When Nick Calathes announced his decision to leave UF after his sophomore season and take his game overseas, he took a huge part of the team's future with him.
Earlier this month, Calathes signed a contract that could pay up to $3.5 million with Euroleague powerhouse Panathinaikos in Greece. The 6-foot-6 guard was taken with the 45th pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday, and his rights were later traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Dallas Mavericks.
"Once he signed that contract, that may have ill-affected the number he was drafted, but I think that he covered both ends very well," associate head coach Larry Shyatt said in a Southeastern Conference men's basketball teleconference. "He's in pretty good shape financially."
To bring Calathes to the NBA, the Mavericks would have to pay $500,000 to buy out his two-year contract, which has an option for a third season.
With last season's leading scorer out of the picture, the Gators will be left with a sizable hole in their roster, particularly at the point guard spot after failing to sign one in the 2009 recruiting class.
"We are just very, very thin and frail in the backcourt right now," Shyatt said. "We most definitely need a point guard in that 2010 class."
UF hoped to sign a point guard - notably John Wall or Lamont "MoMo" Jones - this summer, but Wall decided to attend conference rival Kentucky and Jones committed to Arizona.
As a result, Erving Walker is the only true point guard on the Gators roster. Shyatt said the team will have to lean heavily on the 5-foot-8 rising sophomore.
"We really are setting our jets for Erving Walker, who's naturally a point and played that position in high school," Shyatt said. "With Nick on the floor last year, he really played off the ball more."
Shyatt added that Walker was one of several players who will move to their natural positions next year. Dan Werner, who played down low throughout the 2008-09 season, will see more time on the wing as a small forward, and after playing center most of last year, Alex Tyus will play more at the power forward spot.
The addition of Vernon Macklin, the 6-foot-10 transfer from Georgetown who sat out last season, will provide more options in the frontcourt, especially for Tyus, whose 6-foot-8 frame put him at something of a disadvantage against most centers he faced.
Along with Macklin, the Gators added incoming freshman forward Erik Murphy and hope to see increased production from returning big men Kenny Kadji and Eloy Vargas.
With the added depth, Shyatt also hopes to play more man-to-man defense and plans to press more this year.
"We definitely have to defend and rebound better if we're going to win and win more big games this season," Shyatt said.
Despite his confidence in a deeper frontcourt, Shyatt repeatedly brought up UF's lack of depth in the backcourt during the teleconference, even joking, "My summer's been great except for this dearth at point guard."
Incoming freshman Kenny Boynton will do his part to make up for the loss of Calathes' scoring. In his senior year of high school at Plantation American Heritage High, the 6-foot-2 guard averaged 31 points per game, and he finished his high school career as the third-highest point scorer in Florida history.
"Kenny Boynton is a tenacious enough athlete - I think he is 'all in' as they would say - and he's going to be ready to do whatever it is, like Erving did as a freshman," Shyatt said. "But make no mistake about it: We need a point guard in that 2010 class really bad."
UF faced a similar lack of depth after last season, when UF's frontcourt was weakened by former Gator Marreese Speights' decision to enter the NBA Draft. Coach Billy Donovan pointed to Speights' early exit as one of the causes of UF's second straight appearance in the National Invitation Tournament.
A lack of depth down low haunted UF all season, as forward Adam Allen went down with an injury, Kenny Kadji struggled at times and Eloy Vargas saw few meaningful minutes.
Although losing players early is nothing new for Shyatt, he still acknowledged that it will be hard to replace everything Calathes brought to the team.
"It's definitely an impact, and not something new to us. We've lost eight underclassmen since I've been here in five years, and we've lost six underclassmen in three seasons," Shyatt said. "But it does - in this case - put us in a predicament this coming season in terms of really lacking the pure point guard and depth at the point guard."
