Latest On Thabeet And Rubio

The Sporting News has a Q&A with UConn center Hasheem Thabeet. The 7-foot-3 center talks about adjusting to the NBA’s 3-second rule, his transition from soccer to basketball and, perhaps most importantly, how he’s trying to expand his offensive game.

“I’ve been working on my offense. That is all I do,” Thabeet said. “A lot of times nowadays when I go to work out I don’t work on my defense at all. I go and I shoot jump shots and things like that…It’s getting better. The thing people don’t understand, I had to make a transition from soccer to basketball…That takes time to get used to. I am just trying to get as many repetitions as I can to get better.

“I think that, maybe my offense needs to improve, but I think that if I am not going to go to your end and score, then you are not going to come to my end and score. That helps me a lot more playing defense, to be motivated.”

Not sure if Thabeet working on his offensive game so faithfully is a good or bad thing.

Is it coming at the expense of his continued defensive development? Is he better off focusing on becoming great at that which he’s already good? Is his game even capable of developing any more to include an offensive aspect?

All valid questions. Whichever team picks him in the lottery is selecting him for his defensive abilities, not his current offensive game and more than likely not even with the goal of turning him into an offensive threat.

Meanwhile, the Ricky Rubio song and dance continues. Rubio tells a Spanish newspaper that staying overseas remains an option if the team that selects him doesn’t have a good future ahead of it. (Via TrueHoop and my handy Microsoft Office translator.)

“It is necessary to see which is the best option for me,” Rubio said. “Memphis has the (second selection), but that does not mean nothing…The number is important because it means that you have better status, but also it must value if the (team) that chooses you has a good (future) and the players who are there.”

This is the first time we’ve heard Rubio speak directly to not wanting to walk into a particular situation. Rubio’s camp reportedly did not want him to land in Memphis or Oklahoma City.