Who Knew Nick Calathes Was This Good
After back-to-back championships, you might say that the Florida Gators haven’t been playing too well for the past couple years. But you definitely can’t say that about Nick Calathes. Despite not seeing him play in the Big Dance, Calathes could very well be the best player picked in the second round.
At 6-6 and 194 pounds, Calathes causes match-up problems all over the court as he can play point guard, shooting guard or small forward. While I knew that he was a former two-time Florida Mr. Basketball and McDonald’s All-American, I had no clue that he ranked in the top 10 in nine of 13 possible categories during SEC play as a First Team All-SEC player this past season. Better yet, he was the only player in the nation to average better than 15 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists per game.
With former point guards such as Jason Williams, Teddy Dupay and Taurean Green, Calathes ranks third in Gator history in career assists after just two years, breaking the records for assists and assists per game in each of his first two years – 221 as a freshman (6.1 apg) and 231 (6.4 apg) as a sophomore.
That’s why in a PG heavy Draft, I understood Calathes heading overseas to play in the Greek A1 League with the elite Euroleague champion club Panathinaikos Athens. Making around €2.1 million euros net income over three years, in addition to providing him with a home, car, tax credits, and endorsements, Calathes was getting hooked up.
But what I didn’t understand was why Calathes dropped all the way down to the Timberwolves with the 45th pick in the second round before being traded to the Mavericks for a 2010 second round draft pick and cash. In a couple years, that could be one of the best trades Mark Cuban ever made. With Jason Kidd a free agent this summer, and Jason Terry almost 32 years old, that would leave Jose Juan Barea as the only legit PG option currently on the roster. If Dallas wants to do something, I’d say get Calathes over here sooner rather than later.
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June 29th, 2009 at 11:28 am
WizFan301 says:
I kept telling people to look out for this kid
June 29th, 2009 at 11:36 am
doc says:
Yeah we’ll see about all this.I fucked with his brother at St Joes though.
June 29th, 2009 at 11:49 am
that's whats up says:
dude looks like he should be driving a tractor on a farm
June 29th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
karizmatic says:
I’ve been looking for the sleeper in this draft, he could very well be it.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
karizmatic says:
With those type of stats he could end up being a bigger stronger version of Kirk Hinrich.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Diego says:
I don’t know.
I understand he is very unathletic. (Never dunks–assuming he can (I have heard he barely can).)
Certainly cannot play forward. Played point guard at Florida–and was nice.
By the way, Jason Williams played less than 1 year (got booted during season I believe for smoking dope) at Florida, I believe. So it reasons he didn’t nail that many assists.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
LB says:
I can see him being a Brian Shaw type. Maybe not a star, but a big, heady guard who’ll do all the little things.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
JC says:
I am a non-believer in Calathes, though I have been aware of his statistical prowess in the SEC. It’s important to reconsider that the SEC has been quite weak for the past couple of years, so Calathes’ beasting of the conference may not be as impressive as it would have been had he done it in the ACC, Big East, or Big 12. As a Gator and a general hoops fan, I wish him the best. However, I am absolutely perplexed that Nick’s name came up as a possible first round pick this year, and I would be shocked (but excited lol) if he cracked an NBA roster this year.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Phil B says:
he might be ok… but he ain’t clutch. i remember watching him play against kentucky last year and during the last seconds of the game, he lets jodie meeks hit a huge three to break a tie. then on the other end he gets fouled shooting a three, so he has a shot to tie the game and send it to overtime. instead he misses ALL of the freethrows. terrible.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
A$$Cube aka B.E.A.U.B.O.I.S. says:
Calathes and Barea will NOT be the only legit PG on the Mavs.
Rodrigue Beaubois should not be overlooked ! He has the potentiel to be one of the two/three best PG of this draft class.
Don’t sleep on him. EVER.
Cuban knew it when he traded Mullens on draft day to go get the French phenom…
June 29th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
MNTwolves says:
So you’re saying that the Wolves were fleeced once again by drafting a good player and then trading him away a few minutes later? Just like last year with Mario Chalmers, where we traded a good point guard in the 2nd round for this year’s 2nd round draft pick and now we traded that draft pick for next year’s 2nd round draft pick? LOL The Wolves might be the most generous team in the NBA for helping other teams become better.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:08 am
haslem says:
Calathes is quite good but definitely could afford to be more physical, and athletic.
Calathes has joined panathanaikos a great squad and he will learn from guys like V-span.
what will really define him as a player is his performance on the Greek national team. It’s a very talented squad so if he can produce there that is very heartening.
hopefully he joins the L earlier than in 3 years. I wonder why he didn’t at least brave the draft and saw what happened.