Now that we see the good players that are entering the draft like Love, Douglas Roberts, Aurther, Rush.... it is time to start the Mareese Speights death watch. What ring of hell will he be in next year? D league, Europe, Turkey... Isreal? Does Krgyzstan have a basketball league?
LOL
well if you equate death with staying with his full ride at UF... the coffin nails are droppin like crazy now...
and still no word from most of UNC but if a few more top talents announce poor Marreese will be dam glad he didn't hire an agent cuz his number is dropping like blue ice from a 747.
With Mitchell transferring, Mo would be smart to stay but smart doesn't always rule the day.
Speights will be back next year, 1) there are too many players that are better than him going to the NBA, 2) there is only two rounds of draft in the NBA and he is a low 2nd round pick I think. 3) I think Billy D. had him test the waters to see where he stands.
Now He did not take an agent and hopefully he don't pull a bone head thing like Randolph Morris did by practicing for scouts. because it cost Morris a few weeks on the bench watching.
I still think Billy D. holds the cards for Speights and he should return to the Gators But if the recruiting class coming is as good as they say Speights may be a 6 or 7 player
Yah Speights ain't leaving. My guess is he just announced he was going pro to see where he could possibly go in the draft. When he sees he probably won't make it he will come back.
Yea, I don't see him going either. He's just not ready and I don't see any team picking him up. I just saw that Koufos, the big seven footer from OSU, has entered the draft so that drops Speights down another slot, if he even had a slot to start with. But like Speights, Koufos still hasn't hired an agent so he might return to OSU as well.
If Speights comes to his senses next year should be very good to Billy and the hoopsters. Even if somehow he makes it the NBA next year he will be lucky to get half the limited time
Richard saw in MN. on a very bad team.
All of you that think Speights is staying better be ready for a letdown. Is he ready for the NBA? Hell no, not even a little bit but that usually has nothing to do with it. All decisions are made based off of projection and how NBA teams think he will develop. If he is a first rounder which right now I think he would be selected in the 20s somewhere he will be gone. I don't blame him for taking the guaranteed money if he can get it. I'm sure that if he is drafted he will be riding the pine for a few years at least, but these teams have shown over and over again that they will draft unproven players they think have potential over finished products alot of the time. I hope he comes back to school because he could get alot better, but the NBA drafting is fickle and staying a year can actually sometimes hurt you.
If he goes he might be doing us all a favor. He's weak in the paint. He's a finesse guy. You didn't see him beatin' and bangin' with anybody, he doesn't dive for loose balls. Florida needs a big body down low...somebody who isn't afraid of getting pushed around but is able to push some people around too. He's weak!! Get somebody on the court that can run for a full game. He always seemed to be a loafer, just floatin' along. Am I wrong?
HOPEFULLY Spreights is not going anywhere - and since he did not sign with an agent [very smart] he can un-declare and come back to school. And for everyone saying how weak and useless the guy is you obviously did not watch many games this year.
Spreights stats:
31 double fugure scoring games [same as Calathes] with 9 20 points or more
11 double digit rebound games / 10 double-double
9 for 12 at line in final 3 minutes of game
10 for 19 from behind the arc
Average 8.1 rebounds per game [93 off 197 def]
We would LOVE to have this guy back another year and anyone saying otherwise is talkign out of their azz. Unfortunately he is expected to go in the top 25 and assuming no major slips - will likely leave.
Good points, I read my post again and realized that I was hatin' a little bit. I think my emotions got the best of me. I was just shocked that he would leave early when he did not lead his team at the times when they needed someone to step up and lead. He is one of the three players that actually had game experience from the previous year.
All those stats are great but when you can't stop people on offense then you better be able to out score them. He did average like 16 and 9 in SEC play, but those stats did not help the Gators win games . You are right; I was wrong to criticize him, I want him to come back for at least another year.
I was just disappointed for what he did or did not do without the ball in his hands. And that is something that you can't deny! He only averaged 1.4 blocks/gm. 0.4 steals, and 0.5 assists. He has only played 70 games in college, NBA season is 86. He only averaged 24 min this season. That's barely half a game.
You know what though, if he wants to go early then he can go....but he better hit the weight room and show a little more effort and/or leadership! Then he might play after 3 or 4 seasons on the bench.
Speights is gone, and there's no chance he's coming back. Scouts are still projecting him as a late lottery pick with worst case scenario being picked around #25. Add that up, with him most likely not wanting to play for the Gators anymore because we're always all over his back (even though he probably wasn't the main problem with the team) and there's pretty much no chance seeing him as a Gator again.
Guys, players like Horford, Noah, and Brewer returning are gone. If you have skill, you're entering the draft. We were lucky to have the type of guys we did. Anyone who took that for granted made a huge mistake.
There is no way that an NBA team will pass up Speights. He is very young and talented. I saw a mock draft where he went mid first round, call me crazy but I think that is a good spot for him.
