John Calipari Asks the NBA Players Association to Help End One-and-Done

[Joneslab]

How to determine the "stars" versus the "college players"? There is a always a group of fringe dudes in every class.

I think that's why Cal is pushing for more vetting when they're in high school. The NCAA allows nothing in high school and relatively little in college in terms of NBA feedback.

There's a real fear there that amateurism is going to be sacrificed. As many have said in the last few years, amateurism is already sacrificed in the college game and has been for years and years.

[Dwight Schrute]

I think Cal's position is a bit overcomplicated. I think it works better to allow kids to go to the draft and if they don't like their position, allow them to return. It'd work better for the college game, because you wouldn't lose as many kids to the draft who have no business being there, and it actually allows a kid to see where he'd wind up.

[Catatonic]

As many have said in the last few years, amateurism is already sacrificed in the college game and has been for years and years.

I wish Cal would push even harder on this than he does. Someone should be advocating for the complete dismissal of the amateurism idea. Let kids go pro out of high school. Let anyone who ends up in the G League and changes their mind go play college ball and get a degree, as long as they haven't aged out. They should be able to sign pro contracts and endorsements while in school as well.

[wildcatdon]

Agree with Lighthouse on Scotty and J.Jennings on Cal

[Dwight Schrute]

Cal is one helluva coach no doubt but i feel if he doesn't get the best of the best, it shows. Can still motivate like no other but i still question his decision making sometimes...

I don't agree with this. Go back and look at that Memphis team from '08. Outside of Derrick Rose, those players were very average to good. We're looking at this because of what happened this past year with 5 inexperienced freshmen who weren't as talented as the teams of the past, but most coaches would've struggled with this. This team just wasn't any good.

[Joneslab]

If you're a fan and you don't question the coach's decision making you're probably not paying attention.

I've certainly never met a fan who didn't spend a decent amount of his time ticked at the head coach. I do think it's important to remember the good things. There are hundreds of great decisions Cal has made that don't get mentioned a whole lot. It's much easier to see the bad stuff because we feel the bad stuff more.

I'm sure there are clipboard whizzes who could coach circles around many of the guys at the high D1 level, including Cal. But what these power conference coaches can do that separate them from most everybody else is they're very good with the locker room stuff. In baseball it's called "great in the clubhouse."

They're tremendous psychologists. They usually know how to get their players on the same page, and keep them from breaking apart as the season goes along.

You might have a clipboard genius who sucks at the psychology part of it. Or who isn't a great motivator.

Coaching is like everything else. It's a whole spectrum of things and not just one. You don't make it to Calipari's level and not be tremendous at most facets of the game.

The main problem--if you can call it that--at Kentucky is that Cal has had absurd youth. Walk into a youth AAU event sometime and watch how difficult it is for kids to play up even on year. It can cause major problems when you have youth all across your team. The issue with Cal is that I think he has created a lot of that problem himself, some of it because of his past success and some of it because he's just in this game for a reason that's far different than we are as fans. The "getting kids out of generational poverty" thing can be super frustrating.

[Dwight Schrute]

You might have a clipboard genius who sucks at the psychology part of it. Or who isn't a great motivator.

Tubby Smith.