The top-seven picks in Thursday night’s NBA draft were all freshmen, and no seniors were selected until the Spurs took Colorado’s Derrick White with the 29th pick. You can understand why NBA commissioner Adam Silver is rethinking the league’s position on one-and-done players jumping to the NBA, but Kentucky coach John Calipari — a champion of the one-and-done system — unsurprisingly stood by the status quo while appearing on ESPN’s draft set.
Here’s what Cal had to say:
“For a lot of these guys, everything has come easy until they went to college. What I would call for some of these kids a nice gap year. They’re talking about one-and-done. It’s not broken. It isn’t broken. My kinds finished the term, they’re on life-time scholarships — can I recruit a little bit? They need that year, and a kid like Malik [Monk] needed that year.”
For Calipari, the one-and-done system worked out beautifully this season. His three freshmen led Kentucky within a Luke Maye buzzer-beater of the Elite Eight, and all three got picked in the lottery on Thursday. Point guard De’Aaron Fox went fifth to the Kings, shooting guard Malik Monk went 11th to the Hornets, and center Bam Adebayo went 14th to the Heat. Historically, Cal’s one-and-done players have fared pretty well. Results like that are why Calipari makes $8 million a year.
The system hasn’t been as kind to other coaches and programs — think about Thad Matta’s tenure at Ohio State or Lorenzo Romar’s time at Washington. From the NBA’s perspective, many franchises have expressed frustration with young players who lack sufficient training entering the league.
Because Calipari was Monk’s coach, I trust that he’s right in evaluating that Monk needed a buffer year to prepare for the NBA. But that’s just one of dozens of one-and-dones from the last several years. Who’s to say all those guys needed a gap year? Maybe some of them could have benefited from multiple years of preparation?
The system may be broken, but it’s been perfect for Calipari. So seeing him stand by it is no surprise.
Calipari also threw out a big-time comparison about Monk, who was once considered a potential top-five pick but fell out of the top-10 to Michael Jordan’s Hornets:
“I knew that he wasn’t going to fall by Michael. [Monk] plays like Mike.”
That’s a lofty statement (like many of Calipari’s statements). But Malik Monk and Kemba Walker? That’s a fun 2K18 backcourt at the very least.
[ESPN]