Shots From the Dome

I didn’t see my favorite exchange with Urban Meyer quoted anywhere else:

Franz Beard, of Gator Country:

“Urban, given the success you’ve had in the classroom with the graduation rate the last two or three years, how has that helped you getting into the door of some of these kids and getting them to see it’s more than just football?”

Urban Meyer:

“That’s a great question, because you walk in, and (they say) academics are very important, and then you look at their transcript, and nah, it’s not, not real important.

“Because that’s the first question, they’re so coached up by their coaches and their families, you know - “I’m going to go to the best academic school I can find.”

(Urban, smiling in denial) “You are not. The prettiest girls, and the greenest grass, and the biggest stadium.

“But, when you walk into a home where the family is sincerely interested and you start laying out — one of the things we do so well here with Terry Jackson and Rue over at the OSL is it’s not just academics. We, in the last year and a half, two years, have made an emphasis probably as good as I’ve ever seen on the push for life after graduation, life after football.

“I think the recruits, our families, even the families of the current players — I know the Haden family was so impressed by that, that’s why they send Jordan to play here. You see the emphasis placed on not just the four-year time period here but the time after you graduate, and I’ve never seen an effort like once again — Terry and Doc Carradine’s staff over there and our staff being involved in recruiting round tables and job fairs.

“That’s appealing now — that’s appealing if you’re a parent, and if you start talking about major college football, and wait a minute now, you’re actually going to help them get a job when they’re done playing? That’s a pretty good sales pitch to have.”

Got a chance to see the UF bball team last night in their last exhibition against an overmatched NAIA team (which did bring 3 or 4 vocal co-eds bouncing around during the game), but I digress.

After the disclaimer of it of course being exhibition and a crap opponent, I’ve seen nothing that makes me less excited about this starting backcourt.  Despite it’s obvious shortcomings (one of which is, of course being short — 5-8 and 6-2), I really like the pressure that Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton are going to put on defenses.

In the 2 meaningless exhibition games:

Walker had 18 assists and only 3 turnovers, and shot 9 free throws.

Boynton had 47 points in only 51 minutes, and more importantly, only only 25 SHOTS.  That’s efficient.  Boynton also shot 15 free throws (skewed by Webber’s insistence on fouling him during 3-point attempts, but still, impressive.

I also want to keep my eye on the Center/Forward trio of JR Vernon Macklin, SO Kenny Kadji and FR Erik Murphy. 

In the 1st game, they combined for:
50 minutes
22 points
15 rebounds
4 blocks
1 assist
5 turnovers.

In the 2nd game, they combined for:
55 minutes
25 points
15 rebounds
5 blocks
2 assists
8 turnovers.

We’ll see how their production is in real games and of course in conference play, and if they cut down on the turnovers, but that seems to be something to build on as well.

As for the rest of the roster, I think we pretty much know what we’ll get from Alex Tyus and Dan Werner, while Chandler Parsons and Ray Shipman have shown some really encouraging improvements, especially Parsons.  He’s grown his hair out, and not only looks less like a kid but seems to have matured his game as well.

The Orlando Magic, coming off an improbable NBA Finals run, have effectively traded Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee, Hedo Turkoglu and Tony Battie for Vince Carter, Ryan Anderson and Brandon Bass and $7-$8 million trade exception while retaining the services of Marcin Gortat. That’s a mouthful. It’s also something which makes me impressed by what GM Otis Smith has been able to do so far.

The team still lacks any semblance of a backup for PG Jameer Nelson, and has probably 3 or 4 more roster spots unfilled, but this upcoming year’s iteration, if not already demonstrably better, shows at least as much promise as the depth chart the Magic put forth at the end of the season.

There’s no question that a 5-year, $34 million contract for backup center Marcin Gortat, 24 is overpaying him, but so is the 6-year (I’m assuming, since he was able to do a sign-and-trade) contract for 30-year-old Turkoglu.

Also, my early interpretation is that it’s possible that Smith outfoxed Dallas owner Mark Cuban.

7/3 - Gortat agrees to 5-year offer sheet with Dallas.

7/9 - The Mavericks were part of the 4-team deal which landed Turkoglu in Toronto and Marion in Dallas. In the deal, the Mavericks sent cash considerations to the Magic, and Orlando also received a trade exception for $7-$8 million.

7/10 - The Magic agreed to terms with former Dallas forward Brandon Bass on a 4-year deal.

7/13 - Reports say the Magic will match the Mavs offer sheet to Gortat.

Basically, by doing things in the order they did them, the Magic got money from Dallas, young forward Brandon Bass (for only PART of the mid-level exception) AND Marcin Gortat. They also maintain flexibility with the trade exception they can use for future deals and the rest of the exception money they didn’t use on Bass, enabling them to likely get a point guard and flesh out the roster.

Impressive:

2008-2009
1 - Rafer Alston, Jameer Nelson, Anthony Johnson
2 - Courtney Lee, JJ Redick
3 - Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus
4 - Rashard Lewis, Tony Battie
5 - Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat

2009-2010 (currently)
1 - Jameer Nelson, (FA/Trade Point Guard)
2 - Vince Carter, JJ Redick
3 - Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus
4 - Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson
5 - Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat

The team also maintains its flexible players, with Carter capable of minutes at the 3, Lewis able to play the 3 and 4, Pietrus a classic 2/3 player, and likely the continuance of the LATE-season experimentation with Gortat and Howard on the court at the same time…

In a chat today with the David Thorpe, who runs IMG, the pro training academy where Nick Calathes was working out before he made the decision to join Panathnaikos, had this to say:

Noam (Israel): Any thoughts on Calathes going to Greece?

David Thorpe: I’m terribly disappointed that he won’t be in the NBA next year. But the offer was incredible. Think of it like this-should he have played for another year for Billy Donovan for free, or for one of the world’s best coaches for $1million on one of the world’s best teams?

Of more immediate interest to Gator fans, Heath Cline and Franz Beard note Billy Donovan’s pursuit of point guard help for next year, one of whom seems to be Philadelphia prospect Jesse “Booge” Morgan, a 6-4, 180-pound PG. Apparently, he’ll know some time in June if he’s able to qualify or not. Rivals/ESPN has his him listed as a shooting guard, while Scout.com has him as a point guard.

It looks like he was originally from Olney High School in Philadelphia, but he’s now listed as being from The Preparatory Charter School, also in Pennsylvania. I found 3 clips of him online that I’m embedding below that I think may be from his junior year, if you’re interested. He is in the blue jersey wearing #5 in the first, wears white in the second, and in the third video he is the taller guard again wearing #5 being fed for baskets by the smaller point guard.

He looks to have nice range on his jump shot and a nice handle. The first two videos are both of Olney vs. Bartram, another Philly school, with the second one a playoff game.

It’s a little unclear right now whether Nick Calathes’ name will remain eligible in the 2009 NBA Draft now that he has or is signing with the Greek professional team Panathinaikos, but I had assumed that when that happened, it would be in the 2nd round. By doing that, an NBA team would maintain its flexibility when they brought him back to the U.S., and wouldn’t be locked into the rookie salary scale.

Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, always dropping knowledge, had some interesting speculation and information in his May 24 Draft Roundup on the subject. Although his statement that “Calathes could very well have gone in the 30’s and ended up with a non-guaranteed contract, only to get cut in training, as many second rounders often are” was expected, his information about why he MIGHT still be a first rounder was not:

“If anything, Calathes may have improved his draft stock with this move. There are a number of teams in the late first round—such as New Orleans, Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Chicago who either have multiple picks or may not be interested in adding another guaranteed contract/roster spot to their team at this point.”