Trietley: Looking back on DeJuan vs. Thabeet, the decision should’ve been an easy one

This past Thursday the Memphis Grizzlies announced they were demoting former Connecticut star… This past Thursday the Memphis Grizzlies announced they were demoting former Connecticut star and No. 2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet to the NBA Development League. Thabeet averaged a whopping 2.5 points in 50 NBA games with the Grizzlies and used his outrageously lanky 7-foot-3 frame to pull down almost 3 rebounds per contest. Meanwhile, DeJuan Blair scored 22 points and 23 rebounds in the NBA All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge seven months after he lasted until the second round of the draft. To be fair, Thabeet had a respectable eight points and two rebounds in his Dakota Wizards debut. The Wizards beat the mighty BayHawks of Erie, 108-103. With Thabeet struggling and Blair succeeding, I have to ask: who’s scouting these players? Everybody who watched Pitt play Connecticut last year saw Blair manhandle Thabeet under the rim, flipping him over his back for a rebound and probably shouting, “I AM DEJUAN, RULER OF ALL,” while he did it. Were the loads of NBA scouts in house watching? Year after year, franchises make stupid picks at the draft. And year after year, nobody seems to learn. Fifth overall pick Ricky Rubio has 6.2 points per game — for Regal Barcelona in Europe. The Timberwolves still await his arrival in North America. Eighth overall pick Jordan Hill played so well for the Knicks that they traded him 25 games into his career for Tracy McGrady’s expiring contract. In a few short months, future cap space became more valuable than top prospect Hill. Meanwhile, nobody dared to take Blair in the first round because his knees apparently would give out within the week. The scouts had a right to be nervous, since Blair had surgery on both knees as a sophomore — in high school. I must say, he really hasn’t been the same player ever since. What a total bust at Pitt. Blair has no ACLs because of the procedure, so it made sense to pass on him. I guess. Hines Ward has had a fairly successful NFL career with no ACL in his left knee, though. Blair’s knees hurt him on draft night for the first time since high school. A few months after nearly every team played it safe and passed on Blair, first overall draft pick Blake Griffin’s kneecap exploded. He’s out for the rest of the Clippers’ season. I don’t understand the scouting process at all. Griffin suffered two separate knee injuries and a concussion in the span of a year and his draft stock never dropped below consensus No. 1. Blair dominated the Big East and surgeries from high school terrified everyone. Take a trip in the way-back machine, before the Tyler Hansbrough era, to when Sean May led North Carolina to the NCAA Championship. Everybody watching May knew one thing: he would never be a star in the NBA. It wasn’t his fault. There are hundreds of college stars who can’t make the transition. Remember quarterbacks Jason White and Eric Crouch? But on the night of the 2005 NBA Draft, there came the bumblin’ stumblin’ Charlotte Bobcats, ready to select May 13th overall. May now plays for the Sacramento Kings and averages a superhuman 3.2 points per game. The Charlotte Bobcats franchise has never made the playoffs in seven years of existence. It happened again last year. Tyler Hansbrough will never be a star in the NBA. For the Indiana Pacers, though, he was a first round pick to help resurrect a franchise with three straight losing seasons. The Pacers this year: 19-39. Make it four straight losing seasons. It will happen in April’s NFL draft, too. Some poor team will invest a lot of money, a high draft pick and years of development in Tim Tebow. It won’t work out. Can I be a scout? I don’t even think we need scouting anymore. I can self-profess expertise after I watch a few short YouTube highlight packages. Every newspaper, bi-weekly sports magazine, radio talk show and television network puts together a mock draft. By the time April rolls around, the media has largely decided what a franchise’s draft options are. Departing Clemson running back C.J. Spiller hasn’t played a game since December, but his draft stock changes daily based on what Mel Kiper says. And when a team goes against the media’s enlightened projections, it faces a backlash of colossal proportions. The Houston Texans defied the consensus in 2006 and passed on Reggie Bush for defensive end Mario Williams. A visibly frazzled Kiper harangued the franchise, predicting that Williams would bust and Reggie Bush or Matt Leinart — the steal of the draft! — would make Houston regret its decision for eternity. Williams made the Pro Bowl in 2008 and 2009, and the Texans quietly took Steve Slaton as their running back in the third round of the 2008 draft. Slaton last season: 1,659 yards from scrimmage. Bush’s best season: 1,307 yards. Of course, things like this won’t stop post-draft grades to come out the day after the draft. It won’t stop teams from selecting players like Tim Tebow or Sean May way too high. It won’t stop Hasheem Thabeet from receiving a deal for more $4 million before playing an NBA — or D-League — game. And it won’t stop teams from criminally underrating players like DeJuan Blair. Oh well. It’s their loss.