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The Kentucky Wildcats are attempting to navigate the NCAA Tournament and finish with a 40-0 record, and even if they are not successful speculation about the future of coach John Calipari will surface again. Around a year ago, former Kentucky and NBA player Rex Chapman tweeted that Calipari going to the Los Angeles Lakers was essentially a done deal, but that proved to be pure speculation. Calipari then reportedly turned down a significant offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers last summer, before ultimately signing a contract extension to stay at Kentucky.
Steve Popper of the Bergen Record reported on Wednesday, citing a league front office official, that Calipari “desperately wants” to return to the NBA. Popper even went a little further to suggest the Brooklyn Nets as a great fit, despite Calipari’s fairly dismal run (72-112 regular season record; one playoff appearance) as head coach of the then-New Jersey Nets for two-plus seasons (1996-1999).
We can expect Calipari to squash any rumors about his potential jump to the NBA, right up until something concrete happens. It’s fair to think he could have success in a second run as a NBA head coach, and plenty of teams will be ready to throw money at him to be their coach and have significant input in personnel moves. But I think one team that will likely be in the market for a coach this summer, the Minnesota Timberwolves, needs to stay away from Calipari.
Apart from their seemingly annual bad luck with injuries, the Timberwolves have had a less-than ideal coaching situation this season. President of basketball operations Flip Saunders has also been serving as head coach, after not being able to reel in any of his top candidates for the job last summer. Despite his past success as a coach, Saunders is not a long-term solution in a dual role and he should replace himself as coach before next season if at all possible.
Without knowing for sure, I would expect Calipari to want some sort of front office title added to his role as coach if he returns to the NBA. At this point that type of role is not available in Minnesota, and with Saunders also being a part owner of the franchise I’m guessing that will not change in the near future.
Leaving aside what looks like an obvious poor fit with the Timberwolves, I am not willing to assume that Calipari will succeed in a potential second head coaching stint in the NBA. Some coaches are just a better fit for the college game, while being able to navigate the unique elements that go with it, and Calipari has found a way to have a lot of success in the “one and done” era with a roster that changes dramatically every year. Not that rosters don’t change a lot year-to-year in the NBA, but it’s a very different situation than college basketball.
Calipari would have little left to accomplish at the college level if Kentucky completes an undefeated season, and it will be hard for him to turn down a big-money offer from any NBA team if one comes again in a few months. Saunders can’t be blamed if he ends up making a phone call this summer to gauge Calipari’s interest in being the Timberwolves’ new head coach, but I don’t think things would go much further than that for both sides.
I do expect Saunders to work diligently to replace himself as head coach before next season, and the best candidate to be that replacement may be just down the bench from him right now. Assistant coach Sam Mitchell is a former NBA Coach of the Year (2007 with the Toronto Raptors), and bringing him back to the organization where he spent the majority of his playing career now feels like a nicely laid out succession plan by Saunders.
Brad Berreman is a Columnist/Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Connect with him on Twitter or Google +.
