In 2010, when the one-and-done rule was enacted in the NBA — prospects had to be one year removed from high school before entering — it was easy to see why both sides brokered the deal.
The colleges get to retain the uber-athletes — Kevin Durant, for example — for at least a year. The NBA gets a bootleg farm system for free, because the NBA can't stop giving millions to bad players.
What they probably didn't anticipate is someone like John Calipari is shooting through the gap.
Make no mistake, all elite college coaches have more in common with Calipari than fans would like to admit.
Calipari just does it so shamelessly.
And why shouldn't he? He's produced a litany of professional talent and won championships. He could return to the NBA if he so chose. John Calipari is living the dream.
And Calipari has become so emboldened, he's pushing the envelope with an "unprecedented scouting combine for NBA personnel." It will also dovetail nicely into Kentucky's recruiting machine:
From the NBA's best reporter, Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski:
Calipari has invited officials of the 30 NBA teams to send personnel to Lexington, Ky., on Oct. 11-12 to watch his players do everything from run full-court five-on-five and NBA-style pick-and-roll sets to individual skill work.
The event is a chance for Calipari to impress a throng of top high school recruits on campus visits and once again frame his program as college basketball's best NBA feeder system. Kentucky is expected to be a consensus preseason No. 1 in the polls.
And while many will throw their hands up in disgust at Calipari's peddling, there's a deeper line of strategy to his thinking:
After the combine, Calipari plans to shut out NBA executives and scouts from his practices for several weeks – perhaps even months – into the season, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
This way, Calipari can avoid the distractions that a constant parade of NBA scouts can present to so many talented young players in the practice gym.
That last bit is interesting, because here's Thad Matta's self-review from the 2013-2014 season:
"Once again the biggest challenge is combating the outside influences that infiltrate our program,” Matta wrote. “This at times can be debilitating to building team chemistry and unity.”
Sounds like Thad could take a page out of Cal's book.
