Is Clayton an All-Time great?

Here's more data nobody asked for.

5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Again - completely unscientific and arbitrary. Things like FT% being weighted as strongly as PPG. Silly. But was fun to compile and look at.

 

He has my vote for an all time great, or member of the starting 5.

 

I never saw Neal walk play so I can’t comment on him although I’m sure he deserves to be in there. My top 5 in reverse order are
5. Taurean green
4. Al horford
3. Brad Beal
2. Walter Clayton
1. Udonis haslem

haslem gets a big bonus for playing all four years and being consistently good starting as a freshman. Beal had the most talent. Mike miller would be on here if he stayed one more year. It was hard leaving off Patric young. Corey brewer gets honorable mention.

 

Speaking of Pitino, anyone nervous about facing him in a potential elite 8? He coached and knows Walt as good as anyone (outside of TG ) so could potentially do some things to trip him up. Even if that happens our other platoon of guards will have his back. Pitino will need to pick his poison.

And yes, Walt is an all time Gator Great! Top 5 for sure.

 

I left off Livingston Chatman, but to me, this man is in the SEC tournament Hall of Fall. I was working the tournament that year, he is every bit of 6’7”, about 280lbs. I remember him his first playing at Florida, he drove the lane, did a 360 move, went up and slammed it home. at the time he was about 240 lbs. His shoulders were wide, his girth was thick, his legs were small for his size. The legs and knees couldn’t handle the pounding before he left playing at Florida. He had the size and strength of Barkley, but was way more advanced at scoring. If his legs could have held up, the Gators would have gone deeper than ever at the time. Great player and a great person.

 

Kind of mind blown Joakim doesn’t even get an honorable mention. Thought he would be in EVERYBODY’s top 3 for sure.

 

I still think of Walter as more of a scoring guard, but he's a superb scorer and an amazing athlete. I think he belongs in the top 5.

 

I hate to ask you to extend your great work, but if we are comparing stats, I think Calathes would come out pretty well.

 

CHAT MAN!

 

"Stacy Poole is taking over!!"

And where does Dwayne Shinztius fall in the list?

 

He's number one in intimidating scowl and mullet prowess.

He had a big impact and was key for the first title but probably centers ahead of him on the list.

 

Maybe because Clayton is in the present compared to the other guards but stats do not tell you when a big play is needed to win the game and I just feel like Clayton consistently makes the big play when the Gators need it. He also has this calmness to him that trickles down to the rest of the team that just keeps the Gators from getting rattled when the game tightens. He just seems to have the intangibles. These are all great players and I appreciate every one of them that has played for the Gators!

 

You all can blame Rade for this one:


half point increments. green (3) > light green / yellow / white / orange / red (0.5)

You were right to want to add Calathes to the mix. He still falls short of Pullin's year by my impeccible data analysis

We can easily quibble (to say the least) about using these numbers as any sort of true gauge of a player's greatness, but nonetheless - Pullin's year was clearly exceptional. I made this arguement on reddit last year and was downvoted into oblivion. I think a good argument could be made for our '23/'24 backcourt being the greatest offensive Gator backcourt ever.

 

Pullin had a phenomenal season last year. Anyone who disagreed with that is a dope. Lots of those on the interwebs though.

 

Agreed on all points. It was mostly knee jerk dismissals citing the names above without any stats. I didn't put the energy in to make it a debate.

Ain't no many dopes in NBN though. We recognized Pullin's amazing year and I think his performance is what made NBN collectively breath into paper bags all off season worrying about the ginormous shoes Zyon left behind. I'd say Walt took care of that panic attack.

 

I thought Pullin’s best traits were less tangible, like his steadiness and ability to hit clutch jumpers. But if he has those traits AND can beat Calathes in a head to head statistical comparison, I’m sold.

Fun note: I once calculated that if Calathes had stayed four years and just kept the same rate of production, he would have ended up as Florida’s career leader in points, assists, and steals. And he would have threatened to break the top 10 in rebounds.

 

I wasn’t sure how Wally would do running the show. I think he’s more than exceeded any and all expectations though.

 

You, sir, are kinda mostly spot on correct.

Sophmore Nick x 4years would have EASILY been:

#1 in scoring with 2,462 (Ronnie Williams 2,090)
#1 in assists with 923 (Cheese 571)
#1 in steals with 272 (Eddie Shannon 204)

While insane for a PG, his rebounding would not have been top 10, though:

763 (#1 Walk 1,181 / #10 Gary Keller 855)