Ever since he was sent down to the D-League, Hasheem Thabeet became the butt of many jokes (fair or not).  I thought it would be interesting to take a look at him and his game.  We are going to look at two plays from the Dakota Wizards’ (Thabeet’s team) 104-102 win against the LA Defenders (A game where Thabeet put up 14 and 8 – but with 4 fouls).

I think that the Wizards have done a pretty good job of getting the ball to Thabeet where he can just catch and go up with it.  Everyone knows that Thabeet is raw, so if he can get the ball right at the basket, he can use his size advantage to finish at the rim:

On this play, the Wizards are working in transition, with Thabeet getting out in front of everyone.

The Wizards’ point guard does a great job of lobbing it in to Thabeet, allowing him to use his size to make the catch and finish at the rim.

This next play comes from a side out set, and it shows how determined the Wizards are to get the ball to Thabeet in positions where he can succeed.

Here, Thabeet sets a downscreen for the Wizards’ point guard, who comes off of the screen hard, looking for the ball.

As the point guard comes off the screen, Thabeet quickly turns and seals his man.

The beauty of this play was that it allowed Thabeet to get the ball in a one on one position in the post where no double team could come (the Defenders’ point guard needs to stay with his man, and there is a pick action on the other side that will prevent a double).

You almost wish that Thabeet’s man didn’t go for the steal because you would like to see him work one-on-one with his back to the basket, but Thabeet does a nice job of finishing at the rim strong.  This is all from the offensive side of the ball as I didn’t see too much from Thabeet on the defensive end, but he wasn’t on the court on the final play when the Wizards needed a stop.  I think that is pretty telling right there.