Highlights from latest game: He's third in Euroleague scoring right now this year at 16 ppg, behind only Mirotic and Micic. He passed 400 career threes yesterday, being the youngest player in Euroleague history to hit that mark (11th all-time already). Maccabi Tel Aviv is having an up-and-down year (11-12 -- started out 7-3, lost 8 games in a row, and has won 4 of the past 5), but Wilbekin is having a very solid year individually. Beside Wilbekin, Ante Zizic (former Cavs 1st-round pick) is having a really solid year, Keenan Evans (All-American from those TTU teams) is a solid complementary guard as a Euroleague rookie, and Derrick Williams provides a spark every once in awhile. Wilbekin might be the best UF basketball pro right now after Beal, Horford, and DFS, and I really recommend watching Maccabi play.
I became really good friends with an Israeli Gator Grad, who is a fervent basketball fan. I only knew of the existence of one Israeli team - Maccabi Tel Aviv - so I naturally asked if he was a fan of theirs. What I learned is that there is deep rooted hatred for Maccabi Tel Aviv, if you are a Hapoel Jerusalem supporter. He was born in Jerusalem and moved to Gainesville in his teens. I ask him all the time when he has a son if he will name him Nimrod (after Nimrod Tishman).
For a kid ranked as the #44 prospect in Florida back in 2010 (and a player that many UF fans criticized Donovan at the time for even signing), Wilbekin has had a heck of a career both at UF and also the pro level.
Me too Choice, those were the days. My boys had Wilbekin shirts. When our travel teams played in G Ville remember my boys thinking how cool it was to play at the Rock. Don’t forget Scottie was a 2 star high school player.
Shows he was coached well. White can coach To me he has not recruited that well, he gets a few So well coached
For the record no one knows where Wilbekin would've been ranked as a recruit if he had gone through the normal high school process. He didn't play AAU ball as a junior and was at UF in what would've been his senior year. He probably would've blown up.
He is obviously getting paid really well there, and has a bunch of adoring fans, or he is not enamored with playing in the NBA. He definitely has a role in the NBA, if he wanted it.
He's one of the five or so guards in Europe who's legitimately good enough to play in the NBA, but at the same point, finding a team who's willing to give stable minutes to a late-20s guard who hasn't played in the NBA as opposed to a developmental prospect is difficult. Look at Kevin Pangos -- had a great year in Euroleague last year, got a contract with the Cavs, and can't crack their rotation. Now he's rumored to be signing with CSKA. If Wilbekin had come up in the two-way contract era, I think he'd be in the league right now. He's a lot better than what most of these guards on two-way contracts will ever be. But at this point I'm not sure we'll ever see him in the league (he has one more year on contract with Maccabi, at which point he'll be 30).
Prather also had a really good season in Israel (won league MVP) but blew out his knee in the league semis against Wilbekin's team. Young and Prather are both borderline NBAers as well but injuries derailed their careers for the most part.
Finally we can agree on something. Wilbekin was coached extremely well at UF. By the way, he graduated in 2014. White didn’t become the Florida coach until the 2015-2016 season. By then, Wilbekin, Prather, Young and Yeguete, all of whom made extraordinary progress at UF under Billy, were long gone.
