THABEET MOVES TO HOUSTON

The Grizzlies and Rockets made it happen. Here’s the final deal: Houston sends Shane Battier and Ish Smith to Memphis for Hasheem Thabeet and a first-round pick. According to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein, the Rockets went deep in talks with Philly on a Battier for Marreese Speights and Jason Kapono deal, but ended up choosing Thabeet instead.  What this deal means for both teams is such: Memphis gets security at the small forward position for Rudy Gay, while Houston gets a young big man to play alongside Luis Scola in the presumable post-Yao Ming era.

On Thursday, the Memphis Grizzles dealt 24-year-old center Hasheem Thabeet, DeMarre Carroll and a lottery-protected pick to the Houston Rockets for a now 32-year-old Shane Battier, and Ish Smith.

Only two years removed from selecting Thabeet with second overall pick in the 2009 draft, the Grizzlies have given up on him.

In a rare case of seller’s remorse, owner Michael Heisley opens up to Chris Tomasson of FanHouse:

"I don't know whether it's a mistake (having drafted Thabeet),'' Heisley said. "I look at (giving up Thabeet) with great concern. ... I think Houston needs a good center and I think that Thabeet could come back to haunt us. ... Absolutely, it's hard for us (to trade Thabeet). It's extremely hard. ... If he develops, he's going to be a big factor in this league and we might be eating our words.''

Heisley continues that the reasons for the trade were apparently twofold. In the immidiate, Battier adds stability and experience for a potential playoff run, while in the long haul, the Grizzlies didn’t see Thabeet usurping 26-year-old center Marc Gasol for playing time. Regardless, it seems awful soon to abandon a project everyone knew would take work going in.More Heisley: 

"When we drafted (Thabeet), Tony Barone, who's head of our player personnel thing, said, 'If you draft him, then you've got to play him. He needs to get minutes to develop.' ... We basically never really could find the time for him to get him in the lineup to really develop him as much.''

That’s a logical assessment, but it also begs the question, why draft Thabeet at all? In doing so, the Grizzlies knew what they were getting into, and chose to get into it in lieu of, say, someone like Stephen Curry…who would seem a pretty good fit in the Grizzly lineup.

As for the Rockets, well, I assume they know what they’re getting into as well. Thabeet is still incredibly raw, but he’s 7-3, can block shots, and he has never gotten a true chance to develop. With Yao Ming now unlikely to return to Houston, they, if anybody, can afford to give him the opportunity.