Marreese Speights is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association . Speights played college basketball for the University of Florida, where he was a freshman member of the Florida Gators' NCAA national championship team in 2007. The Philadelphia 76ers picked him in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft. Speights was born in St. Petersburg, Florida. He played basketball at St. Petersburg's Admiral Farragut Academy, which retired his jersey number after one year. He also played basketball at Hargrave Military Academy and... Gibbs High School. Speights began his career at Florida in 2006, and averaged approximately four points and two rebounds in six minutes per game as a freshman for the national champion Gators. He saw few minutes because of Al Horford, Joakim Noah, and Chris Richard getting playing time. Speights ended the 2007–08 season averaging 14.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. After his sophomore season, he declared himself eligible for the 2008 NBA Draft, held on June 26.
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