You would think the possibility of having the most dominant team in the history of College Basketball would be an awesome career milestone to achieve. Having some of the best players in the NBA coming through your program would be a good feeling. Striving for another national championship and an undefeated season would be a great accomplishment.
It doesn’t seem to be enough for Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari. It appears that he wants more.
Following from Northjersey.com’s Steve Popper.
It’s simple to follow the trail of where it went wrong, but one NBA front office official looked at the situation and believed there is a way back — and one that could happen.
The one name that could return the Nets to all of those things they thought they could be, that they seemed primed to be, is currently guiding the best college basketball team in the nation, a coach who crashed and burned with the Nets once already. The Nets can be saved by John Calipari.
“He desperately wants it,” the front office official said. “He won’t say it out loud. The NBA is the only place he’s ever failed and it drives him nuts. He’s not the same guy he was then. He came to the NBA and he wasn’t ready. He’s ready now.”
If it seems like grasping at straws, a big name to save the day, maybe it is. But NBA sources point to ties that are already in place. In the Nets’ struggles, the one person who has held the trust of Prokhorov is the man behind the marketing, the tireless Brett Yormark. While the product on the court has struggled, the branding of the Nets has been a blueprint for other franchises. While Calipari may have left some rifts when he was fired by the Nets, he remained close with Yormark.
Coach Calipari didn’t have a successful career during his time in the NBA as the (New Jersey now Brooklyn) Nets coach in parts of three seasons from 1997 to 1999 with a 72-112 record. He went back to coach the college kids, where he’s had top success in recent years.
He’s quickly become known as the best recruiter in the nation and one of the top coaches. He always attracts the top-level talent to Kentucky and he gets his players better prepared for the NBA than any other college coach, particularly because he accepts the fact that these kids won’t be here long, so why waste time? Just get them ready for their end goal.
Just look at the list of NBA talent that has played for him over the years since 2000. Earl Barron, Dajuan Wagner, Rodney Carney, Joey Dorsey, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Shawne Williams, Tyreke Evans, Derrick Rose, Darius Miller, Patrick Patterson, Josh Harrelson, Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight, Enes Kanter, Marquis Teague, Archie Goodwin, Nerlens Noel, James Young, Julius Randle, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe and Anthony Davis.
All have spent time in the NBA and most of them are making a big impact in the league. Amazing.
Look at this year’s Wildcats team, with guys like Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Tyler Ules, Trey Lyles, Devin Booker and even Dakari Johnson all projected to be drafted early, whenever they come out.
Over the summer, Calipari reportedly turned down a $60 million offer from the Cavaliers, electing to stay at Kentucky and for obvious reasons.
At the time, it wasn’t yet known that LeBron James would be returning. If James, who became close friends with the coach after Calipari recruited LeBron in high school, was already on board, that may have changed his decision, especially based off some of LeBron’s recent comments about coach Cal.
Following from Joe Vardon of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
He said he was introduced to Calipari by a “family friend” – believed to be William “World Wide Wes” Wesley – and “once I went to the NBA I kind of always stayed in touch with him.”
James said his close friend and former St. Vincent-St. Mary teammate Brandon Weems was on Calipari’s coaching staff at Kentucky for two years, and “I gained even more of a relationship” with Calipari.
“What I admire is how he’s able to take, year after year, these high egos coming out of high school and turn it into a team,” James said of Calipari. “He makes them believe, not even believe, it’s what it should be, that the team is more important than the individual. No matter who you are, no matter where you come from, in order for the team to have success everyone has to buy in.
“I love that about him, he doesn’t cap, he doesn’t put a cap on his talent, on those guys,” James continued. “He gives them the reins if they play the right way, and he wants them to succeed at the highest level. So, you can respect that.”
So the ties are there. Basically any team Coach Cal goes to, he might have a former player on there or he’ll have the ability to bring in a former player. A guy with his ability to connect with young players would work with a young team but which young team would best fit his style? I don’t think you can just throw him with a team like the Orlando Magic who have some issues to get over on their own and a veteran group like the assumed Brooklyn Nets or Denver Nuggets wouldn’t go well. We’ve seen how new coaches just do not work well with some veterans.
It’s going to have to be the right situation, at the right time or else Coach Calipari can just stay in the NCAA and stockpile these amazing prospects.
