Jayson Tatum was the biggest miss of Cal's career.

[Son_Of_Saul]

Cal's had it all in his career.

Elite bigs (Camby, Davis, Cousins, Bam, Towns, etc.).

Elite guards (Rose, Wall, Maxey, Fox, etc.).

But he's never had many elite wing forwards (although that trend looks to be changing with Edwards and Livingston). In fact, out of all of his players, there's really only three guys who stand out on the list of elite wing forwards - CDR, MKG and Keldon Johnson - and two of those guys (MKG and CDR) didn't translate very well to the modern NBA.

Part of the issue is one of perception. Coach K was blessed enough to get guys like Grant Hill and Loul Deng in the early to mid part of his coaching career. To his credit, he rode his coaching of those players out to the last mile, and used the image of those players to set himself up as the "small forward coach" when he went out and recruited guys like Jabari Parker and Jayson Tatum years later. Meanwhile, Cal couldn't catch a break with the elite small forwards. Wiggins picked Kansas over Kentucky. Stanley Johnson picked Arizona. Bridges picked Michigan State. Brown picked California. Isaac picked Florida State. The list went on and on.

Perhaps the biggest miss of all of them was Jayson Tatum. By the time Tatum picked Duke, Coach K has stuffed Parker, Winslow, and Ingram into his pocket and added them to his previously existing collection of big names like Hill and Deng. Tatum's addition to Coach K's legacy would pay off as he eventually went on to add RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Cam Reddish a few years later.

All that is to say that Calipari changes the entire narrative if he had landed Jayson Tatum. Not only would Tatum have given Cal his all-NBA small forward and superstar-level wing forward for the next decade, but adding Tatum to that 2016-2017 makes Kentucky impervious to virtually anything, including phantom foul calls from rogue refs like John Higgins. Think about it: you put Tatum at the 3/4 spot on that 2017 team, and where exactly is the weakness? He's 6'8", so he's big enough to defend UNC's Jackson, and he gives you an additional scoring threat on nights where Monk struggles. That 2017 team wins it all, and Cal gets his elite small forward.


That's why I feel like the biggest miss in the Calipari era was Jayson Tatum, a kid who grew up only a half-day's drive away in St. Louis.

 

[Kybluedude]

Cal tried. Nike had some other plans

 

[JST390-2]

Tatum is a stud …loved watching him in last years playoffs almost will the Celts to the title ..he’s the whole package .

 

[HerrosHeroes]

Wiggins is way up there too

 

[Popquiz81]

Jayson Tatum chose to play for Duke where the ball was going to be put in his hands and be the featured player that season.

That wasn’t going to happen on the 2017 UK team.

To add something else the only time I can think of that’s ever really happened under Cal here at UK was Jamal Murray. And he and Tatum both didn’t get out of the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

 

[Montana81]

We went after tatum early but it was always going to be an uphill battle.

Billy Donovan had pulled both David Lee and Bradley Beal from that high school and was still in good with them. Tatum was high on Florida until team USA and probably Nike started pushing Tatum towards Duke. Both us and Florida backed off and pursued other options.

Actually i think that was the point when donovan had decided he’d seen enough and bailed for the nba. He had just lost Karl Towns, a huge Al Horford fan, to UK. And then the writing was on the wall with tatum.

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

I’d throw Jodie Meeks into that conversation.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Cal tried. Nike had some other plans

This. Can't blame cal for any recruiting miss to duke in the era of their secret/not so secret Nike partnership.

On that note, pretty incredible that adidas execs and schools were investigated and prosecuted by the federal government but Nike, who was doing as bad if not worse (and more blatantly) never got anything.

 

[Sparkaces1]

The Tatum year was the year Nike flipped the switch for Duke, pretty much nothing Cal could do.

 

[BrandonB05]

Zion easily the biggest miss. 23 points 9 rebounds 2 steals 2 blocks.

 

[BlueBomb]

Cal's had it all in his career.

Elite bigs (Camby, Davis, Cousins, Bam, Towns, etc.).

Elite guards (Rose, Wall, Maxey, Fox, etc.).

