6 BITS: Mike Miller traded, Casey Prather headed overseas, Tim Tebow throws, McElwain praised

By Adam Silverstein
July 27, 2015

1 » Former Florida Gators guard/forward Mike Miller, who signed a two-year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers to play with superstar LeBron James and hopefully win another title before retiring, has been traded by the franchise to the Portland Trailblazers. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, who first reported the Miller trade, he will likely be bought out by Portland and become a free agent, though league rules prevent him from resigning with Cleveland for a full season.

With roster spots at a premium right now, Miller would likely have to wait to join a new team; he could also decide to retire. Miller, 35, is owed $2.85 million in the final year of his contract but will likely accept a buyout for a much lower amount. He has already received $400,000 as a trade kicker, a clause that was built into his Cavaliers contract.


2 » Former Gators F Casey Prather agreed to terms early last week with the Perth Wildcats of Australia’s National Basketball League. The team officially announced his signing on Friday, referring to Prather as an “American excitement machine.” Prather, 24, impressed Perth while performing with a team of NBA D-League stars during the 2015 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Though he was uneasy at first about playing in Australia, Prather was convinced to do so by none other than former Florida point guard Scottie Wilbekin, who spent his first year out of college with the NBL’s Cairns Taipans. “He said Australia is beautiful, the Wildcats have a great fan base and are contenders every year,” Prather told The Sunday Times. As it turns out, Perth is Cairns’ rival, so Wilbekin may have unintentionally hurt his former team with the advice. Wilbekin, of course, converted his tremendous season with the Taipans and a terrific showing in the summer league into a four-year contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, as first reported by OnlyGators.com.

3 » Four-star athlete Demetris Robertson (Savannah, GA), the No. 35 player in the 247Sports Composite, does not look like he’s headed to the Gators, but he did attend Florida’s Friday Night Lights camp over the weekend and offered a tremendous compliment to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about Gators head coach Jim McElwain. “Coach Mac is a great man who has got it going in the right direction,” Robertson told the paper. “[He] reminds me a lot of Nick Saban. … It’s not what he says. It’s just his philosophy on doing things. He holds people accountable and stresses academics. He’s going to be successful.” While the opinions of a high schooler who has not stepped foot on a college football field are certainly far from a final verdict on the coach (who himself has yet to lead Florida in a game), the positive impression McElwain is making with some of the top-rated recruits in the nation is worth noting.

4 » Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Tim Tebow continued working on his throwing motion even after minicamp concluded, and For The Win got this exclusive footage of him working out at USC recently. Take a look for yourselves. Training camp for the Eagles opens on Aug. 2 and many believe Tebow has a good chance to make the team.

5 » Dallas Mavericks F Chandler Parsons (knee) and Washington Wizards G Bradley Beal are both expected to join USA Basketball minicamp in August, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein. While neither has ultimately made the team despite trying out on numerous occasions, injuries and superstar talent ahead of them were mostly the reasons in the past. Whether Parsons or Beal will make the team this time is unknown, especially as Parsons is still dealing with his knee injury and Beal is in the midst of contract negotiations with the Wizards.

6 » The Pittsburgh Steelers have decided to start center Maurkice Pouncey on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list to begin training camp, noting that he is dealing with an undisclosed foot injury. Coach Mike Tomlin told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Pouncey’s injury is “very minor,” though putting him on the PUP list would not normally indicate as much.

Extra BIT » A long-time @OnlyGators follower sent this screen capture in on Sunday. The Devil’s Advocate is certainly a tremendous film, and Kevin Lomax’s hometown in the film was Gainesville, Florida. It was also released in October 1997. Still, despite all of that knowledge, the cover story of this newspaper was certainly not noticed before.

5 Comments

  1. Daniel M. says:

    How’s Wuerf doing these days?

    ——————-
    “the positive impression McElwain is making with some of the top-rated recruits in the nation is worth nothing.”

    Greatest…typo…EVER!

  2. scroud says:

    Mike Miller is living the life of Riley. He gets amnestied from the Heat so he gets paid his full salary PLUS signs a new contract with Memphis. Now he gets a 400k and a buyout, and will hopefully sign with a contender where he can see more minutes.
    Good on ya mate.

  3. gatorhippy says:

    I had noticed the Wuerffel newspaper a long time ago…there is also a championship banner hanging in the bar they are celebrating his winning the case at the beginning of the movie…

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