FanHouse Hasheem Thabeet

Home Delivery is your morning roundup of last night's action in the NBA from a fantasy perspective.

Who Are Those Masked Men?

Dwight Howard turned in a stunning 14-of-16 performance from the free-throw line against the Raptors. But Howard wasn't the only Orlando player who made stepped outside the box. Starting 'two' guard J.J. Redick scored a career-high 27 points adding six rebounds, five assists and five three-pointers. Jameer Nelson and Ryan Anderson added five three-pointers apiece, with Nelson scoring a team-high 30 points and Anderson chipping in for 20.

I wouldn't get too excited about J.J. Redick, since both Vince Carter (ankle) and Mickael Pietrus (flu) missed Sunday's game. Both are expected back this week, which pushes Redick back into his famed role as a bench player.

Jason Williams played just 11 minutes, scoring two points and adding a mere three assists. Blame it on Jameer Nelson, who decided that Williams' services were no longer necessary. Take a cue from Nelson, Williams is not worth an add in standard leagues.

Hasheem Thabeet's NBA career is off to an uninspiring start. In his Grizzlies debut, he managed zero points and only two rebounds in 12 minutes of action. Bleh.

But the UConn product is already bringing plenty to the Memphis community. Recently, Thabeet appeared on Fox 13 to lend a hand forecasting the weather. And if he could pick up the intricacies of the NBA the way took to the newsroom, Thabeet will be holding down the paint sooner than expected.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Half of the announced crowd of 7,500 at Virginia Commonwealth's on-campus arena Tuesday night showed up to see Allen Iverson's debut with the Memphis Grizzlies. The other half was curious to see what Gilbert Arenas looked like after nearly two full seasons out with knee injuries.

So it was easy for Hasheem Thabeet to slip under the radar, easy even for someone 7-foot-3, 265 pounds and the second overall pick in last June's NBA Draft. As it turned out, in the preseason opener for the Grizzlies and the Washington Wizards, Thabeet stood out more than Iverson, who did not dress because of a strained left hamstring, and Arenas, who proved that while he is back, he is far from all the way back.

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FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Marc Gasol is svelt. No lie. Gasol spent the summer running up mountains in Spain. I've never run up a mountain anywhere, much less mountains in Spain. You always hear stories about players losing weight coming into camp, but Gasol's slimming is evident. He doesn't look like the same player. The big knock on him last season was that he lacked explosiveness. So Gasol shed 25-30 pounds to improve his speed and agility. It was a wise move by Gasol, who will fight for playing time with Zach Randolph and Hasheem Thabeet. But when you get down to it, if the Grizzlies are going to make significant progress this season, Gasol will have to be a large part of that journey.

LAS VEGAS -- Before his first NBA game, Memphis center Hasheem Thabeet wanted a modest haircut before hitting the floor at Cox Pavilion. The result was a rather disturbing looking Fro-Hawk and Thabeet was relegated to playing with the landing-strip hairstyle during the Grizzlies' 86-57 win over Oklahoma City.

Thabeet, the 7-foot-3 center, finished with nine points and two rebounds in 20 minutes. He made three of four shots and picked up a blocked shot and steal.

"Today, after I got my ankle taped, the barber was there and I was like 'Can I get a cut too?' and I just wanted a little trim and I got up, went to look at myself in the mirror and I had this," he said. "I didn't have time to go get it fixed. So I had to come [play], so I guess it's a rookie thing. I am OK. I will go get it fixed."

OK, sure. They traded their franchise player a year and a half ago for Kwame Brown and some Skittles. And yes, with the No. 2 pick they managed to select the only basketball player available who's biggest weakness is his ability to put the little ball in the big circle with the net attached (which I hear is kind of important). But hey, they needed to rebuild, and they rebuilt. But they have tons of cap space now, so much in fact, that they're actually under the CBA limit and have to spend some.

So they've stopped torturing their fans with one terrible decision after another right? Right? Guys? Anybody?

Oh, hi Zach Randolph. What are you ... doing ... here ...?

Oh, no.

A potential trade sending Darko Milicic to New York in exchange for Quentin Richardson has been rumored for a couple days now. Adam Silver announced it has been consummated. The Darko Knicks jersey immediately becomes the greatest shirt in the history of synthetic garmentry.

One big takeaway from this deal is that Memphis will apparently take back $2 million in extra salary, unless New York is forking over some dough not yet reported. Darko's flight opens up the frontcourt for Hasheem Thabeet, who (I assume) will turn Marc Gasol into a power forward. We'll see how that works out -- Gasol isn't exactly fleet, and 7-foot-3 centers typically lack lane agility. Luckily, Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo are fantastic defenders on the perimeter. Oh, wait ...

Blake Griffin went first, of course. There was no drama about that -- Clippers VP Andy Roeser essentially let the cat out of the bag with his unbridled praise for Griffin minutes after winning the NBA lottery. The real question mystery started at No. 2, and the Grizzlies answered that question by going with Hasheem Thabeet from Connecticut.

Thabeet is a bit of a project offensively, but that's to be expected -- unlikely most prospects who practically grow up in a gym, Thabeet has only been playing the sport for seven years. Will he pan out? Or will he follow the path of another failed No. 2 pick who happens to be Thabeet's new teammate, Darko Milicic, who never found stardom before settling into the life of a role player?

Time will tell, just like time will tell if Thabeet and Darko will ever share a locker room -- with Marc Gasol already anchoring Memphis' frontcourt, Milicic is rumored to be on the block. Stay tuned. (Update: That didn't take long -- Darko was traded to the Knicks for Quentin Richardson and cash.)

The day of reckoning has arrived for some 90 or so prospects hoping to be an NBA Draft pick. The day of reckoning has also arrived for some 9,000 mock drafters, who desperately try to get it right even though no one ever could on a consistent basis.

And, if I may, a word about the recent backlash against mock drafts from the key mock draft writers. The major draft experts from ESPN and DraftExpress told the New York Times last week that they hate mock drafts. But the mock draft is like their version of a test. It's too arbitrary, too black and white. It creates an impossible task. But thems the breaks when you're in a field in which performance matters. If Chad Ford didn't have to put out a mock, he could forever avoid criticism, basically. It's his job to analyze and predict the draft. How could we judge his efficacy without looking at his mock the morning after? It's like Amar'e Stoudemire telling everyone he hates to rebound. (Oh wait ...)

I love mock drafts! You'll find my final version after the jump.

With Tuesday's talent dump netting the No. 5 pick for Minnesota, the initial theory followed that said pick combined with the Wolves' own No. 6 could net the team Memphis' for-sale No. 2 pick, a selection coveted by several teams. Minnesota quickly blew back that idea, saying it would not be giving up both top-six picks in any such deal.

But the quest for No. 2 -- and the Ricky Rubio or Hasheem Thabeet it entails -- isn't over yet.