6 July 2009
Nairobi — Tanzania might not be known as a great sporting nation beyond East Africa, but the country now boasts of the first ever international basketballer from the region to grace the world famous NBA, the US top basketball league.
Hasheem Thabeet from Dar es Salaam was on June 25 selected by the Memphis Grizzlies as the second overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft in New York and will earn Ksh900 million ($11.5 million) in the next three years.
Thabeet was already playing college basketball for the University of Connecticut.
Born on February 16, 1987 in Dar es Salaam, Thabeet a 7ft 3in and weighing 119 kilogrammes was the tallest player ever to play for the Huskies.
He did not begin to play basketball until the age of 15, when he began to watch pickup games in Tanzania.
In being drafted for the NBA, Thabeet joins the list of few African players who have played in the NBA among them Dikembe Mutombo of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Manute Bol of Sudan. Currently Sudan's Luol Deng is a valuable LA Lakers players.
"I am very excited. I cannot wait to play in the NBA," he said in an interview with American sports channel ESPN.
Thabeet began playing basketball when he was in Makongo Secondary School in Dar es Salaam.
He was first introduced to the game when attended a street basketball practice session, and one player was so impressed by his height he offered him sports shoes and invited him to play the next day.
Later as a member of his school basketball team, he was selected to compete in the East African School Games in Nairobi where an agent saw him and offered him a basketball scholarship to the United States.
"I saw this as a great opportunity for me to develop my life. It was an opening for better education. I never at any point imagined NBA was beckoning," said Thabeet on ESPN Sports.
In the US, he attended the Cypress Christian School in Houston, Texas, where he averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks per game and later joined the University of Connecticut.
As a freshman at the university, he averaged 6.2 points and 3.8 blocks per game.
On December 3, 2006, Thabeet tied the university's record with 10 blocks and was named to the 2007 All-Big East Rookie Team.
In January 5, 2008, he tied his career high in blocks with 10 at Connecticut's 73-67 loss at the University of Notre Dame.
He was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year and named Second Team All Big East Player of the Year.
Aa a junior at the University, Thabeet emerged on the national scene, averaging 13.6 points and 10.8 rebounds.
He earned his first career triple-double against Providence College on January 31 this year, with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks He finished with 152 blocks on the season, and he was known for the shots he prevented from ever being taken.
"I always went out there to enjoy myself and my game. Coming to America has really exposed me and improved my game," he said.
He was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year and was co-Big East Player of the Year with Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair.
He was also named Second Team All-America and National Defensive Player of the Year.
Thabeet surpassed the 1,000 point mark against Purdue on March 26, the third player from his university that season to do so and helped lead the school to their first final four appearance since 2004.
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