https://kentucky.rivals.com/news/injured-knee-surgery-to-keep-baker-out-3-months
Calipari confident he will be back this year.
Calipari confident he will be back this year.
Basketball Baker out three months...
- Thread starter tj_walker
- Start date
“The good news is, with this surgery we’re going to get this thing right and get Jemarl back during league play.”
If you are the ortho who performed the first surgery, you feel really great about now with the implication that you got it wrong.
If you are the ortho who performed the first surgery, you feel really great about now with the implication that you got it wrong.
It wasn't really a statement against the first surgeon but more a comment on unexpected complication during the post-op phase.
I think this news is much bigger than folks are making of it. He could be the weapon the UK offense is missing right now. Team are playing a lot of zone against UK and will likely play more. If Baker can come back and contribute. I think it really improves UK's FF chances.
I really never expected baker to play meaningful minutes this year unless there's some serious foul trouble.
I think Cal would sooner slide Knox over to the 2.
I mean, Baker is out till February. He was already the 4th guard in the rotation and this will set him even further behind.
We have a pretty solid 8 as it stands and if Vanderbilt decides to play this year that will be 9.
Unless Cal wants to platoon again, which I wouldn't mind with this team.
Hmmmmm...
Starters:
Green
Diallo
Knox
PJ
Richards
2nd unit:
SGA
Baker
Vanderbilt
Gabriel
SKJ
Actually really like those lineups.
Still, I don't think Baker will be ready.
I think Cal would sooner slide Knox over to the 2.
I mean, Baker is out till February. He was already the 4th guard in the rotation and this will set him even further behind.
We have a pretty solid 8 as it stands and if Vanderbilt decides to play this year that will be 9.
Unless Cal wants to platoon again, which I wouldn't mind with this team.
Hmmmmm...
Starters:
Green
Diallo
Knox
PJ
Richards
2nd unit:
SGA
Baker
Vanderbilt
Gabriel
SKJ
Actually really like those lineups.
Still, I don't think Baker will be ready.
We could definitely use him maybe more so than Vanderbilt who I doubt ever plays for UK. This is 2017 soon to be 2018. We need a 3 point shooter. Let's put it this way, has the SEC ever had 3 teams in the top 10 as it does now? If we want a 4th straight SEC title we're going to need to hit some 3's, and he's the guy who could give us that threat.
Explain to me how you feel Vanderbilt will not be here next yr. He has had health issues in the past. No nba team is going to take a chance on him. See Harry giles. Sacramento knows they wasted a pick on him. Other teams won't follow suit. Giles was considered the number 1 overall player. Vanderbilt was the 35th best player on espn. He may turn out to be a stud but he has to show he can stay healthy constantly first.
Cal will encourage him to go if he can. Don't we all know that by now? 35th is a low second round pick. See Tyler Ulis and his success. I love what Cal has done for UK's program, but there's no doubt he encourages any player who can to move on ASAP. Vanderbilt will never play for UK unless it's this year.
Cal gives the kids and the family the facts. He does not encourage or discourage players to leave. Top 5 picks yea but not most.
For most players, this is true. But Cal wouldn't have had his incredible recruiting run had he pushed to keep the majority of his players. I think that's just a fact.
I think this argument you're using has been formed as a response to 8 years of criticism that Cal "pushes players out". I get the need to defend it, but there's a better way to do it without being disingenuous or misleading. Cal doesn't push most players out, but for his methods to work, he does need them pursue the NBA in a timely fashion.
Today, I don't think this is as important as it once was and I think you're going to start to see more returning players. We simply don't have the power impact inside of the top 3-5 in each class to continue the same methods as before. recruiting 7-35 range guys and having a revolving door will not allow UK titles, unless we have guys return.
As both are dealing with injuries, I will not be surprised to see both Baker and Vanderbilt play next season while neither plays this season. Vanderbilt has an outside chance, but if he does not start participating by the middle of next month, I think Cal will shut him down as a means of allowing whatever injury has occurred to fully heal.
JV will play this year. I suggested early on that it would likely be around beginning of conference play and stick to that. Not as confident Baker plays.
Who knows, but if he can shoot it like everyone says he can, Cal will find minutes for him.
Vanderbilt is clearly trying to make it back sooner rather than later. If Baker can't practice til midway through conference, I don't know if he sees the floor.
He is not pushing anybody out the door. This is crazy talk that is fabricated. Yea a player like Kidd who was top 5 rated in draft he told him he had to go. He relays info like every coach we just get the top guys and Cal has done a nice job with the lower rated players. When you get better players your going to have guys leave.
I disagree. Cal doesn't encourage kids to "go if they can". He encourages them if he doesn't see much room for improvement. Ulis had become an All-American, he had reached his ceiling, his stock was not going to get any higher (unless UK had developed some growth formula). Vanderbilt might not even be a 1st round pick this year. Cal usually doesn't encourage players to enter the draft to be 2nd round picks, and has been surprised when some did (Teague, Johnson).
This almost insane logic.
Cal never pushes anyone to be a 2nd round pick.