But he's never had many elite wing forwards (although that trend looks to be changing with Edwards and Livingston). In fact, out of all of his players, there's really only three guys who stand out on the list of elite wing forwards - CDR, MKG and Keldon Johnson - and two of those guys (MKG and CDR) didn't translate very well to the modern NBA.

Part of the issue is one of perception. Coach K was blessed enough to get guys like Grant Hill and Loul Deng in the early to mid part of his coaching career. To his credit, he rode his coaching of those players out to the last mile, and used the image of those players to set himself up as the "small forward coach" when he went out and recruited guys like Jabari Parker and Jayson Tatum years later. Meanwhile, Cal couldn't catch a break with the elite small forwards. Wiggins picked Kansas over Kentucky. Stanley Johnson picked Arizona. Bridges picked Michigan State. Brown picked California. Isaac picked Florida State. The list went on and on.

Perhaps the biggest miss of all of them was Jayson Tatum. By the time Tatum picked Duke, Coach K has stuffed Parker, Winslow, and Ingram into his pocket and added them to his previously existing collection of big names like Hill and Deng. Tatum's addition to Coach K's legacy would pay off as he eventually went on to add RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Cam Reddish a few years later.

All that is to say that Calipari changes the entire narrative if he had landed Jayson Tatum. Not only would Tatum have given Cal his all-NBA small forward and superstar-level wing forward for the next decade, but adding Tatum to that 2016-2017 makes Kentucky impervious to virtually anything, including phantom foul calls from rogue refs like John Higgins. Think about it: you put Tatum at the 3/4 spot on that 2017 team, and where exactly is the weakness? He's 6'8", so he's big enough to defend UNC's Jackson, and he gives you an additional scoring threat on nights where Monk struggles. That 2017 team wins it all, and Cal gets his elite small forward.


That's why I feel like the biggest miss in the Calipari era was Jayson Tatum, a kid who grew up only a half-day's drive away in St. Louis.

Dude, that's a good post. Regardless if the Tatum example is spot on or not is irrelevant. You are correct that Coach K built his program on elite wings that could shoot. Early recruiting wins paid dividends for decades.

Cal built his program on point guards and versatile bigs. He values length, athleticism and a high defensive motor over elite offensive wing skills.

And I agree wholeheartedly that recruiting wins build on themselves. That's why Cal continues to pull in the best points guards in the country years after Rose and Wall departed.

 

[the stat man]

Zion easily the biggest miss. 23 points 9 rebounds 2 steals 2 blocks.

He was bought and paid for by Pork Belly Chapel, and that's a fact.

 

[Fox2monk]

Cal's had it all in his career.

Elite bigs (Camby, Davis, Cousins, Bam, Towns, etc.).

Elite guards (Rose, Wall, Maxey, Fox, etc.).

But he's never had many elite wing forwards (although that trend looks to be changing with Edwards and Livingston). In fact, out of all of his players, there's really only three guys who stand out on the list of elite wing forwards - CDR, MKG and Keldon Johnson - and two of those guys (MKG and CDR) didn't translate very well to the modern NBA.

Part of the issue is one of perception. Coach K was blessed enough to get guys like Grant Hill and Loul Deng in the early to mid part of his coaching career. To his credit, he rode his coaching of those players out to the last mile, and used the image of those players to set himself up as the "small forward coach" when he went out and recruited guys like Jabari Parker and Jayson Tatum years later. Meanwhile, Cal couldn't catch a break with the elite small forwards. Wiggins picked Kansas over Kentucky. Stanley Johnson picked Arizona. Bridges picked Michigan State. Brown picked California. Isaac picked Florida State. The list went on and on.

Perhaps the biggest miss of all of them was Jayson Tatum. By the time Tatum picked Duke, Coach K has stuffed Parker, Winslow, and Ingram into his pocket and added them to his previously existing collection of big names like Hill and Deng. Tatum's addition to Coach K's legacy would pay off as he eventually went on to add RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson, and Cam Reddish a few years later.

All that is to say that Calipari changes the entire narrative if he had landed Jayson Tatum. Not only would Tatum have given Cal his all-NBA small forward and superstar-level wing forward for the next decade, but adding Tatum to that 2016-2017 makes Kentucky impervious to virtually anything, including phantom foul calls from rogue refs like John Higgins. Think about it: you put Tatum at the 3/4 spot on that 2017 team, and where exactly is the weakness? He's 6'8", so he's big enough to defend UNC's Jackson, and he gives you an additional scoring threat on nights where Monk struggles. That 2017 team wins it all, and Cal gets his elite small forward.


