LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — John Calipari has departed — and let’s hope he took his calendar with him to the University of Arkansas.
This is NBA Draft Week. It’s no longer the most important day on the University of Kentucky men's basketball schedule.
Congratulations to Dan Issel, Kyle Macy and everybody else who successfully pushed back on that slice of classic Calipari blarney. You won.
But the NBA Draft will go on this week —with as many as four Kentucky players projected to be taken.
Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham will hear their names called in the first round Wednesday at 8 p.m. from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The NBA adjusted its schedule so the party will no longer last until 1 a.m. The second round was bumped to Thursday at 4 p.m. and will unfold at ESPN’s Seaport District Studio in Manhattan.
The four latest Wildcats will add to Calipari’s impressive UK totals. Over his first 14 seasons, Calipari had 33 guys taken in Round One and a dozen more in the second round. (I do not include Enes Freedom (2011) or Shaedon Sharpe (2022) who trained at UK but never played in a game.)
With 45 guys, you have home runs, doubles, singles and whiffs. It’s inevitable. But before I consider the future of the next four Kentucky draftees, I picked the 5 Biggest Hits and Misses from the Calipari Era.
For the record, I did not include John Wall, Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony-Towns and others on my list of hits. They were drafted high and have performed as expected. I preferred guys who should have been taken earlier than than they were called.
The Envelope, please.
THE HITS
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Pick 11 in 2018.
Drafted Behind: Kevin Knox of Kentucky (No. 9); Collin Sexton of Alabama (No. 8) and Mo Bamba of Texas (No. 6).
Drafted Ahead of: Miles Bridges of Michigan State; Jerome Robinson of Boston College and Michael Porter Jr. of Missouri were the three names called after SGA.
The Rest of the Story: Letting Gilgeous-Alexander slide to 11 was one of the biggest draft misses of the last decade. He’s a 5-time NBA all-star who was a finalist for the 2024 MVP. In fact, Shaquille O’Neal argued SGA should have won the award over Nikola Jokic. He’s averaged over 30 points in consecutive seasons and has the Thunder poised to chase an NBA title soon. He is on a Hall of Fame track.
2. Bam Adebayo, Pick 14 in 2017.
Drafted Behind: Luke Kennard of Duke (No. 12); Josh Jackson of Kansas (No. 4) and Markelle Fultz of Washington (No. 1.)
Drafted Ahead of: Justin Jackson of North Carolina, Justin Patton of Creighton and D.J. Wilson of Michigan were the three guys called after Adebayo.
The Rest of the Story: Of the 13 guys taken ahead of Bam, only Jayson Tatum of Duke (Celtics) has delivered a more productive career. He is a 3-time all-star who made the league’s first all-defensive team this season. Adebayo averaged a double-double in 2020, 2022 and 2024. He’ll compete with Devin Booker on the U.S. Olympic team in Paris next month.
3. Devin Booker, Pick 13 in 2015.
Drafted Behind: D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State (No. 2); Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin (No. 9) and Justise Winslow of Duke (No. 10).
Drafted Ahead of: Cameron Payne of Murray State, Kelly Oubre of Kansas and Terry Rozier of Louisville were the three players taken after Booker.
The Rest of the Story: One of the best two-guards in the league, Booker averaged at least 22 points over his last eight seasons while making four all-star games with Phoenix. The only gap in his resume is a championship ring.
4. Tyrese Maxey, Pick 21 in 2020
Drafted Behind: Cole Anthony of North Carolina (No. 15); Kira Lewis Jr. of Alabama (No. 13) and Killian Hayes (No. 7).
Drafted Ahead of: Zeke Nnaji of Arizona; Leandro Bolmaro and R.J. Hampton were the three players selected after Maxey,
The Rest of the Story: Of the 60 guys taken in 2020, only Pacers’ all-star Tyrese Haliburton has earned more win shares from Basketball-Reference than Maxey. He averaged nearly 26 points for the Sixers this season, earning the NBA Most Improve Player award and making the all-star team. He is on track for greatness.
