John Calipari believes Adou Thiero could be among college basketball's best finishers

What position will Adou Thiero play for the Kentucky Wildcats this season? That’s been the big question since he first arrived on campus last summer.

The Leetsdale, PA native stood 5-8 as a middle schooler attending one of John Calipari’s youth camps, his dad bringing him down to Lexington to meet with his former head coach at Memphis. When he signed with Kentucky in May 2022, the program listed him at 6-5, 180 pounds. By the start of his freshman campaign, he had grown to 6-6, 200 pounds. Now back for his sophomore year, he’s listed at 6-8, 222 pounds.

Thiero’s position and role have been moving targets because there isn’t a defined ceiling until he stops growing. He grew up as a guard, but currently has the body of a stout frontcourt piece. That’s led to a fun predicament for the Kentucky coaches.

“Adou is still growing, man,” associate head coach Orlando Antigua said last week. “It’s scary to think that he’s still growing. He’s still shaping his body into, you know, he’s been blessed with some genetic genes that none of us had anything to do with. He just has to work it and he’s been doing it.

“We’re going to be asking a lot of him as someone now that has to step up and play multiple positions, a guy that can play, honestly, one through five if you needed him to.”

It’s probably best to put a pin in any and all position talk with Thiero for now, at least until he’s done growing. What the staff does know, though, is he’s got at least one elite skill they’re relying on him to use: play finisher.

He can still take jumpers — John Calipari lumped him in with the likes of DJ Wagner, Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard, Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell as players given the green light to shoot — but he wants Thiero to embrace his bread-and-butter.

“The role I’m talking to Adou about is, be a finisher,” Calipari said following Kentucky’s 99-53 exhibition win over Kentucky State. “When that ball comes to you, whether a jump shot or a drive for a basket, I don’t need you to be a play starter. Now if you have it and you throw it, run into something where you end up being free for the play. That’s what he did today. … Adou being that finisher for us, he’s good.

“And he made free throws. He missed some, but he shot 70 percent from the line. Get fouled, get to the line.”

Thiero can be a big guard for Kentucky, but he can’t forget about the big part of that equation. He’s been blessed with physical gifts, traits very few have. The former three-star recruit is now a grown man with unlimited upside. Mobility and skill, but also size and physicality.

If he embraces all of those things, the possibilities are endless.

“He’s strong,” Calipari said. “He’s — you know, he literally could be one of the best finishers in the country.”

Thiero finished with 10 points (4-5 FG, 2-3 FT), five rebounds, four assists and four steals in Kentucky’s first exhibition win vs. Georgetown College, then added another 13 points (3-4 FG, 7-10 FT), eight rebounds and a steal against Kentucky State. That was after averaging 7.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks across four games in Toronto this summer.

Calipari called his shot with Thiero early last season, telling the basketball world to buy stock then.

“I’ll say this, and I’m not saying this lightly. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but he will have a huge impact on college basketball. He will,” Calipari said at the time. “Because he can play basketball.”

For the 6-8 do-it-all sophomore, the vision is becoming clearer.

“I feel like I’m understanding everything more after having a year together (with the team),” Thiero said Thursday. “I see everything more clearly now.”

And that vision aligns with Calipari’s both now and later. Thiero believes in himself and the player he can be down the road. And he knows to get there, he has to be the play finisher Coach Cal believes will allow him to take that jump.

“I enjoy being able to play more freely this year and know that coach wants me to be more of a finisher, score some buckets for us,” Thiero said. “… The finisher I am — I finish plays. I’m just going to do that to the best of my abilities.”