That's why I feel like the biggest miss in the Calipari era was Jayson Tatum, a kid who grew up only a half-day's drive away in St. Louis.

Definitely would have made 2017 the team, they already should have been a final four team but got robbed again by refs.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

Kentucky had 0 chance with Jayson Tatum. I'd argue they had a far better chance/tougher L on trail losing his Celtics teammate Jaylen Brown who was set to come until Shareef Abdur Rahim got involved, which got Brown to his alma mater at Cal. Some of these recruits it was smart UK didn't invest much time with--Jahlil Okafor, Wendell Carter, Harry Giles (in same class as Tatum). Kentucky offered and recruited but they read the recruitment perfectly and didn't invest much time after learning the info.

Biggest miss in '16 class was Miles Bridges who was a heavy UK lean until Draymond Green and Agent got involved on his OV to Michigan State.

If you add Bridges to Fox/Monk/Bam trio.....that's the difference. Could argue that after Bridges, 2nd biggest miss in that class was Jonathan Isaac who Cats were looking strong with for some time, just missed out when he chose FSU.

Marvin Bagley Jr/Mo Bamba losses on trail were big the following year.

Pendulum swung heavy in Duke's favor with the Barrett/Reddish/Zion class.

Thing is, UK did everything early on they thought they needed to do with Zion--he was close with Immanuel Quickley, etc...but by end of Summer, they were longshot to get him. Duke/Kansas/Clemson were the top 3. RJ Barrett's OV ranks up there with Lonnie Walker's as the worst I've heard about and really only 2 that didn't go over well. Remember sharing that UK had 0 shot with Barrett after some info via my friend during the OV and board went nuts and was not happy with my post. Walker had the flu and just was feeling miserable (literally) entirety of the trip.

Remember when Cal was trying to get Reddish/Lou King to come in together?

But if you look at entirety, there's always a few head scratchers that UK loses that looked like heavy leans/locks--Shabazz Muhammed and Anthony Bennett. Malik Newman and Jaylen Brown as referenced above.

 

[c1doc]

Kentucky had 0 chance with Jayson Tatum. I'd argue they had a far better chance/tougher L on trail losing his Celtics teammate Jaylen Brown who was set to come until Shareef Abdur Rahim got involved, which got Brown to his alma mater at Cal. Some of these recruits it was smart UK didn't invest much time with--Jahlil Okafor, Wendell Carter, Harry Giles (in same class as Tatum). Kentucky offered and recruited but they read the recruitment perfectly and didn't invest much time after learning the info.

Biggest miss in '16 class was Miles Bridges who was a heavy UK lean until Draymond Green and Agent got involved on his OV to Michigan State.

If you add Bridges to Fox/Monk/Bam trio.....that's the difference. Could argue that after Bridges, 2nd biggest miss in that class was Jonathan Isaac who Cats were looking strong with for some time, just missed out when he chose FSU.

Marvin Bagley Jr/Mo Bamba losses on trail were big the following year.

Pendulum swung heavy in Duke's favor with the Barrett/Reddish/Zion class.

Thing is, UK did everything early on they thought they needed to do with Zion--he was close with Immanuel Quickley, etc...but by end of Summer, they were longshot to get him. Duke/Kansas/Clemson were the top 3. RJ Barrett's OV ranks up there with Lonnie Walker's as the worst I've heard about and really only 2 that didn't go over well. Remember sharing that UK had 0 shot with Barrett after some info via my friend during the OV and board went nuts and was not happy with my post. Walker had the flu and just was feeling miserable (literally) entirety of the trip.

Remember when Cal was trying to get Reddish/Lou King to come in together?

But if you look at entirety, there's always a few head scratchers that UK loses that looked like heavy leans/locks--Shabazz Muhammed and Anthony Bennett. Malik Newman and Jaylen Brown as referenced above.

True and Miles Bridges had already verbaled to Cal and the Cats before that visit to Michigan State😳🥲🤷‍♂️

 

[KentuckyCat420]

I would argue Mo Bamba was the biggest miss of his UK career.

