How many NBA players has Coach Cal produced while at UK?
- Thread starter KalKan
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Just type stuff into Google and you'll be shocked at all the information you can find way quicker. Example:
How Many players has John Calipari put in the NBA from Kentucky?
In 13 seasons under head coach John Calipari, 45 players have been selected in the NBA Draft, including 34 first-round selections and three No. 1 overall picks
How Many players has John Calipari put in the NBA from Kentucky?
In 13 seasons under head coach John Calipari, 45 players have been selected in the NBA Draft, including 34 first-round selections and three No. 1 overall picks
How many NCAA championships has he won at UK??
Its a lot. especially considering they all do well in the NBA for the most part and we have 1 Championship and nothing for several years.
How much mileage did he get out of them while they were at UK? He has gotten near nothing from the talent that has been here since 2015.
That averages out to be over 3 NBA caliber players per season. My God he really has done the least with the most of any college basketball coach in history.
He makes Dean Smith look like John Wooden. Pitiful!
Why do so many on the board not understand this. It is painfully obvious
I remember when this board used to CRUSH Dean Smith as being the biggest "this guy should have won so many more titles with all that talent!" guy over the years.
It is laughable that you included produced in the same sentence with Cal. Cal isn't capable of producing anyone. Those players made it to the NBA even though Cal added nothing to their games. Those players were more than capable of going straight to the NBA from high school. If anything, Cal probably stunted their growth by making them play a year or two of street ball. Cal has never had a clue what to do with all the talent he has worked with over his tenure at Kentucky.
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If you look at opposing fan base boards they CRUSH Cal over how he underachieves with all the talent he coaches.
Umm… who are you responding to here?
You’re the only person who’s used the word “developed” in this thread.
Ok, you got me. I used the word developed vs produced; however, he hasn't produced anyone either. To make you happy, I will correct my word choice. Cal didn't add anything to the skills that his players brought with them. They made it to the NBA despite playing for Cal.
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Players Who Played For Kentucky | Basketball-Reference.com
Players Who Played For Kentucky
www.basketball-reference.com
Here’s all Kentucky nba players ever, sort by year to see the Cal guys
It's amazing how many people will come to a message board, ask a simple question, then wait for people to answer when they could have typed the same question into their favorite search engine and get the answer in under 5 seconds. 🤔
He's actually produced more NBA players than that though. For example, Aaron Harrison, Alex Poythress, Mychal Mulder, Wenyen Gabriel, and Ashton Hagans all played in the NBA. None of them were drafted. Oscar will probably get some clock soon.
Cal's produced 50 NBA players total while at UK, an absurd amount for a guy with only 1 NCAA title.
He's also produced 9 NBA players while at Memphis, and two while at UMass.
He's produced 61 total NBA players (62 once Oscar plays), 10 NBA All-Stars, 4 first-team All-NBA players, and one lonely title.
He's a talent squanderer and a crappy in-game coach.
Yep, that’s why I’ve never gotten why people start these type threads.
It’s immensely quicker and easier to get the answer just by googling it yourself. Are there people who still don’t realize that?
2012 6 players went on to NBA at the end of the season
2015 6
2010 5
2018 4
2011 2016 2019 2020 all had 3 NBA Players
8 seasons where at least over 1/2 the starting players on the team would go to the NBA at the end of the season. 3 seasons where all the starters went to the NBA. 2 seasons where all starters and a player off the bench went on to the NBA
1 NCAA Championship, what a pathetic waste of what could have been. How do you lose when you have so much NBA talent you can't even play them all at the same time (Booker an NBA all-star was not even a starter). He takes $25,000 a day from UK, 365 days a year and in his infinite wisdom thought Booker should come off the bench.
So sad, that money could be put to so much better use at UK and the world. How many people could you feed with 25K a day?
2015 6
2010 5
2018 4
2011 2016 2019 2020 all had 3 NBA Players
8 seasons where at least over 1/2 the starting players on the team would go to the NBA at the end of the season. 3 seasons where all the starters went to the NBA. 2 seasons where all starters and a player off the bench went on to the NBA
1 NCAA Championship, what a pathetic waste of what could have been. How do you lose when you have so much NBA talent you can't even play them all at the same time (Booker an NBA all-star was not even a starter). He takes $25,000 a day from UK, 365 days a year and in his infinite wisdom thought Booker should come off the bench.
