Donovan Addresses Media Optimistic About 2010-11 Roster
Monday, May 24, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Florida Head Coach Billy Donovan
Media Availability Quotes
May 24, 2010
On Florida's scholarship status for the 2010-11 season:
“There was a lot that transpired in April after our final game in terms of us getting on the road recruiting. Also Alex (Tyus) put his name in for the NBA Draft and then took it out. Right now, Nimrod (Tishman) is not going to come back – that's one guy. I felt like that was going to happen. I love him as a kid and he had a great experience here, but for him coming the distance he came and not getting and opportunity to play much here was a part in his decision. I think part of him wanted to come back again, but I don't think he wanted to come back if it was going to be the same situation as last season. Coming over here to play in the States was an adjustment period for him. He's got some opportunities in Israel professionally. I loved coaching him and I still have a great relationship with him and his family, but he's going to stay back in Israel. I appreciate him coming over here and giving it a shot.”
“With the Adam Allen situation, he is probably the next one I've had the chance to talk with. He has a very unique situation because Adam hasn't played ball in two years. I want to give him every opportunity to come back and to play and that's what he wants to do. There's such an uncertainty about where he's going to be at physically when our season starts. His rehab is going well and it looks like things are on course. He's been doing some light running, but he hasn't been able to do anything basketball-wise yet, so the challenge for him is getting himself healthy and to a point where he's able to compete and play. In talking to Adam, one of the scenarios for him was a medical exemption, where he would stay on scholarship, but he would give up the opportunity to ever do anything athletically at the collegiate level. That's a pretty big commitment. He's close to graduating – he's going to graduate in the spring. He also has a Bright Futures scholarship. There's a good chance he'll be able to get six years eligibility because the same injury has prevented him from playing both years. After he graduates from Florida, and also the reason for him to not do the medical exemption, is the possibility of him going somewhere else after graduation to either play basketball at a smaller level school or maybe continue his baseball career – I know he played a little for the Florida team. He's not quite sure. He could use his scholarship to go somewhere else and work on a master's degree. If he signs the medical exemption, he knows he's giving up any chance of playing any sport at the collegiate level. He's not going to know enough until September/October on the status of his health and the paperwork for a medical exemption has to be in by the middle of August. We're not going to know where he's at in regards to his health that early. He realizes he has a tremendous uphill battle, his skill level and more. There are a lot of unknowns right now.”
On giving Cody Larson:
“When I first saw him play in July, he had made a decision very early to go to Iowa. I know the people around there very well - a lot of familiar people that I trust and respect - because of (former Gator) Mike Miller. When Cody decided to open up his recruitment, I had no knowledge of any of the stuff. As we got into the recruiting process, they were very forthright, up front and open about what had happened. I sensed a young man who was very na?ve in a lot of respects. He's a great kid and he made a mistake. He's very remorseful for what happened. Getting to know him a little bit better, he think that this was a mistake he made, he took responsibility for it and was up front, open and honest with me about it. I checked in around him and I feel like he's a good kid who made a bad decision. At the time, he probably didn't realize the ramifications of what happened. I talked to our administration, (Athletics Director) Jeremy Foley, (Senior Associate Athletics Director/Compliance) Jamie McCloskey about things, they were totally aware of what was going on, they looked into it too and I think we both felt that this was a mistake he made that he's certainly paying the penalty for. Going forward, I feel like he can be a great person and a great player for us and everyone around him that I know says great things about him. I don't know how his sentence (120 days) is going to work. It's suspended right now. Whatever he has to do back there in South Dakota won't affect him here. A lot of the people dealing with his case back there understand the opportunity he has to go to college, get a scholarship and play basketball. They'll work all those things out in South Dakota.”
On Scottie Wilbekin signing with the Gators and coming to school a year early:
“With Ray (Shipman) leaving and the backcourt wide open and with Adam Allen's situation as a perimeter player and not knowing where he's at health-wise, we had Scottie on our radar. Really, the person who did most of the work was (assistant coach) Rob Lanier. The two biggest things it came down to were one, would Scottie want to forego his senior year, and two, is it something that he felt like he could take on and handle – it's not going to be easy, it's going to be an adjustment period for him and he can't get caught up in a decision like this and then say, 'I wish I was back in high school.' Any freshman goes through a lot of ups and downs. Rob was the one that had talked a lot with his father about it. Once they spoke about it, Rob came to me and we talked about it. When you have two starting players from the backcourt returning in (Kenny) Boynton and (Erving) Walker, those two gained tremendous experience this year, Walker in his first year running the point and Boynton a freshman with a tremendous amount of hype, but those two played a lot of minutes. Scottie gives us a true point guard and a guy that's going to understand his role. It will allow us to do more, go up and down more and even take the ball out of Walker's hands a little more. Last year, we even put Chandler (Parsons) in at the point, we still have the option and with a guy like Scottie we have a number of different combinations to play. He creates versatility for our team. He wants to do anything to help our team. That's a unique situation. He wants to help us win and contribute in a way that's going to make our team better. As talented and good as he is, it's an extra bonus that he's a point guard and understands the play. I think down the road he's going to be a very good player for us.”
On Scottie skipping his senior year and supporting that trend:
“I think it all comes down to the parents. In that situation, it has everything to do with the family. It's the same thing when you talk about a player leaving early for the NBA. It's a family decision. In this situation, Scottie has a great family, great parents and they raised him in a way that Christianity and their spiritual life is very important to them. I'm sure they prayed about it. In the end, it was his decision. No one was twisting his arm. He was going to be recruited at the highest level going into his senior year. He loves Florida, he's always wanted to be here and he knows we have some depth issues in our backcourt. Once it was presented to his family, it was really a family decision.”
On how the team is coming together and having all the pieces of the puzzle:
“The one thing is we certainly have experience coming back and I think we have a certain level of expectation on our team after going to the tournament. We have all five starters coming back, we're gaining depth in our frontcourt, bringing in a guy like Patric Young, who's a McDonald's All-American, we'll be gaining some depth in our backcourt, also with (Casey) Prather, Scottie Wilbekin. We also have two really good frontcourt guys joining us as well in (Cody) Larson and (Will) Yeguete. It's going to be interesting to see how our older guys handle a higher level of expectation. Going into the season, we're probably going to be a team that is ranked very high, which they've never had to deal with before. And the other thing to deal with is having new players that are coming in and the respect level they have for the work that the others, like Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin, have put in at this point in time. They're going to have to come in and create some chemistry, gel. The biggest thing we've got to do offensively is raise shooting percentages. We had five guys last year the almost all averaged double-figure scoring, but it has to be a focus for Boynton and Walker – understanding good shots and bad shots.”
On Alex Tyus' role next season after initially opting for the NBA Draft:
“I really did not know if he would be back. Alex's intention was always that if he wasn't going to be a first round draft pick, he was going to come back. Anytime you put your name in, you never know what's going to happen. This is the first time since I've been here at Florida that any player has put their name in the NBA Draft and as come back. Every other guy that has put their name in has gone. I didn't know what he was going to do until he called me and told me. I think it was healthy that he put his name in. A lot has been talked about Alex, his true position and the position he plays. A lot of the NBA guys talked to him and told him their selections have nothing to do with that stuff. Hearing it from someone at that level is a little bit different. He went and worked out with Portland and they actually gave him some guys in the NBA to look at so he could see what he's going to have to do at the next level. It was good in terms of what they were able to tell him, they were up front and honest.”
On his thoughts on having to sit out a year after transferring:
“Well, I think if you don't have a rule like that, there's going to be a mass exodus everywhere. The one thing I think they want to stay away from is coaches recruiting off another program and a player leaving with no penalty. That would be a problem too, probably. When freshmen go to college, there's always that transition period. Every freshman wonders if they made the right decision. That's what they all go through and once they work through that, they get better, improve and have a good career.”
On Kenny Kadji's back surgery and improvement:
“He's doing good. The thing with being out for an extended period of time is that he can't do anything physically. Because of his back, he hasn't been able to lift, run and stay in shape physically. That's also something Adam (Allen) has been dealing with for two years. Adam has lost weight and Kadji has lost 17 pounds so far. Both of them are moving in the right direction. For them, it's the first time in their lives they've been as inactive as they are. Their metabolism was so high between practice and playing ball, but for Adam, it's been two years since he could even run, but he's doing a great job with that. Kenny has done a little bit of working out. Right now, he has been going to his rehab. Because his surgery happened when it did and we knew we had so much time to get him back, we have been a lot less aggressive in trying to get him back soon, we want him to heal. He's doing a good job recovery-wise.”
