Former Gator forward Adrian Moss turned 32 last December, but in basketball years, he says he feels older than that.
“You start playing against dudes who were born in the 90s, that’s when you know you are getting old,” Moss said.
But Moss, a key reserve on UF’s 2006 national title team, is still plugging away at a professional basketball career. After playing last summer in Uruguay, Moss spent this past season playing for a team in Nara, Japan, about 20 miles outside Osaka.
Moss plans to return to play in Japan next season. But he’s starting to think about life after basketball. A cerebral player, Moss accepted his role behind future NBA All-Stars Al Horford and Joakim Noah on Florida’s first national title team in school history. But with Horford in early foul trouble against UCLA in the 2006 national title game, it was Moss who stepped up with nine points off the bench in the first half.
Florida coach Billy Donovan suggested at the time he could see Moss as a future coach, but Moss has another idea for a future career path.
“I’d rather have my own sports talk show,” Moss said. “Probably go that way. I think I’d enjoy that a lot.”
If you follow his Twitter account (@AdrianM4), you know Moss has strong opinions. His basketball insight remains keen. In the summer before his Erik Murphy’s junior season, Moss told me Murphy was poised to have a breakout year, which he did. When Casey Prather was struggling with turnover issues earlier in his career, Moss pointed out it was tough for him to play with confidence because he was on a short leash from UF’s coaching staff. With the leash extended early in his senior year, Prather flourished and helped lead the Gators to their fifth Final Four appearance in school history.
Moss said coaching intrigues him: “I think I’d be a darn good coach. I know I would be a good recruiter. I still want to do well. I could walk into any kid’s house in America and bring them to my school. But I don’t know, coaching is a long, lonely road. I know Coach (Anthony) Grant, Coach Donovan, D.J. (Donnie Jones), Pel (John Pelphrey), they never get to see their family, for six months a year they see their own guys more than they see their family. And I’m pretty sure that takes a toll on you mentally. I think I would be a pretty good coach but that’s something you would have to be 1,000 percent into.”
As for radio, Moss said he doesn’t care where he starts, as long as he’s on the air, talking sports: “If I have to start out at a station with two watts in some town in Iowa, I wouldn’t mind doing that. I’ve played in some obscure cities in Europe, some obscure cities in South Americas, now I’m playing in some obscure city in Japan. Being on the radio late at night in some weird town in the states doesn’t bother me at all.”
Other notes:
– Former Gator forward Erik Murphy opened some eyes with a strong summer league performance with the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. Murphy finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds, going 7 of 13 from the floor and 1 of 3 from 3-point range. New Jazz coach Quin Snyder reportedly is high on Murphy and sees him as a potential rotation player on a young team.
– Per ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, former Gator center Damontre Harris has landed at Campbellsville University, an NAIA school based in Campbellsville, Ky. Harris was on UF’s campus for two seasons but did not play this past season due to disciplinary issues.
