Shots From the Dome

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I absolutely know that Florida getting John Wall is a long shot — I just wanted to get it down on “paper” before it was officially impossible that it could happen. Kenny Boynton has had great things to say about coming to UF this summer and filling the 2-guard position next year. PG Brandon Knight, UF’s top 2010 target, sounds like he’s in good shape regarding the Gators as well, to me. He’s specifically mentioned UConn, Miami, Florida and Syracuse.

I think that when it comes down to it Florida matches up well against those teams, especially when you consider that his teammate for the last few years on his national championship AAU teams was Boynton, who will be in Gainesville in the fall, and now just HAPPENS to be Austin Rivers, who will be in Hogtown the year after that. I also think that the recruiting violations that UConn has committed are going to take them out of the mix, even though Knight has said he isn’t worried about that right now.

He hasn’t been able to visit UConn, Syracuse, Duke and Miami yet, and wants to, so of course they’re still highly in the mix.

In his last interview, at the Boo Williams camp, as much as he kept emphasizing that everyone is in the hunt for his services, he also had comments about UF that were good for Gator fans to hear. He said that Donovan was down to earth and that he wasn’t worried about the coaching rumors because it just means he’s a good coach. Here are some other of Knight’s quotes about UF:

“To be honest, having played with some really talented guards alongside me in Kenny Boynton and now Austin Rivers, I really like the idea of playing in a motion offense in college that features a heavy amount of pick and roll. I’ve been working on my game, specifically in using the pick and roll to my advantage, and schools like Florida look good to me because of how much they run the offense through their guards.

You’ve mentioned Florida quite a bit, do they occupy one of the top spots in your recruitment?

Well, I don’t know if I would say that necessarily, but there are a lot of attractive things about them, just like other schools. Ok, what makes Florida attractive to you, is it that Kenny Boynton and Austin Rivers are going to be there, does that play into things a bit ? Well, I mean, I’ve played with those guys a lot coming up, and they are really good players, so yeah, I guess you could say that gives them an advantage, but there are a lot of other schools that have good things about them too.”

Here’s the link to the full article.

About Calathes, I still like the comparison to Steve Smith if you look at Smith at age 30 or 32. That’s what I’m talking about — an NBA guard that at stage of his career had trouble guarding smaller point guards, but was effective because of what HE brought to the table. He’s not a sublimely complete point guard like Chris Paul (no one is) but he has NBA skills that I think he can bring to bear. If he goes pro this year (which I think he shouldn’t) he’d have to spend a year in Europe (Greece, likely) to hone his game even IF he’s drafted by someone, which sounds like a silly choice, but I’m not in his head.

About Erving Walker — I think that he has the SPIRIT of Teddy DuPay, but despite being short, I think he’s a LITTLE closer to a real point guard than Teddy was at this stage in their development (and Teddy never really did make the transition) AND will continue to develop more as a true point than he did.

Looking at both of their freshmen years, there are some similarities:

Teddy - 11.0 pts (40.2% FG, 37.6% 3’s, 81% FTs) in 22.5 minutes, 2.4 asts, 2.1 TOs, 1.6 rebs, 1.5 stls

Erving - 10.1 pts (43.4% FG, 41.9% 3’s, 78.5% FTs) in 24.1 min, 2.4 asts, 1.5 TOs, 1.5 rebs, 1.0 stls

It’s hard to judge because their teams were so different — Dupay had a more balanced team, even that freshman year, with fellow freshmen Mike Miller and Haslem, but also sophomores Major Parker and Brent Wright, junior Kenyan Weaks AND seniors Eddie Shannon and Greg Stolt.

What does that mean for turnovers, assists, points and general output compared to Walker’s cast this past year? I’m not sure, but I definitely think that I saw more pure point skills from Walker comparatively, even though he was next to Calathes, who scored so many points and dished so many assists.

The real key will be looking at if and when he improves in the coming years — Teddy basically averaged the same amount of assists and turnovers all 3 years he played. I’ll be surprised if Walker doesn’t IMPROVE on what he did this year in that regard.

I think that Kenny Boynton is going to be a great fit at the 2 this year. In the little I’ve seen and read, he’s a pure scorer who can get to wherever he wants to on the court and athletically has great defensive potential, so with he and the 6-4 Ray Shipman I’m not worried there. Account for Billy bringing in a point guard no matter what this class (like I mentioned before, 6-0 Eric Bledsoe, a 4-star traditional point out of Bama has UF #1 on his list this year) and the backcourt is strong.

Regarding the 3 position for the Gators, I’m pretty optimistic about Dan Werner as a tweener senior at the 3 with real power forwards and centers around him. Tyus really improved his scoring, Boynton will be a gunner even as a freshman, and Walker isn’t bashful about scoring either, so he’ll be at best the 4th offensive option. That sounds about right, and with his passing ability I think he’ll be an asset in his final year rather than cringe-inducing.

Combine that with Chandler Parsons as a 6th man (the perfect role for a “tweener 3/4″) and I’m liking it.

The transfer problems at UF individually are always defensible and understandable, but collectively they are mystifying and troubling. How can a program lose so many players after only one year, two tops?