When the 2014 NBA Draft was all said and done on Thursday, not one Gator was selected.
Not Patric Young, a projected mid-second round pick and the No. 36 prospect on ESPN’s Chad Ford’s Top 100 list.
Not Scottie Wilbekin, the reigning Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and a third-team All-American selection.
Not Casey Prather or Will Yeguete, who along with Young and Wilbekin combined for 120 career wins as a group and finished their collegiate campaigns with a Final Four berth.
Despite it being the first year since 2010 without a UF player being selected, three former Gators landed spots on NBA summer league teams with the hope to latch onto a roster spot.
Young accepted an invitation to play with the New Orleans Pelicans summer team, which begins play on July 11 against the NBA D-League Select Team in Las Vegas.
The Pelicans, who finished 12th in the Western Conference with a 34-48 record in 2014, obtained just one player — Louisville guard Russ Smith — via trade during the draft.
Even with the opportunity to make the roster in New Orleans, it may be a long shot for Young to secure a spot.
The Pelicans return Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson at power forward, Jason Smith and Alexis Ajinca at center, and they also traded for Houston Rockets big man Omer Asik on Thursday in exchange for a 2015 first round draft pick and $1.5 million.
Wilbekin will have stints with both the Memphis Grizzlies in the Orlando summer league and the Philadelphia 76ers in Las Vegas this summer, according to his agent Matt Ramker.
The Grizzlies appear set at the point guard position, with sixth-year veteran Mike Conley averaging 33.5 minutes and 17.2 points per game in the 2014 regular season. But Wilbekin could be a valuable No. 2 option on a team that has yet to win a Conference Finals game.
If Wilbekin were to make it on the 76ers’ roster, he would be competing against Michael Carter Williams, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year who averaged 16.7 points per game and a team-best 6.3 assists per contest, for the top point guard spot. But after going 19-63 in 2014, spots on the Philadelphia roster are bound to be open.
Prather will also be heading to Las Vegas as he will be working with the Atlanta Hawks summer league.
After having a career year in his final season at Florida — averaging 13.8 points on a .603 shooting clip — the Jackson, Tenn., shooting guard is ready to prove that he wasn’t a one-year wonder.
The Hawks return two shooting guards who averaged more than 10 points per contest in 2014 — Kyle Korver (12.0) and Louis Wil liams (10.4) — and also have 23-year-old John Jenkins and second-round selection Lamar Patterson in the mix.
Will Yeguete was the only senior to have not inked a deal with an NBA summer league team. The Bordeaux, France, native is expected to return to Europe to play professionally.
Donovan coaches U18 team to gold: Two days before the NBA Draft, UF coach Billy Donovan was at the helm of the USA U18 team.
After bringing home gold medals with the 2012 USA U18 team and the 2013 U19 team, Donovan led the 2014 USA U18 team to a 5-0 record in Colorado Springs, Colo., to bring his coaching record to 19-0.
“I think that as a coach in this kind of event, you’re only as good as your players,” Donovan said in a release. “I’ve been very fortunate that in the past three years, I’ve coached some great guys, great kids and have some great coaches working with me.”
In five games, the United States outscored its opponents by an average of 54.8 points per game, defeating each team by at least 34 points.
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Scottie Wilbekin calls out a play to his teammates during Florida’s 62-52 win against Dayton on Saturday in FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn. Wilbekin went undrafted along with fellow Florida teammates Patric Young, Casey Prather and Will Yeguete. Yeguete is the only one of the four Gators to have not signed with an NBA summer league team.
