Gator Country

Nick Calathes has signed a lucrative contract to play for Panathinaikos, the Athens-based team that is the Euroleague Basketball champion, ending whatever hope was being held out that the 6-6 point guard would return to the University of Florida for his junior season. Although Calathes said as late as Wednesday that he was still keeping his options to return to Florida open, the Florida coaching staff has been resigned to the fact he was gone since even before the 2009 season ended.

It’s not a surprise that Calathes will be playing professional basketball next season and it shouldn’t be a surprise that he will be playing in Greece. His contract with Panathinaikos will pay him $1.1 million per year and it also includes a home, a car and some tax advantages that will make the total package comparable to some of the contracts at the lower end of the NBA lottery. There was no way Calathes was going to be drafted among the top 13 picks in the June NBA Draft --- somewhere in the last six picks of the first round to the first six picks of the second was likely --- so from a financial standpoint, he made the right move.

Considering the way the game is played in Europe, Nick has probably made the right move, too. He’s not a great defender but the Euro game is more perimeter oriented and defense isn’t exactly a requirement. From what I’ve seen of Euro ball, Nick might actually be considered a stout defender by their standards.

So here’s a wish that he’ll do well and thanks for two great years in which he made passes we’re not likely to see for awhile at the O-Dome.

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With Calathes, the Gators would have been Sweet 16 material. Without him? It’s going to be dicey, particularly since the Gators missed out on all three of their point guard replacement targets in the last month. Of the three --- juco Rico Pickett, Eric Bledsoe and John Wall --- Pickett seemed like a mortal lock in mid-April but he shocked everybody by choosing Manhattan over the likes of Florida, Kentucky and Memphis. Three weeks ago, Bledsoe seemed like a lock also but something happened --- what I’m hearing is qualifying issues --- that caused Florida to back off somewhat and that opened the door for Kentucky to swoop in and grab him. The Gators got some serious consideration from John Wall but they probably got into the mix too late to make a substantial difference. Wall also might have some qualifying issues.

So what do the Gators do?

There isn’t much in the way of quality remaining on the recruiting board right now. Probably the best four available high school guards that are available are Jesse Morgan (6-4, 185, Philadelphia, PA Preparatory Charter School); Russ Smith (5-11, 160, New York, NY Archbishop Molloy); John Taylor (5-11, 160, Chicago, IL North Lawndale College Prep) and Dominic Millburn (6-4, 180, Rockville, MD Montrose Christian). The Gators have been in contact with Morgan and Taylor. Morgan is going to be a close call on qualifying and we may not know until mid-June if he’s going to have the necessary grades and scores. He’s got size and takes the ball to the rack quite well. Taylor apparently will qualify. He spent his first two years in high school in Gary, Indiana where he was in serious academic trouble but he’s worked hard at improving in every way academically the last two years at North Lawndale. Taylor led North Lawndale to the Final Four in Illinois. He’s a lefty with a good outside shot. He came up through the well-respected SYF AAU program out of Indiana.

Smith is heading to South Kent (CT) School for a prep year but there is a chance he will sign as a 2009. He has an offer from Tennessee on the table provided he qualifies as a 2009. With Josh Selby (6-2, 180, Landover, MD DeMatha Catholic) committed for 2010, it’s pretty much a now or never for Smith when it comes to the Vols. Millburn has size and skill but he’s probably going to have to take a prep school year to get into a D-1 school.

The Gators have also looked into a couple of European point guards but the problem is most of the good players sign a contract that commits them to a professional team by the time they’re in the ninth grade. It’s getting more and more difficult to find a player from Europe that can pass the NCAA eligibility restrictions.

If the Gators pass on Taylor and/or Morgan for any reason, they are prepared to go into 2009-10 with Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton as the point guard options. Walker averaged 10.1 points per game as a freshman, getting significant minutes at the point and as the shooting guard down the stretch. While most folks have penciled in Boynton as a shooting guard, he’s going to have to transition to the point to make it to the next level. He’s very capable of handling the ball against pressure. When he played the point in high school and on his AAU team, his game took on an Anthony Roberson dimension except that Boynton is far more explosive getting to the rack than Peep ever was.

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