Ulis was an anomaly and I'm not sure why you cannot see that? 5'9 guard who capitalized on AA and DPOY awards, he was at his maximum value.
Vanderbilt may leave but I doubt very seriously Cal pushes him as no NBA team is going to draft a player that is not rated a superstar, who never played but needed to prove his shot, handles, and much more. Not to mention history of injuries.
This post makes very little sense to me and seems to be more of a shot at Cal's OAD philosophy than a legitimate prediction.
All I have heard of Vanderbilt's injury is a foot. Is it a stress fracture, ankle, or what? Does anyone really know?
I'd love to see Cal run those 2 line-ups in a platoon. I've always been a proponent of doing that with deep teams. The only thing I'd do differently than Cal is figure which line-up is "first team" or "on" that particular night, and give them the most minutes. Don't feel like each team has to have equal clock.
Mostly agree, but it also depends on how the NBA views him. Cal's PRIMARY goal is not to win titles, it's not whether the kids are NBA ready or not.. It's IF they can get paid in the NBA. He's trying to do what's best for the kids, basketball is kind of secondary. (or maybe 1.5, I'm not trying to say Cal doesn't care about the game)
If JV doesn't play but he continues to practice, workout and hits the combine... and the NBA thinks he's top10.. or even top20.. Cal will tell him to go. Not MAKE him, mind you.. but it'd be a no brainer. Guaranteed 8 million or whatever? Doesn't matter if he never gets picked up by another team.
Also, keep in mind if he comes back, and he re-injures that same part, what happens to his draft stock? What if it causes him to miss most or all of the season? Then the NBA has to think if they want to draft an injured player who's last competitive game was Highschool. Cal knows this.
NBADraft has him at 20 right now. Does he slide down if he never plays? Or does he move up because other players ahead of him have exposed themselves in some way,
Multiple injuries with legs thinner than a new born colt....,
He doesn’t play, I predict he doesn’t sniff either round unless workouts are tremendous in which case, he would have played. At least I would hope so....?
I sure hate to see the yolk placed on Baker and Vanderbilt......How many times has this happened over the years? It is always a injured player that people start with the savior mantra.......Just what we need......shooting or rebounding, what ever skill is lacking at the present time....The last one was Poythress. Then when they come back and can't perform to the unjust expectations they are castigated for their inability. Same story line just change the name.
I guess it depends on the context. Does he not play because he's still recovering, or does he not play because Cal knows one false move could end his NBA chances?
I think he'll play soon enough, but it wouldn't totally shock me if Cal shuts him down for the year either. The longer he doesn't play the more likely I think that happens.
I think he'll play soon enough, but it wouldn't totally shock me if Cal shuts him down for the year either. The longer he doesn't play the more likely I think that happens.
Someone will take a flyer on him though, UNLESS he re-injures himself. You don't pass on a top20 recruit that could be an NBA player for someone on the back 10 of a draft that will almost for certain never amount to anything.
Top 20 recruit? He was #14 in high school, now he is a 1st Rounder in the league without ever playing?
Top 10 recruits are passed over, high school means nothing.
He is not Harry Giles, and now I would venture that Giles may cost any future injured players entering the draft.
Vanderbilt’s rep is growing every day he doesn’t play, but only with our fans.
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I don't know what else to tell you, NBADraft has him at 20. Maybe message their moderators?
Uh, how about see, ie; Sam Bowie, Nerlens Noel, Kyrie Irving, Greg Oden, and on and on.
If you could predict what the NBA was going to do, you'd be texting your comments from your Gulfstream G550 over Dubai. You ain't.
There is no difference. The NBA is a futures bet. Not a 'current' bet. 'Considered' is a real bad way to draft.
Wrong!
Except for one thing, the NBA is a Futures bet. And Giles, Bowie, Noel, Oden, Embid were thought to have very high Futures ceilings. Vanderbilt, there are a dozen (or more) guys exactly like him available to be drafted every year, except without the injury issue. Since his ceiling isn't the same as a 7'1 guy with skills, then he needs to show them something, especially that he can play without re-injuring his foot.
Top 10. In what universe is that happening? His pre-season rank among FR was 15-20. That doesn't include the foreign players, or the the handful of Soph-SR players that will be ahead of him. By not playing or practicing, he's not improving his skills, relative to guys who are playing every day (and should be getting better because of it over a full year). Yeah, if he can get paid, then he should and probably will leave. I'm saying he isn't going to be more than a early 2nd round pick, with a slim chance at the late 1st round. And that ain't "getting paid". NBA teams take risks on elite talents, on guys with a very unique skill, especially if they are 7'0+. That isn't Vanderbilt. He's a nice player, probably, hopefully good at a lot of things. But not overly big or strong or an athletic freak, or a great shooter. What he doesn't want to happen is to go in the 2nd round, and spend a year or two in the D-league getting paid $25,500/yr.
If he never plays lets see where he is predicted.
I am not sure why you and @denhunter dont see the difference in projected #1 picks (all 7 footers btw) versus kids not even in the top 10 of their class...
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