Every year, as another handful of McDonald’s All-Americans head to Kentucky, we always ask the most recent signees a question along the lines of “what makes John Calipari such an excellent recruiter?” And every year, almost every signee gives almost the same answer.
“He’s honest” they usually say.
His track record of NCAA infractions and vacated victories obviously invites his critics, to take issue with a statement such as that. However, these kids aren’t talking about how Coach Cal deals with the NCAA. They’re describing his honesty in his dealings with them.
Kentucky is a de facto NBDL franchise and I mean that as a compliment; I always have. Being the first and foremost NBA Developmental Program is the defining characteristic of Coach John Calipari’s recruiting pitch. We’ve been saying it for years- Coach Cal is a social trail blazer in that regard. Calipari is championing for the advancement of individual athlete rights. Moving forward, as the neo-plantation system that is the NCAA will continue crumbling, John Calipari will be remembered as a figure who was on the right side of history.
Coach Cal is a mastermind marketer. He’s transformed “one and done” into “succeed and proceed.” Mike Krzyzewski has already begun emulating Cal’s “succeed and proceed” model. Calipari developed a system that both a.) works for everyone involved and b.) flies in the face of the NCAA’s hypocritical, broken, outdated business model.
Yes, it makes John Calipari and the Kentucky a lightning rod for criticism, but you know who else is extremely polarizing?
Everyone who’s ever challenged the establishment and first brought change to the status quo. This year the rules were changed- you can declare early for the NBA Draft, test the waters, and return to school just as long as you haven’t hired an agent. Calipari convinced his entire team, even the walk-ons, to declare early for the draft. It was 100% an obvious publicity stunt, but again great publicity stunts are the best examples of great marketing.
Kentucky’s NBA assembly line is showcased every single year in the McDonald’s All-American Game. The Kentucky signees in the MCDAAG this year will be in the NBA Draft Lottery next year.
So if UK is a quasi-NBA D-League, then the MCDAAG is their D-League. Before this gets to be 1.) way too meta and 2.) an alphabet soup of acronyms, let’s move on to what ESPN Analyst Jay Williams told us during an exclusive conversation with The Sports Bank this past week.
Williams offered these insights when I asked him what Bryce Drew brings to the table:
“You have to know how to play the game. I’m not going to sugarcoat you things, right. There’s a reason John Calipari is very successful.”
“World Wide Wes is a very dear friend of his. World Wide Wes knows everybody in the game. Coach K. has a pitch, USA Basketball. You look at Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, they play USA basketball for him. So what’s your pitch? You need to have an in. Bryce Drew has an aura about him, he has a name.”
“You need a name these days. People get so worried about ‘oh, what’s your Xs and Os? That stuff matters to a certain degree, but that’s why you have a staff. You need to have a name where you can walk into a room and somebody says ‘that’s Bryce Drew,’ or ‘that’s blah blah blah.’ .
“You need to have that in order to recruit these days because you’re not just recruiting kids, you’re recruiting the kids’ family members, you’re recruiting AAU coaches, who work for agents because they’re getting money from agents to run their programs.
“You’re recruiting shoe companies. There’s a lot of politics involved with coaching. It’s not just ‘hey this kid’s a good kid who believes in me, the choice is done.’ There’s a lot of stuff happening in the periphery that makes it extremely challenging. You have to know how to play that game; and excel at it!”
It’s clear that John Calipari excels at “playing the game,” as Jay Williams perfectly articulated it.
Projected Depth Chart
C: Bam Adebayo (Fr)/Isaac Humphries (So)/Tai Wynyard (Fr)
PF: Wenyen Gabriel (Fr)/Derek Willis (Sr)/Sacha Killeya-Jones (Fr)
SG: Malik Monk (Fr)/Charles Matthews (So)
G: Isaiah Briscoe (So)/ Mychal Mulder (Sr)/Dominique Hawkins (Sr)
PG: De’Aaron Fox (Fr)
Gone: PG-Tyler Ulis, C-Skal Labissiere, SG-Jamal Murray, F-Alex Poythress, PF-Marcus Lee
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram