Past Gators Active During Busy Summer

The summer of 2016 has been a busy one for a lot of past Gators, both on the court and off. With Florida's season still almost four months away, let's fill the time by taking a peek at what some of our alumni have been up to this summer.

NBA Free Agency

The Gators made a huge splash in the opening days of NBA free agency as a quartet of Gator greats inked over $400 million in new deals.

Big weekend for some Gator Greats. Congrats, guys! ???? #GatorsAlways #GoGators pic.twitter.com/CTYmboHaGu
— Gator M-Basketball (@GatorsMBK) July 2, 2016

Brad Beal stayed put with the Washington Wizards while Al Horford (Celtics), Joakim Noah (Knicks) and Chandler Parsons (Grizzlies) all got new addresses. Soon after, Marreese Speights joined the Gators on the move, signing with the Los Angeles Clippers after helping Golden State to its record-breaking 73-win season.

But while these five players were making headlines off the court, several guys were looking to make an impact on the court.

NBA Summer League

The NBA Summer League moved even further into mainstream consciousness this summer as ESPN televised many of the games. Summer League action is always a great reminder of just how elite the NBA is as past college stars scrap and claw for the opportunity to sign a contract.

Just prior to action getting underway in Las Vegas, Dorian Finney-Smith signed a free agent deal with the Dallas Mavericks. Finney-Smith appeared in six games for the Mavericks, logging 20+ minutes four times and averaged 2.8 points and 3.5 rebounds. He scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds in 28 minutes against Chicago.
Casey Prather played for the Mavericks in the Orlando portion of Summer League, averaging 11.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in five games, highlighted by a 23-point performance against Charlotte that included the highlight slam below.

A little bit of recent Casey Prather action, representing the @dallasmavs at the NBA Summer League. https://t.co/y7c76Xvayi
— Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) July 18, 2016

Scottie Wilbekin played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, whose summer team was coached by former UF staffer Mark Daigneault. The 2014 SEC Player of the Year averaged 5.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game with a 12, 6 and 3 against the Hornets.
Michael Frazier II played in five games with the Orlando Magic, twice going for 12 points. He had 12 points, three rebounds and three assists in a win vs. the Knicks and went 2-for-2 from 3-point range in a victory vs. the Hornets.
Eli Carter saw limited minutes with the Cleveland Cavs, but had 11 points in nine minutes in a win vs. the Nets.
Chris Walker appeared for the Houston Rockets and got on the board with three points vs. Milwaukee.

Olympic Qualifying

After Beal withdrew from consideration for USA Basketball's Olympic team, the Gators had one final opportunity for a player to advance to the Olympics this summer via a qualifying tournament. FIBA held three seperate six-team qualifying tournaments with the winner of each moving on to Rio. Nick Calathes and Greece competed in the Italy qualifier, and Calathes helped Greece to two group phase wins against Mexico and Iran, but fell in the semifinals to eventual champion Croatia. Calathes averaged 5.3 points and 5.3 assists in the tournament, including seven points, seven assists and four rebounds against Mexico.

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