So sad, that money could be put to so much better use at UK and the world. How many people could you feed with 25K a day?
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I’d have to double check the other years, but I know your count is wrong here because just off the top of my head I can name at least SEVEN future NBAers on the 2018 team: SGA (now a superstar MVP candidate), P.J. Washington, Kevin Knox, Diallo, Gabriel, Vanderbilt and Richards.
It’s crazy how much pro talent that 2018 team had for having had such a miserably disappointing season.
Anthony Davis, Wall, Knight, etc…. None of them could even dribble before they came to UK.
On a serious note, it’s more embarrassing than anything else to know Cal has squandered so much talent.
On a serious note, it’s more embarrassing than anything else to know Cal has squandered so much talent.
Cal funneled those players to the NBA like a funnel used to guide water from a large container into a bottle. Did the funnel make the water that went into the bottle better? Obviously not! The funnel simply aided the transition of the water from one container into another one. Cal simply aided the transition of his players from high school to the NBA. There was no value added.
So, Cal is at fault for every bad thing and a bystander for every good thing?
You may already be a crank
You may already be a crank
You think you're helping your case, but in fact you're hurting it.
I’m plenty pissed at cal and frankly I’m ready to move on from him, but the whole talent thing is such a bad argument. Recruiting is part of the job, and somehow because he succeeds at that better than nearly any coach in history, it gets held against him? Okay. Whatever.
Just judge him by his objective results - there’s enough there to critique.
Thanks to all who responded in an informative and civil manner!
The number of players Coach Cal has mentored to the NBA is impressive! He's obviously a wonderful recruiter with an eye for talent, an excellent coach and a fine teacher of the game!
Thanks, again!!
The number of players Coach Cal has mentored to the NBA is impressive! He's obviously a wonderful recruiter with an eye for talent, an excellent coach and a fine teacher of the game!
Thanks, again!!
Pretty easy to send guys to the NBA when they would have gone anyway. Yet Cal sleeps well at night thinking he's changed so many lives. I'm not sure if it's narcissism, ignorance or both.
You could maybe make the argument that a couple of players got there sooner because of him. But then again, you could also argue that some players would have been better off not going as quickly.
I understand winning a title is hard even with top talent, which is why I think 3 titles is a reasonable number to expect. However, with all of that talent, we should have never lost the wins lead, not made the tourney, and certainly never have had a losing season. I could go on. Bottom line, he's a marketer and nothing else. But I give him credit for fooling a lot of people, including the hall of fame.
You could maybe make the argument that a couple of players got there sooner because of him. But then again, you could also argue that some players would have been better off not going as quickly.
I understand winning a title is hard even with top talent, which is why I think 3 titles is a reasonable number to expect. However, with all of that talent, we should have never lost the wins lead, not made the tourney, and certainly never have had a losing season. I could go on. Bottom line, he's a marketer and nothing else. But I give him credit for fooling a lot of people, including the hall of fame.
His recruiting prowess isn't held against him. He's heralded for it by most. But it does highlight how poor of an actual basketball coach he is. Just as Tubbys poor recruiting showed that he was a pretty good "coach." Tubby and Cal are two sides of the same coin. Both were overall disappointments because of their lack of well roundedness as the head of the program.
I disagree. When you read “talent squanderer” and “can you believe he only has 1 title with all those draft picks?!?!”, his recruiting is absolutely being held against him.
Just argue that one title in ~15 years isn’t good enough at Kentucky. Tacking on “he should have more given all the talent he’s had” is holding his recruiting against him.
So, do you think he should stop recruiting this talent or do you think he should stop squandering it?
I think he should win at an elite level, which is the same standard to which I’ve held every UK coach. Don’t care how he does it.
You're wrong. When you read those comments, they are holding his coaching against him. Not his recruiting.
So what? If both things are true, then we should be able to say both things.
He deserves credit for being an incredible recruiter. He had the greatest recruiting run in the history of the sport during his first half of his time here. He’s arguably the sport’s greatest recruiter ever. Kudos for that, Cal.
But he also should’ve accomplished more on the floor with the insane talent adavantage that we’ve had over the last 15 years.
