The Marreese Speights watch is down to five days.
On Monday, Speights will have to either decide to come back to UF or officially have his name in the NBA Draft.
So there certainly won't be much relaxing done this weekend for the perhaps former center. Matt Ramker, Speights' former AAU coach who is helping guide him through this process with Billy Donovan, said he is scheduled for workouts with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors. He has already worked out for the Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, New Jersey Nets, Phoenix Suns, Seattle Supersonics and Indiana Pacers.
While the likes of Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley don't have to go from city to city, as only a few teams with the top picks will look at them, Speights is racking up the frequent flyer miles. And he soon may have the paycheck to easily afford it all.
Most mock draft Web sites have Speights going in the middle of the first round. While Ramker called those sites "crap," it could be worse for the 6-foot-10 big man.
"The biggest decision for him is finding a spot he's most comfortable with in the first round," Ramker said. "A team he'll have playing time with and have a chance to develop. But he loves UF. He isn't taking this decision lightly. He loves Donovan and the staff."
Speights may love Donovan even more if UF's coach can get some good news. Ramker said Donovan will speak to NBA general managers and officials that he knows to get a sense of where Speights will be picked instead of using the speculation of Web sites. The information that Donovan gets will be a major part of whether Speights decides to stay in the draft or come back for his junior year.
"Nobody that has a mock draft Web site is making a pick on June 26," Ramker said. "It's coming down to the NBA general managers. If he feels he's not in a good situation, he'll come back. He's not in a rush to leave."
While Speights showed sprinkles of dominant play while at UF, he still struggled with conditioning. But Ramker said he's in excellent physical shape. And after all those individual workouts and jet lag, he'd pretty much have to be.
"It's not easy," Ramker said. "They're by themselves. They fly in, work out, have a meeting, eat with the team and then fly right back out to the next city. It's been a grind. He's been mentally tough through the whole thing."
