John Calipari (ESPN Photo)
Kentucky’s struggles so far this basketball season made me think about some things that UK coach John Calipari told David Novak when he joined him on the How Leaders Lead Podcast recently. Novak asked Calipari then what he needed to create team chemistry — and remember this was several months before the Cats started playing.
“Do they trust us and trust that we have their back,” Calipari said. “They say, ‘What’s in it for me?’ I point to 40 NBA draft picks. They have to know what is in it for me.
“The hardest year we had was when we had two platoons (in 2014-15). Devin Booker came off the bench. He scored 70 points in a NBA game. Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Dakari Johnson, Alex Poythress, Marcus Lee, Tyler Ulis and the Harrison brothers all were on that team.
“How did we do it? We won every game. If you are winning and they all benefit, they will continue down that road. We won 38 games. Should have won 40.”
That’s the year unbeaten UK lost in the Final Four semifinals to Wisconsin, a game most UK fans don’t like to remember.
But guess what else that Calipari told Novak.
“This team I have, don’t say anything, but this might be one of my better teams,” the UK coach said. “We may have huge guards. We may have long wings. I don’t know.
“My job is to put together something every kid benefits by but they are also responsible for themselves. I think it is exciting. I will take talent over experience every time.”
Well, so far that talent over experience is not working this year for the 1-3 Cats.