5. P.J. Washington, Pick 12 in 2019.
Drafted Behind: Cam Reddish of Duke (No. 10); Jarrett Culver of Texas Tech (No. 6) and De’Andre Hunter of Virginia (No. 4).
Drafted Ahead of: Tyler Herro of Kentucky, Romeo Langford of Indiana and Sekou Doumbouya were the three players taken directly behind Washington.
The Rest of the Story: All Washington needed was a ticket out of the dismal situation in Charlotte to blossom. He got that in a trade to Dallas Feb. 8. Washington made his way into the Mavericks’ starting lineup and developed into a critical piece of the team’s surge into the NBA Finals. He averaged 13.1 points and 6.9 points for the Mavs.
THE MISSES
1. Kevin Knox, Pick 9 in 2018.
Drafted Ahead of: Gilgeous-Alexander of UK (No. 11); Jalen Brunson of Villanova (No. 33) and Mitchell Robinson of Western Kentucky (No. 36).
Drafted Behind: Sexton, Wendell Carter Jr. of Duke and Bamba were the three players drafted ahead of him.
The Rest of the Story: In six seasons with the Knicks, Hawks, Pistons, Trailblazers and Jazz, Knox has yet to find a home. After starting 57 games as a rookie in New York, Knox has started 20 over the last five. He’s averaged 7.4 points while earning more than $23 million. Utah waived by him on Feb. 9.
2. James Young, Pick 17, 2014.
Drafted Ahead of: Clint Capela (No. 25); Kyle Anderson of UCLA (No. 30) and Nikola Jokic (No. 41).
Drafted Behind: Jusuf Nurkic, Adreian Payne of Michigan State and T.J. Warren of North Carolina State went in the three picks ahead of Young.
The Rest of the Story: Young was a 3-point shooter who missed more than 73% of his attempts from distance, which explains why he exited the league after failing to start a single game in parts of four seasons. According to Basketball-Reference, he earned slightly more than $5 million. He’s credited with 0.8 Win Shares. Jokic, a two-time MVP, has 111.6.
3. Skal Labissiere, Pick 28 in 2016.
Drafted Ahead of: Dejounte Murray of Washington (No. 29); Ivica Zubac (No. 32) and Malcolm Brogdon of Virginia (No. 36).
Drafted Behind: Pascal Siakam, Furkan Korkmaz and Brice Johnson were the three players taken ahead of Labissiere.
The Rest of the Story: That was a not a great draft class. Most of the unreasonable hype on Labissiere came when he was in high school and ranked the top prospect in the nation by some recruiting services. He exited the NBA after scoring 1,069 points in part of four seasons.
4. Willie Cauley-Stein, Pick 6 in 2015.
Drafted Ahead of: Myles Turner of Texas (No. 11); Booker (No. 13) and Terry Rozier of Louisville (No. 16).
Drafted Behind: Mario Hezonja, Kristaps Porzingis and Jahlil Okafor were the three guys taken ahead directly before WCS.
The Rest of the Story: Cauley-Stein had a nice start to his career but injuries and ineffectiveness limited him to seven seasons. He averaged double figures in 2018 and 2019 but by 2020 he went to Golden State, then Dallas and then Philadelphia and then out of the league. He started only 18 games his last two seasons.
5. Marquis Teague, Pick 29 in 2012.
Drafted Ahead of: Jae Crowder of Marquette (pick 34); Draymond Green of Michigan State (35) and Khris Middleton (39) have all been NBA mainstays.
Drafted Behind: Perry Jones of Baylor, Arnett Moultrie of Mississippi State and Miles Plumlee of Duke went in the three picks ahead of him.
The Rest of the Story: According to Basketball-Reference, Teague exited the league after playing 91 games in three seasons, shooting 22 percent from distance and averaging 2.4 points per game.
Taken six spots behind Teague, Green has won four NBA titles at Golden State while earning 61 win shares. Teague is credited with -0.9 win shares.
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