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Dave McMenamin: Pretty cool: Lakers second round pick Adou Thiero played for John Calipari at Kentucky and Arkansas from 2022-2025. His father, Alamy Thiero, played for John Calipari at Memphis from 2002-2006.
“I didn’t start in the first four to five games (at Kentucky). And I called him in and said, ‘Look, Shai, I know you should be starting or could be starting, but I kind of like this rotation,'” John Calipari said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I trust you. I’m fine. I’ll see you at practice.’ Well, game nine and 10, I started him. And from there, he was a lottery pick. “He made himself a lottery pick to the point that Cleveland wanted to draft him, and he said, ‘No, I’m not going to Cleveland.’ I was at the table. I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ And he ends up going to the Clips. I watched him in a playoff game. That’s when I knew he was going to be in this league a long time.”
Karter's older brother, Kevin Knox, played for John Calipari with the Wildcats and was the 2018 SEC Freshman of the Year.
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After every practice and every shootaround, De'Aaron Fox would check his cell phone for a detailed message from his now former coach, Mike Brown. "He'd text me every day with a grade," Fox told ESPN this weekend following Brown's dismissal on Friday. Fox liked the push. "I've always been coached hard," Fox continued. "I went to Kentucky because [former coach John Calipari] would be hard on me."
“First of all you’re surprised when you’re an All-Star and you’re traded. And then the second thing is, you’re going to be hurt,” John Calipari, the head coach at Arkansas, said in an interview with The Post. “Why did they do it? Why would they do it? And in the end, that’s why I told him, ‘Please, (the Knicks) are perfect for you. Don’t worry about all the other stuff. Move on.’ “It’s kind of like what I’m doing coaching here (at Arkansas). It’s the first page I’m writing in the first chapter in a new book, a new adventure. Let’s go. No looking back. You’re not bitter. You’re on to the next thing. And that’s where he is. And that’s where I am.”
DeMarcus Cousins: "Cal told me, ‘If you want to take care of my family, you can stay. If you want to take care of yours, you’re out of here.’ That’s real. And it took a coach like him to understand both sides. We’ve all heard the horror stories of coaches holding guys back, and they miss their shot. Cal understood it was bigger than basketball—it was about life."
Willie Cauley-Stein details addiction problems: I could easily be dead
For most, The Basketball Tournament is an annual summer sideshow, a bunch of college alumni teams competing for a $1 million prize while creating television inventory in the dog days of the sports calendar. But for Cauley-Stein, who went from All-American at Kentucky to No. 6 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft to All-Rookie team to full-time starter to suddenly and mysteriously out of the league in what should’ve been his prime, an invitation to represent his alma mater again was life-affirming. When former teammates James Young, the Harrison twins and Tyler Ulis joined him on a team whose name was a nod to their old coach, John Calipari, La Familia took off on a nostalgia-fueled run like the DeLorean in “Back to the Future.” It transported Cauley-Stein back to a place where he felt loved and a time when he had hope before he lost the game — and himself — at the bottom of a pill bottle. “I could easily be dead,” Cauley-Stein said. “So that joy you saw from me in the TBT is different because I know the bullet I really dodged. I asked for help before it was too late, and I got better, but the basketball thing has been a lot harder to get back. So when they asked me to do this, it was too perfect. It just replicated those old times, just exactly how it was. Boom, I got showered with all this love that I needed, absolutely needed and played the best basketball I’ve played in years. That s— was dope.”
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They compiled video highlights of Maxey’s Sixers career, along with data about jersey sales and community endeavors. They mocked up sketches and physical renderings on how the physical and digital aspects could all be assembled cohesively. They kept adding to the collection in real time, after Maxey won the NBA’s Most Improved Player and Sportsmanship awards, and went on a wild scoring flurry at Madison Square Garden in Game 5 of the Sixers’ playoff series against the New York Knicks. They even created a nine-foot hologram. And when they asked prominent connections, such as Dawn Staley and John Calipari, to record messages for Maxey, “they ran towards it to be a part of it,” Beebe said. “This speaks a lot to the entire backing that this community and this city has for Tyrese.”
Sirius XM NBA: "The confidence comes from the coaches." Hear potential lottery pick @reed_sheppard tell @TermineRadio and @TomCrean how his previous coaches, like John Calipari, gave him his shooting ability that can help him transition to the NBA #NBADraft | @KentuckyMBB | @SiriusXMSports pic.twitter.com/az0R5XQ9EB
"The confidence comes from the coaches."
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) June 25, 2024
Hear potential lottery pick @reed_sheppard tell @TermineRadio and @TomCrean how his previous coaches, like John Calipari, gave him his shooting ability that can help him transition to the NBA#NBADraft | @KentuckyMBB | @SiriusXMSports pic.twitter.com/az0R5XQ9EB
Despite the Bulls’ shortcomings, Donovan’s job by all indications is safe. He signed a multi-year extension before last season, and he maintains strong working relationships with Karnišovas and Eversley. But the Bulls won’t get in a bidding war for Donovan, and Kentucky easily could raise the ante. Donovan has earned a reported $24 million over his initial four-year contract. Calipari reportedly was set to earn $8.1 million next season and $8.6 million each subsequent season through 2029.
The fan base expects Kentucky to compete for a national championship every season, to recruit No. 1 classes every season and to put players in the NBA every draft. Calipari was still excelling in the latter two categories, but he hadn't brought the Wildcats close to a Final Four in the past five seasons. Potential candidates: Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls: Donovan was an assistant coach under Rick Pitino at Kentucky from 1989 to 1993 and eventually won national championships at Florida in 2006 and 2007 -- right around the time Kentucky reportedly pursued him to replace Tubby Smith. Donovan has been in the NBA since 2015 and currently has the Bulls in the play-in tournament.
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