<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale was overheard on a Knoxville, Tenn., radio station saying that Billy Donovan told him NBA teams would make a mistake if they drafted Joakim Noah over Al Horford. "He [Donovan] said, '. . . There's no way I'm taking Noah over Horford,'" Vitale is heard telling his friends. Vitale was doing an interview for the station with his cell phone and didn't realize he was on the air. Billy D has denied ever telling Vitale this. Feb. 28</div> Source
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Appearing on radio station WNML-FM in Knoxville, Tenn., Vitale did not know he was on the air when having a conversation with friends at The Broken Egg restaurant in Siesta Key. The hosts, Mike Griffith and John Adams, listened into the conversation in which Vitale told one of his friends that pro scouts were making a mistake by rating Joakim Noah over Al Horford. "I was wrong for what I said," Vitale said by cell phone Tuesday. "To me, it's a non-story, a non-issue, but I feel bad for Billy because it put him in a negative light." Donovan denied making the comment on Monday's Southeastern Conference coaches teleconference. "I'm not going to comment about something I didn't say," Donovan said. Vitale acknowledged that he did have a conversation with Donovan before Florida's game against Kansas at the Las Vegas Invitational, a game he called for ESPN. During the conversation, the subject of Horford and Noah came up. "He told me 'NBA scouts really love Al Horford' but he never compared the two," Vitale said. "I think he was just looking to get Al some publicity at the time. "I basically was having a conversation with a friend of mine in a restaurant who is a big Gator fan. Do you ever shoot the breeze with your buddies? I basically was just paraphrasing something that Billy said and took some liberties with it I shouldn't have."</div> Source
I don't know if there is more behind the scenes things that no one knows about between Billy D and Noah. It seems like our entire offensive focus has gone through Al and we are giving Al the ball up top, rather than Noah who is a much better penetrator. Billy D also seems to have a quicker hook with Noah. Noah gets 2 quick fouls and he gets taken out for the rest of the half, while when Horford does it, he gets put back in with a couple minutes left in the half. Noah just doesn't seem happy and he just doesn't bring the energy that we are so used to seeing. They need to get whatever they have settled out so we can go back to playing team basketball.
