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Coach Calipari, his resume speaks for itself. When you found out he was recruiting you, what went through your mind? Jordan Smith: It was kind of crazy, kind of just a dream come true. Because Coach Cal, I mean, it's Coach Cal, like, you can't get better than that, really. The first thing he said to me when he first came to recruit me was, if you're good enough, you're big enough. And, you know, I'm not the biggest guy on the court. I'm 6-2, 6-3, and, you know, this guy is 6-5, 6-6, out there, and even 7-foot. So, just hearing that, as a 6-3 guy, instilled a lot of confidence in me and just showed that he had a lot of confidence and trust in me.
Calipari, who won a national championship during his time coaching at Kentucky, went almost seven minutes during his post-game press conference talking about today’s game after a reporter asked his thoughts on the Nnaji move. "I’ve got friends that are playing with 27-year-olds, and they feel bad, and I said, ‘Don’t feel bad. We don’t have any rules. Why should you feel bad?'" Calipari said, per Awful Announcing. "But let me give you this. Real simple: the rules bees the rules. So, if you put your name in the draft, I don’t care if you’re from Russia and you stay in the draft, you can’t play college basketball. ‘Well, that’s only for American kids.’ What? If your name is in that draft, and you got drafted, you can’t play college because that’s our rule. ‘Yeah, but that’s only for American kids.’ OK. OK."
In 1997, the New Jersey Nets were rebranding under John Calipari and looking for ways to reach younger fans. Scoop — then a kid radio personality with big dreams — got the call. Every week, he’d head to the Meadowlands to interview players, later returning here to host the Saturday morning show. “I wasn’t supposed to be here,” Scoop says, smiling. “But I showed up anyway. And that’s half the battle in this business — showing up before you’re invited.”
Daniel Donabedian: Jaylen Brown said that when he committed to Cal., his mom made him call every other school that pursued him. Some took the news better than others, as John Calipari even hung up the phone on him (while Roy Williams showed love): “It wasn’t no ‘good luck.’ It was nothing.”
Jaylen Brown said that when he committed to Cal., his mom made him call every other school that pursued him.
— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) October 6, 2025
Some took the news better than others, as John Calipari even hung up the phone on him (while Roy Williams showed love):
“It wasn’t no ‘good luck.’ It was nothing.” pic.twitter.com/IT2hixWZss
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We’ve confirmed that Alex Sohn and Gavin Johannsen‘s spec screenplay With the 8th Pick, about the behind-the-scenes 1996 NBA drafting of Kobe Bryant, has landed at Warner Bros. There is no director attached as of yet. The project is told from the point of view of John Nash, the general manager of the New Jersey Nets, and incoming Nets coach John Calipari, who really wanted Bryant. However, the New Jersey was a broke organization, and Bryant was an L.A. Lakers fan. Not to mention, Bryant’s sneaker deal with Adidas would be worth more with the Lakers than had he signed with the Nets.
Dave McMenamin: Pretty cool: Lakers second round pick Adou Thiero played for John Calipari at Kentucky and Arkansas from 2022-2025. His father, Alamy Thiero, played for John Calipari at Memphis from 2002-2006.
“I didn’t start in the first four to five games (at Kentucky). And I called him in and said, ‘Look, Shai, I know you should be starting or could be starting, but I kind of like this rotation,'” John Calipari said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I trust you. I’m fine. I’ll see you at practice.’ Well, game nine and 10, I started him. And from there, he was a lottery pick. “He made himself a lottery pick to the point that Cleveland wanted to draft him, and he said, ‘No, I’m not going to Cleveland.’ I was at the table. I’m like, ‘What are you doing?’ And he ends up going to the Clips. I watched him in a playoff game. That’s when I knew he was going to be in this league a long time.”
Karter's older brother, Kevin Knox, played for John Calipari with the Wildcats and was the 2018 SEC Freshman of the Year.
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After every practice and every shootaround, De'Aaron Fox would check his cell phone for a detailed message from his now former coach, Mike Brown. "He'd text me every day with a grade," Fox told ESPN this weekend following Brown's dismissal on Friday. Fox liked the push. "I've always been coached hard," Fox continued. "I went to Kentucky because [former coach John Calipari] would be hard on me."
“First of all you’re surprised when you’re an All-Star and you’re traded. And then the second thing is, you’re going to be hurt,” John Calipari, the head coach at Arkansas, said in an interview with The Post. “Why did they do it? Why would they do it? And in the end, that’s why I told him, ‘Please, (the Knicks) are perfect for you. Don’t worry about all the other stuff. Move on.’ “It’s kind of like what I’m doing coaching here (at Arkansas). It’s the first page I’m writing in the first chapter in a new book, a new adventure. Let’s go. No looking back. You’re not bitter. You’re on to the next thing. And that’s where he is. And that’s where I am.”
