Solomon Alabi (Florida State)

The feedback from Hasheem Thabeet’s NBA summer league debut has been mostly positive. Although his stat line was modest (9 pts, 2 rebs, 1 blk, 20 mins), the rookie was praised for altering several shots and looking at least competent on offense, in contrast to Jay Bilas’ Draft Night scouting report that basically made Thabeet sound like the tall White kid from Rebound when it comes to putting the ball in the basket.

Even if Thabeet isn’t a regular starter right away, if he continues to make solid progress during the year and gets farther and farther away from the “potential bust” label, he’ll only make things easier for the Hasheem Thabeet of the 2010 NBA Draft: Florida State redshirt sophomore Solomon Alabi.

Last season, Alabi averaged 8.4 points, 5.6 boards and 2.1 blocks in a little over 22 minutes a night for the Seminoles. At 7-1 and 237 pounds, he’s got a 7-3 wingspan and a 9-1 standing reach. His sophomore-year resume included a 16-point, 14-board, 6-block outing against Charleston Southern, a 17-9-5 line against Clemson, and a 12-11-3 line against Duke.

NBA scouts obviously love Alabi for his size, shot-blocking and potential. (And he’s already got more offensive moves than Thabeet at the same stage in his career.) The 21-year-old didn’t start playing basketball until he was 15, and came to America from Nigeria when he was 17. And he’s older for his grade, which makes it even more likely he’ll enter the 2010 Draft to capitalize on that youth/mystery factor, and is currently projected as a Top-10 pick.

If there’s one area of concern with Alabi, it’s his health. He suffered a stress fracture in his right leg early into his true freshman year that ended his season. Granted a medical redshirt, Alabi didn’t miss a game last season, but given what we’ve seen from Yao Ming lately, NBA teams will be even more cautious of 7-footers with lower-body issues.

One advantage Thabeet had in college was that, playing for UConn, he was on TV all the time, made deep runs into the postseason, and was constantly tested against the best competition in the country. As far as projects go, Thabeet is actually pretty close to a proven commodity, at least more so than recent Lottery picks like Patrick O’Bryant and Greg Oden.

Alabi can climb into the Top-5 and perhaps the Top-3 with a strong sophomore year, and even challenge for #1 overall if he comes up big in some of FSU’s biggest games. With no clear-cut #1 prospect in sight for 2010 the way ‘09 had Blake Griffin, Alabi has a good shot at making himself somebody’s franchise cornerstone.