The Bucks will give Hasheem Thabeet a shot at returning to the NBA, tweets Ben Stinar of Amico Hoops. A league source tells Stinar that Thabeet has a workout scheduled next week in Milwaukee. He adds that the veteran center has been training heavily over the past year and has gotten comments about his “great shape” from several NBA teams.
Thabeet is regarded as a draft bust, putting together a lackluster career after being taken by Memphis with the second pick in 2009. He spent a season and a half with the Grizzlies before a trade sent him to the Rockets. He was shipped to the Trail Blazers a year later, then signed with the Thunder. He received training camp contracts from the Sixers and Pistons in 2014, but was waived by both teams and hasn’t been in the league since. Thabeet never topped his rookie numbers of 3.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
He spent part of last season in Japan, then held workouts for several NBA teams in Charlotte during All-Star Weekend. A story surfaced in early June that Thabeet, now 32, was training up to three times a day and trying to improve his offensive repertoire.
The Bucks have one roster opening heading into next month’s training camp and could give Thabeet an opportunity if he has an impressive workout. Milwaukee has 16 players under contract (14 with fully guaranteed deals), along with a pair of two-way players and the expected signing of Rayjon Tucker.
Either Hasheem or Jonny Flynn was the biggest bust of the 2009 Draft. Thabeet drafted #2 before Harden or Curry and Flynn #6 before Curry and DeRozan. They already have enough bigs with the BroLo, RoLo, DJ, Dragan, and Ersan. Even Giannis can play C depending on the opponent.
Busts shouldn’t be defined by who is drafted afterward. Hasheem Thabeet would still be a bust whether James Harden was drafted 3rd or anyone else was drafted 3rd. He was just delivered a bad career for a #2 overall pick. Same for Jonny Flynn. Although in Flynn’s defense, he never had a chance since Minnesota basically wrecked his confidence and arguably his career by making him the second of back-to-back point guards.
Might as well give Greg Oden a call.
3.1 and 3.6 is really subpar for a #2 pick, and a 7-footer at that.