Todd Golden adds an intriguing piece to next year's roster that could fill a major need

Todd Golden might have landed the guy that could be the final big piece to a championship roster for the Florida Gators.

Lithuanian big man Arturas Butajevas signed with the Gators, giving the roster another big that can play the inside-out game and has the ability to hit the outside shots that were an issue for Florida at times last year.

Butajevas is just 19 years old, so it would be hard to see him as an immediate replacement in case Rueben Chinyelu decides to stay in the NBA Draft, but he can provide a lot of roster flexibility with the potential to play multiple positions on the floor and serve as a capable backup for Alex Condon and the returning Thomas Haugh on the frontline.

Lithuanian big man Arturas Butajevas signs with the Gators

Butajevas is a nice long athlete at 6-foot-10. He has a lot of international basketball experience that should play well under Golden's tutelage. He averaged 15.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in Spain's U-22 league and 13.9 points and 9.3 boards in seven games with Lithuania's U-18 team in Eurobasket.

Just looking at these highlight clips, and you see a young man with the ability to bang on the inside and finish around the rim, but he can also pull up and hit those 23-foot jumpers. Obviously, Butajevas will need to fill out a bit and add some strength to be the kind of rebounding machine that Chinyelu or Micah Handlogten, who was a valued rim protector and rebounder off the bench. 

If there was one area that you could point to where the Gators came up short last season, it was with perimeter shooting. The front court was arguably the best in college basketball, but the outside shooting issues forced Golden's hand to dig into scoring from the paint. Florida was 6-of-19 in the NCAA tournament loss to Iowa and 5-of-17 in the SEC tournament loss to Vanderbilt. 

By adding Butajevas to the roster, there's the hope that he can allow the Gators to space the floor better and force opponents to respect the threat of the 3-pointer. This is a big move for Florida that could pay off in a major way next season. 

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