He passed on Trae Young and took Quade Green instead because he was under the assumption Green was going to bring Bamba with him since Green even publicly said he would.

UK ended up with Green and didn’t get either Trae Young or Mo Bamba.

Bamba would’ve been an absolute stud under Cal by the way, don’t care if he’s not making an impact in the NBA.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

TJ was pretty damn good. Somebody tell me what Tatum has ever won.

 

[Nubb16]

Kentucky had 0 chance with Jayson Tatum. I'd argue they had a far better chance/tougher L on trail losing his Celtics teammate Jaylen Brown who was set to come until Shareef Abdur Rahim got involved, which got Brown to his alma mater at Cal. Some of these recruits it was smart UK didn't invest much time with--Jahlil Okafor, Wendell Carter, Harry Giles (in same class as Tatum). Kentucky offered and recruited but they read the recruitment perfectly and didn't invest much time after learning the info.

Biggest miss in '16 class was Miles Bridges who was a heavy UK lean until Draymond Green and Agent got involved on his OV to Michigan State.

If you add Bridges to Fox/Monk/Bam trio.....that's the difference. Could argue that after Bridges, 2nd biggest miss in that class was Jonathan Isaac who Cats were looking strong with for some time, just missed out when he chose FSU.

Marvin Bagley Jr/Mo Bamba losses on trail were big the following year.

Pendulum swung heavy in Duke's favor with the Barrett/Reddish/Zion class.

Thing is, UK did everything early on they thought they needed to do with Zion--he was close with Immanuel Quickley, etc...but by end of Summer, they were longshot to get him. Duke/Kansas/Clemson were the top 3. RJ Barrett's OV ranks up there with Lonnie Walker's as the worst I've heard about and really only 2 that didn't go over well. Remember sharing that UK had 0 shot with Barrett after some info via my friend during the OV and board went nuts and was not happy with my post. Walker had the flu and just was feeling miserable (literally) entirety of the trip.

Remember when Cal was trying to get Reddish/Lou King to come in together?

But if you look at entirety, there's always a few head scratchers that UK loses that looked like heavy leans/locks--Shabazz Muhammed and Anthony Bennett. Malik Newman and Jaylen Brown as referenced above.

If by miss Zion you mean we got outbid then yes. If Kansas offered him 1 million dollars and he said Nope then what’s that tell you about honest K? He must have had a better bid put in. I loved watching them flame out of the elite 8 with the greatest team ever assembled and I can’t believe K doesn’t get killed more for how great he was at doing less with the best of the best recruits. I realize he won 5 titles and the last two of which were by his lucky stars honestly. Those two saved his rep as it erases the fact that he lost and flames out to teams like Mercer, Lehigh and did it with top talent.

 

[YouKay]

Put Paolo Banchero on last year’s team and I don’t think we lose to St. Peter’s.

Just a thought.

 

[Calsarmy]

The biggest Kentucky miss was Ralph Sampson. There is not a second after Sampson. Him and Sam might have had a few undefeated seasons. Memory serves me I think Sampson won the Player Of The Year 3 straight times. We have missed on a few but that one really was different.

 

[UK_born_b_bread]

This. Can't blame cal for any recruiting miss to duke in the era of their secret/not so secret Nike partnership.

On that note, pretty incredible that adidas execs and schools were investigated and prosecuted by the federal government but Nike, who was doing as bad if not worse (and more blatantly) never got anything.

It’s well known Tatum grew up as a major Dook fan. There was never a chance

 

[Wildcats1st]

Biggest miss was shaedon sharpe.

 

[kybassfan]

Every haters favorite player is his biggest miss. You can’t have all of them.

 

[christophero]

I saw an old Virginia UNC game at my gym a while back. Sampson was dominant in college. It was his senior year. He was definitely not soft. His was dunking and blocking everything.

 

[Hoskins91]

Jayson Tatum chose to play for Duke where the ball was going to be put in his hands and be the featured player that season.

That wasn’t going to happen on the 2017 UK team.

To add something else the only time I can think of that’s ever really happened under Cal here at UK was Jamal Murray. And he and Tatum both didn’t get out of the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

He wasn’t the leading scorer of that team. They had Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard.