Just heard Chris Harry on Bianci's show this morning and they ranked the top 5 Gator basketball players with regard to both their NBA and college careers combined. Harry's top 5 were, in this order. 1. Noah 2. Horford 3. Haslem 4. Beal 5. Jason W And I always forget JW only played 20 games for UF and then was the seventh pick in the draft!
Horford, Noah, Lee and others were at Florida a few more years Beal. All were great players but I struggle with one-and-done being the greatest Gator. Do the number of hours in class or the degree actually matter anymore?
When it's all said and done, Beal will be the greatest, right team or not. Would Lebron be less than great if he'd played his entire career with Cleveland? I remember when we valued players for remaining loyal to a team for their entire career.
You may be right. For me, it will be very hard for someone to top the 04s. They came back because they loved Florida. There's a lot more too. Younger fans may not have that connection. LeBron is a red-herring since he never played college ball. I agree about valuing loyalty once-upon-a-time though . . . but that's mostly a quaint nostalgia now.
lots of nostalgia flying around in here! LBJ said that going to Miami for 4 years was like going to college for him, because he went straight from High School to the NBA without changing area codes. for what it’s worth, as a lifelong Cavs fan I don’t think we would have won it in 2016 if he had stayed the whole time. mostly because LeBron is such a terrible GM!
Lol..Love Hordford but nope. 1. Bradly Beal 2. J Will 3. Mike Miller are all ahead of Hordford in the NBA imo.
Where is the respect for Corey Brewer? He was the MVP of the 2007 National Championship game. He had a long NBA career ... Yes, with multiple teams, and he was more of a role player / guy off the bench than 10 year starter ... but I am pretty sure he won a ring with either Dallas or Houston. 50 point game while playing for the Timberwolves in 2014.
Beal was 45 out of 123 at SG defense ranking this year. Higher than expected. Horford was 3 out of 85. I still like Horford over Beal.
I struggle with the one and done thing too, but try to temper it with remembering that Beal was insisting on coming back, and Billy basically had to say you can't, you're a guaranteed Top 5 Draft Pick.
I love Al Horford, no disrespect. I would add Haslem had important contributions to bringing in three rings, so there's that.
Yeah I know the numbers might not show it, but for me it would be Haslem. 19 seasons with one team is incredible. I know he got the hometown bias, but you don't stick around a team for 19 seasons if you don't provide some kind of value.
Though Beal & Horford haven't won a ring yet, give me Beal as #1 and Al #2. If championships were the measurement, Haslem wins hands down. NBA Champion Florida Gators Vernon Maxwell - Houston Rockets (1994, 1995) Jason Williams - Miami Heat (2006) Udonis Haslem - Miami Heat (2006, 2012, 2013) Matt Bonner - San Antonio Spurs (2007, 2014) Corey Brewer - Dallas Mavericks (2011) Mike Miller - Miami Heat (2012, 2013) David Lee - Golden State Warriors (2015) Marreese Speights - Golden State Warriors (2015) UF guaranteed to take home NBA title following conference semifinals
