Men's Journal

Hasheem Thabeet Photo credit: courtesy BDA Sports

Future NBA star Hasheem Thabeet came by our office to chat about growing up in Tanzania, how he’s feeling on the eve of the draft, and training with NAVY SEALS — once he finished texting with the President of Tanzania.

Men’s Journal: What are you texting the President of Tanzania about?
Hasheem Thabeet: We just talk about random stuff. It’s like me texting any of my friends.

So what’s Thursday going to be like?
I’m going to have an opportunity to shake David Stern’s hand [laughs]. No, it’s a great opportunity, I’m just going to go up there and have fun.

Are you nervous?
A little bit. I’ve been watching it on TV for a couple of years, and now to get a chance to experience it is a blessing to me. I’m excited.

As the first (soon to be) NBA player from Tanzania, how did you get discovered?
I used to play soccer growing up in Tanzania. I used to go and watch people play basketball after soccer practice. One day I went over there and the coach asked me, ‘why are you not playing ball?’ At the time I was only 13 or 14, so when the coach asked me why I wasn’t playing I gave him all these excuses—that I didn’t have basketball jerseys, that I didn’t have shoes. Two weeks later he gave me the shoes and a jersey and said, ‘Now you’re going to play basketball.’

How tall were you?
I was around 6’3”.

Is basketball even popular at all over there?
Now it is. Everybody thinks that they can make it through sports.

How do you think the NBA game is going to be different than the college game?
The pace is way faster, the guys are stronger and they’re more mature. It’s their job. In college you play because you want your school to win, but in the NBA it’s a job. I know it’s going to be tough for the first month or so, but hopefully I can pick it up quickly.

Who are you looking forward to playing against the most?
I’m just looking forward to going and playing. Watching all those guys on TV all the time, getting a chance to go out there and play against them — whoever I’m going to play — will be cool.

How have the workouts been this summer?
Pretty good. I was in Los Angeles all summer working out, training with Scott Roth, doing mostly individual stuff. I also worked with the Navy Seals for some core and mobility stuff.

What were those workouts like?
Secret. [laughs] It was more mental preparation. Some stuff where I was thinking, ‘why do I need to do this to play basketball?’ Some stuff that I never thought I would do —crab walks, inch worms. But it helped me a lot with my body strength.

There are a lot of UConn guys in the NBA. Did they give you any advice?
Yeah, they tell me that you gotta be ready to play every night. There are a lot of games, and a lot of them are back-to-back. I played at UConn for three years and I only played 96 games. In the NBA one season is 82 games. It’s going to be interesting.

When did you realize you were going to make it to the NBA?
When I first got to college. After my first year, I put so much work into it, and started believing in myself. You see coach Jim Calhoun on TV and you can tell what kind of a coach he is. He’s a great coach, but he’s intense all the time. He coached a lot of guys that are already in the NBA, and I just learned from him.

After my freshman year, everybody was pressuring me about leaving or staying, so I sat down and talked to Coach Calhoun. He said, ‘If you leave this year, it will be the worst mistake you make in your life.’ I listened to him, and it was a good decision. I told my family that they can wait a couple more years, so that I can get to the point where I’m ready. If you watched me a couple of years ago, and you see me now, it’s way different. I went back and worked hard and got to know the team even better, got to understand what type of person I am and what type of player I am. Going back was a great move.

How tough an adjustment do you think it will be going from a winning UConn team to a lottery NBA team that will probably lose a lot of games?
It shouldn’t be tough. My first year at UConn we only won 16 games, but we kept getting better. The next year we won 25 games, and last year we won 31. So we progressed from my freshman year. I’m going to keep getting better everyday.

Hopefully you won’t be on a team that only wins 16 games.
Yeah, 16 out of 82 is pretty bad.

Have trainers been trying to bulk you up more?
They all say that. They want me up to 280, 285. Right now I’m 272.

Do you have to eat twice as much food as a regular person?
No, you probably eat more than me.

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