catmandoo
Player
Member # 1284
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posted 10-12-2014 08:17 PM
The options are incredible and however he plays them it will work as they are all that talented. He can't make a mistake if he tried.
How many bigs can Kentucky play together at one time? That’s a problem coach John Calipari must solve, but it is also a dilemma almost any coach would love to have, considering that Calipari will be choosing among junior Willie Cauley-Stein, sophomores Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee, and freshmen Karl-Anthony Towns and Trey Lyles.
All could be first-round picks in the 2015 NBA draft based on early mock drafts, and Cauley-Stein likely would have been a top,20 pick after last season if he had opted to leave UK. Cauley-Stein and Lee are the most athletic of the bigs, with Johnson the strongest inside physical presence. Towns and Lyles have a mixture of athleticism and skills few big men can match.
“The way I saw Willie play the other day … you have to figure out some offense, but Willie’s playing like he’s a three (small forward),” Calipari said during a preseason interview. “Like, we throw it ahead, he’s in the open court crossing and throwing balls out, and I’m like, ‘Holy jeez.’ Now, is he going to pull up and shoot 3s? No.”
Calipari told Lee, Cauley-Stein and Johnson that they all had to be able to make free throws if they want to play in late-game situations because both Towns and Lyles are solid free-throw shooters.
“Understand that if you guys can’t make 15-footers, it’s harder for me to play you. And the reason is, you basically aren’t being guarded and that means you’ve got to get closer to the goal,” he said. “But you can play Willie, and that could have Alex (Poythress) staying at four (power forward), or Trey Lyles staying at four, and with a big. You could have Willie out there with Karl, who can shoot it better, and Marcus Lee. How about that team? Now all of a sudden it’s nutty.
“Until we start playing, you know, what kind of zone team would it be with Willie, Marcus Lee and Dakari in the middle?”
Calipari said it was his push that had Johnson explore his options of going to the NBA.
“I said, ‘Do you want me to look into your NBA stuff?’ He said no. I asked Marcus Lee, he said no. I said, ‘OK.’ But when I was getting feedback, a couple of the teams threw Dakari’s name in, and so I told him, you know, ‘You may want to re-evaluate, get with your mom,’” Calipari said.
“Kendrick Perkins has done pretty good in the NBA, and he is still playing, and he was the 29th pick in the draft. Now I think emotionally and every other way, he wasn’t ready, but if someone’s gonna draft you, you’ve got to think about it. So that is how it played out (with Johnson).”
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