John Calipari to the Sacramento Kings?
By Jason McIntyre
John Calipari, the wildly successful Kentucky Wildcats coach, is in talks with the Sacramento Kings about making the leap to the NBA and coaching as well as running the front office of the team according to Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
While there is no offer on the table, the dysfunctional Kings are such a mess that they’re willing to give Calipari the keys to the kingdom and hope he can work with Sacramento star DeMarcus Cousins. The Kings just drafted Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein last week.
Cousins has been publicly feuding with Karl lately, and Vlade Divac’s inexperience in the front office showed on draft night when they reached for Cauley-Stein instead of taking Justise Winslow and dangling him in a trade to other teams that coveted the Duke star.
Calipari previously coached in the NBA with the Nets in the 90s, but it ended in disaster. He’s rolling at Kentucky, with a National Title and four trips to the Final Four. College coaches are en vogue currently in the NBA – the Bulls just hired Fred Hoiberg, the Celtics hired Brad Stevens a couple years ago, and the Thunder just tabbed Billy Donovan as their coach.
The Kings have been floundering since Chris Webber and Jason Williams got them to the Western Conference finals in 2002, and haven’t been to the playoffs since 2006 or won a playoff series since 2004.