As I mentioned yesterday, Nick Calathes entering the NBA Draft is the end of his career at UF. Calathes will go as long as possible without an agent, but will sign with one when he needs to organize individual team workouts. If this becomes a crowded draft class, he will need an agent to help the sophomore move away from the field.
Talking with some friends last night, we all seemed to agree on some form of, "good riddance," for Calathes. I don't hold it against a kid for leaving college early, but Calathes' decision bothers me. If the Oh Fours, Cornelius Ingram, Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes can come back, surely Calathes can. Perhaps Calathes thought about CI's injury after returning to school, but I doubt it. And this isn't Percy Harvin leaving. We all agree Percy has done all he could do. (The man played a National Championship on a broken leg.) Calathes hasn't done anything beyond filling a box score. (This AP article goes right after that fact in the first line.)
I would continue, but I know we have some Calathes supporters in the audience and I don't want my disapproval to cloud the voting. Vote in the poll and tell us in the comments what you think about UF's best player entering the draft.
0 recs | 15 comments
He will be back
I firmly believe that very few underclassmen are actually ready for the Draft. I do not think Calathes is ready at all. But this seems like a smart move from Nick. He is testing the waters and figuring out where exactly he stands in the Draft. He can still gain a whole lot from college and he needs to prove that he can win at that level before he goes to the draft. I think he will be a late first rounder, he could climb into the lottery with some more development in college.
philrsquared - March 31, 2009
I think there's a good chance he'll be back, too.
Kid’s just not ready. It does mean there’s zero chance we’ll see him play as a senior, though.
Gatorpilot - March 31, 2009
Bad rap
I think you are being a little hard on Calathes. There is a big difference between his situation and that of the 04s, Tebow, Ingram & Spikes. All those other guys had a very realistic chance of competing for a championship if they came back. Calathes does not have that oppotunity. The best he can hope for is the Gators make the NCAAs and maybe win a game or possibly two. Anything further is really a fairy tale.
If the other players mentioned were coming off a 8-5 rebuilding year and it appeared that the team was still a few years away from serious contention, I seriously doubt they would have all returned.
Calathes has been playing with absolute dreck the past 2 years and still set UF single season assist records both times and led the team in scoring and was amongst the leaders in rebounding as well. He was asked to be the team leader as a true freshman and stepped in and did a prettty tremendous job. the 04s were all allowed to come along slowly – none of them requiring heavy minutes as freshmen.
The NBA is a funny animal…it doesn’t matter if he’s ready or not, because teams draft on potential. They only care if they believe he will eventually be ready. There aren’t many point guards in the NBA who can rebound like Calathes can. I think you’ll be surprised as where he is drafted.
I consider Calathes 10 times more a Gator than Jason Williams or Teddy Dupay. To my knowledge, he has never been in trouble and played hard every night.
skigator93 - March 31, 2009
Eh.
I wish he had come back, but now we’ll have less “I didn’t see the ball coming” turnovers.
bdalebs - March 31, 2009
I just can't feel proud of the guy for his acomplishment
Usually I’m glad that any Florida player goes pro, but I think he’s making the wrong choice here.
kujo24 - March 31, 2009
Hmmm,
I’m mixed on this.
I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he could do well defending some shooting guards, but I can only think…isn’t he mindful of the fact that his brother went undrafted, uh, just LAST YEAR?
V. Money - March 31, 2009
Calathes and Speights.
This year would have been different with Mareese and next year will be worse without Nick. It’s a shame they didn’t care enough for the Orange and Blue, instead choosing to snag as much green as they can as soon as they can…
ejruiz - April 1, 2009
Overall, I'm happy.
Not happy for Nick; I’m almost certain he’ll be a bust in the NBA. I have one friend who thinks Calathes could maybe play the point in an NBA offense, but I have yet to meet anyone who thinks he will be anything but a complete disaster on the defensive end.
I really thought this year I’d actually warm up to him, but it never happened. He’s definitely a talented guy, but I’ve never been a fan of his game (a better version of Matt Walsh). I’m not sure the team will be better without him, but I’m more than ready to move on and see what that team can do.
He made the wrong decision for himself, as will be apparent when he falls to the secound round of the NBA draft, but I certainly don’t hold the decision against him. I’ve never been able to hold it against a player when he decides to leave school early. I certainly love making fun of them when they were never that good to begin with and it blows up in their faces (*cough*Roberson*cough*Walsh), but I don’t get the loyalty thing.
What is a little upsetting is that, after the tiny glimmer of promise at the end of the 07-08 season, we managed to lose both Jai Lucas and Nick Calathes for 09-10. If only Nick had transferred instead. . . .
Gator Cub - April 2, 2009
…and I hated Matt Walsh.
Gator Cub - April 2, 2009
Why?
The fro?
bdalebs - April 2, 2009
Walsh
He was just annoying….one of those guys that all opposing fans hated and loved to torment. Noah was the same way, but at least he backed it up on the court. Walsh was really just a chucker. He dribbled the ball off his foot for every great play he made – and he did make some great ones.
skigator93 - April 2, 2009
My favorite Walsh story
My friend Lindsay is in bed the morning of the UF-FSU game in 2005. She starts moving around in bed and wakes up to see Matt Walsh standing in her doorway with a keg over his shoulder.
Walsh: “Hey, your friends want you to get up.”
Lindsay: (rubbing her eyes) “Matt Walsh?”
Walsh: (seemingly happy he has been recognized by a hot blonde sorority girl in a bed) “Yeah. What’s up”
Lindsay: “Oh um, you played really good last night.” (the UF-FSU basketball is the Friday before when played in Gville)
Walsh: “Thanks, but I don’t play anymore.”
Lindsay: “Oh, that’s right.”
I once also went textbook shopping with Walsh. He realized I was in one of his communications classes and followed me around O&B Textbooks and asked me a few questions. Seemed like a nice guy.
mlmintampa - April 2, 2009
You can't really hate a Gator, can you?
Walsh wasn’t my favorite player, and the talk of him being a first-round draft pick at the time was utterly ridiculous. I really disliked his flopping mentality. But hey, he was a Gator. Someone has to stick up for him.
Gatorpilot - April 2, 2009
I absolutely rooted for him and supported him, of course.
One thing I can’t stand is fans who boo certain players or yell at the team when it’s down. Support the team, but don’t feel like you have to pretend a player is good, or that you like his game or even his personality, when you don’t. I wanted Matt Walsh to be good, he just… wasn’t. Same goes with Dan Werner. As a 3 guard and the first guy off the bench, he’d be perfectly fine. As the starting power forward, notsomuch. I don’t particularly like him either, but still the people yelling “Dan Werner SUCKS!” at the Penn State were completely unacceptable.
Maybe I’m drawing a thin line, but I’ve never had a problem disliking a player, but still rooting for him and cheering him on while he’s playing because he’s a Gator. Usually I go too far and defend players more than they deserve, if only because Gator fans tend to get unsupportive at the games in a hurry if a player isn’t performing.
Gator Cub - April 2, 2009
bad choice
Patssuck456 - April 2, 2009
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