Overvalued Stock?

Everyone this year has seemingly fallen in love with Hasheem Thabeet. He is the 7'3" center who plays for UConn. I'll be the first to admit he has potential and he makes his living on the defensive end of the floor, but is Thabeet the dominant player everyone claims? I do not think so. Honestly, I think he is a bit soft, especially if a strong player is willing to take the ball at Thabeet. He MUST improve his lateral quickness to be effective at the next level. In college, all Thabeet did was sit in the lane and wait to block the opposing team's shots or grab a rebound after a missed shot. You can not sit in the defensive lane in the NBA or the officials will call defensive three seconds. Currently, I do not think he has the ability to rotate quick enough on defense. In the games where Thabeet was forced to rotate and not play stationary in the defensive paint, he drew several fouls.

I want to take a look at Thabeet's rebounding numbers. I have heard people claim he is a dominant rebounder (he should be if he stands 7'3" tall), but does he rebound against the best competition, or are his numbers padded?

Going through this years rebounding totals, Thabeet had good rebounding games against:
Western Carolina (17)
Miami (14)
Bryant (12)
Delaware St (17)
Buffalo (18)
Fairfield (11)
West Virgina (13)*
Seton Hall (17)
Notre Dame (11)*
Providence (11)
Louisville (11)***
Michigan (12)
Syracuse (16)***
Seton Hall (20)
Marquette (15)
Notre Dame (11)*
Pitt (13)***
Syracuse (14)***
UT Chat (13)
Purdue (15)*
Mizzou (13)*

Just looking at the games he posted double figures in, I do not see a lot of great competition. I will say this, the Big East did produce some of the best teams in college basketball this year, but he post his best rebounding games against lesser competition or against teams who are perimeter based teams. He did post impressive numbers against Pitt, Louisville, West Virginia, Syracuse (but they are more perimeter based), and Notre Dame (but they don't really have a guy big enough other than Zeller; Harangody is strong, but a bit undersized). I will not discount Purdue or Mizzou because once teams get into tournament play, everyone elevates their game.

My point is everyone claims his defensive abilities, which I will not doubt. He can change shots whether he blocks them or not. I feel his rebounding numbers are elevated due to the competition he has posted his best rebounding games against. Teams can get him out of the game by getting him in foul trouble (Pitt, Gonzaga, Villanova, Texas A&M), although he did post double figures in games where he did foul out, and playing a transition game (he just does not run the floor extremely well). Let's face it, he's 7'3" and all he has to do is put his arms in the air and he'd be close to 10' tall. He is coming out in a weak draft class. I bet he will go in the top 5, but in a year where the talent pool is better, I think he would be a top 10 pick at best, if not a late lottery pick.

I know most people won't agree with me because they love his size and what he can do on the defensive end of the floor, but he needs to improve his lateral quickness, he needs to get bigger, and he needs to refine his offensive game (he can not make a shot outside of five feet from the basket) if he wants to be dominant. I know he's only played for a couple of years so these things can come around, but how much can he improve? Will he ever be the offesive threat coaches may see and expect? Can he be more than a cherry picker on the defensive end and become a truly dominant defensive big? In college he has been a man among boys because of how tall he is. What happens when he goes up against players the same size as he is? Only time will tell, but I would bet that he will only become another average big man.