seems to struggle against good teams, though, and it’s pretty obvious that there is going to be a huge transition he’ll have to make to the size, physicality and athleticism of NBA big men before he’s able to be anywhere near as effective a pro as he was a college player. Whoever drafts him will obviously have to be very patient, despite how high he is projected to be picked.
