Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
With five of his players headed to the NBA, could Kentucky coach John Calipari be following suit?
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that Calipari has interest in the Chicago Bulls vacancy created by Monday’s firing of Vinny Del Negro.
ESPNChicago.com also listed a slew of potential replacements for Del Negro, including Doug Collins, Maurice Cheeks, Eric Musselman, Phil Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, Byron Scott, Sam Mitchell, Tom Thibodeau, Lawrence Frank, Dwane Casey, Avery Johnson and Calipari,
Yet Calipari denied interest, posting on his Facebook page: “Every year you will hear my named mentioned for NBA jobs because I coached in the league before. I’m very happy at Kentucky.”
He also told ESPN’s Andy Katz that he had no interest in the job.
Calipari’s eight-year, $31.65 million deal is already the richest in men’s college basketball. Yet Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart said he is working on a contract extension for Calipari.
“We have begun initial discussions on restructuring his contract so that he’s the coach at Kentucky until he retires,” Barnhart said in a statement.
Calipari went 72-112 in two-plus seasons with the Nets in the late 1990s. He spent the 1999-2000 season as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers before returning to college at Memphis, which he coached for nine seasons.
In his first year at Kentucky, the Wildcats reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, falling to West Virginia at the Carrier Dome. Five players from that team, including four freshmen, and junior Patrick Patterson have declared for the NBA Draft. Freshman point guard John Wall is likely to be the No. 1 overall pick in next month’s Draft.
If Calipari were to land in Chicago, he would be reunited with Derrick Rose, his former point guard at Memphis and the NBA Rookie of the Year last season.
Calipari is also close with NBA MVP LeBron James, who is likely to be pursued in free agency by the Bulls, who are under the salary cap and have money to spend.
Calipari also shares the same representation firm as high-profile free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Despite losing four freshmen and missing out on prep forwards Terrence Jones (Washington) and C.J. Leslie (N.C. State), Kentucky is bringing in a strong class that includes forward Enes Kanter and guards Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb. Knight hasn’t signed a National Letter of Intent, opting to sign scholarship players instead.
(The AP contributed)
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Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
With five of his players headed to the NBA, could Kentucky coach John Calipari be following suit?
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that Calipari has interest in the Chicago Bulls vacancy created by Monday’s firing of Vinny Del Negro.
ESPNChicago.com also listed a slew of potential replacements for Del Negro, including Doug Collins, Maurice Cheeks, Eric Musselman, Phil Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, Byron Scott, Sam Mitchell, Tom Thibodeau, Lawrence Frank, Dwane Casey, Avery Johnson and Calipari,
Yet Calipari denied interest, posting on his Facebook page: “Every year you will hear my named mentioned for NBA jobs because I coached in the league before. I’m very happy at Kentucky.”
He also told ESPN’s Andy Katz that he had no interest in the job.
Calipari’s eight-year, $31.65 million deal is already the richest in men’s college basketball. Yet Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart said he is working on a contract extension for Calipari.
“We have begun initial discussions on restructuring his contract so that he’s the coach at Kentucky until he retires,” Barnhart said in a statement.
Calipari went 72-112 in two-plus seasons with the Nets in the late 1990s. He spent the 1999-2000 season as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers before returning to college at Memphis, which he coached for nine seasons.
In his first year at Kentucky, the Wildcats reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, falling to West Virginia at the Carrier Dome. Five players from that team, including four freshmen, and junior Patrick Patterson have declared for the NBA Draft. Freshman point guard John Wall is likely to be the No. 1 overall pick in next month’s Draft.
If Calipari were to land in Chicago, he would be reunited with Derrick Rose, his former point guard at Memphis and the NBA Rookie of the Year last season.
Calipari is also close with NBA MVP LeBron James, who is likely to be pursued in free agency by the Bulls, who are under the salary cap and have money to spend.
Calipari also shares the same representation firm as high-profile free agents Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Despite losing four freshmen and missing out on prep forwards Terrence Jones (Washington) and C.J. Leslie (N.C. State), Kentucky is bringing in a strong class that includes forward Enes Kanter and guards Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb. Knight hasn’t signed a National Letter of Intent, opting to sign scholarship players instead.
(The AP contributed)
RELATED CONTENT
**John Wall signs with agent Dan Fegan
**Kentucky hoops post worst grades at school
**Brandon Knight to Kentucky
**Michael Gilchrist to Kentucky
**Doron Lamb to Kentucky
**Marquis Teague to Kentucky
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter.
