10 Things to Know from John Calipari's Summer Press Conference
Earlier today, John Calipari spoke to the media for the first time since the season ended in March. We’ve been churning out stories from his 30 minutes at the podium all afternoon, but if you don’t have time to scroll on this Fourth of July weekend, here’s what stood out to me.
1. Doctors believe Aaron Bradshaw will be back by the start of the regular season
The biggest news from the press conference was Calipari confirming that freshman big man Aaron Bradshaw had surgery to repair a fracture in his foot. Calipari said that Bradshaw chose to have the surgery instead of letting the fracture heal on its own in order to get back on the court faster, a sign he is all-in on his freshman season at Kentucky.
“He could have waited it out and then saw that it could work and he could be fine, but he said, ‘I don’t want to take a chance. I want to play.’”
Calipari said that Bradshaw will not travel to Toronto with the team for the GLOBL Jam, instead staying behind to focus on his recovery. Doctors say he’ll be back in time for the regular season, but Cal said the staff will not rush him.
2. Kentucky’s staff isn’t complete yet
When asked about Kentucky’s new assistant, John Welch, Calipari said he’s not quite done adding to his staff yet. Calipari said he expects to add “a couple of pieces” to the mix, which we’ll find out about “within the next 10 days to two weeks.”
If you read KSR regularly, you know one of them is Chuck Martin, a former Calipari assistant now on the staff at Oregon.
3. Roster not necessarily complete yet?
How about the team? With eleven players now on the roster, Calipari said he doesn’t expect to add anybody else but also didn’t rule out a last-minute addition. Given the nature of the transfer portal, Calipari predicted at least ten grad transfers will decide to leave their current programs between now and September, and if the situation is right, Kentucky may pursue them.
“Will we do anything else? I don’t believe so” Calipari said. “But what if this happens and that happens? Maybe we would. It’s a little different environment.”
4. He learned a Lil Wayne lyric
Calipari was in a good mood, joking around with reporters and trotting out his favorite “I was wrong once, in 1978” line. He even dropped a Lil Wayne lyric, raising eyebrows throughout the room (and drawing blank stares from others).
“Lil Wayne said to me — if you don’t mind me dropping a name — said, ‘I like how you just keep it in house what you do.’ He said, ‘It’s like my lyric: Real Gs stay silent like lasagna.’ Now I have no idea what that means. But he gave it to me and said you need to roll with that.”
The lyric is actually “Real Gs move in silence like lasagna” but close enough. Calipari liked the line so much that he brought it up three other times in the press conference and said “lasagna” is going to be his code word for when he wants to keep things under wraps.
5. “Transformational not transactional” is his new NIL slogan
There was a lot of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) talk today, with Calipari once again calling for transparency from the NCAA and financial education for the players. He said he wants his players to be involved with the community and to learn how to handle their money instead of just getting a paycheck.
“With NIL, I do not want it to be transactional; I want it to be transformational. Where it’s about educating. It’s not just about the gathering.”
We’re going to hear that a lot in the coming months.
6. He may or may not coach in Canada
We will be watching Kentucky Basketball in 12 days. When asked, Calipari said he has not decided whether or not he’ll be coaching the games in the GLOBL Jam. Typically, he doesn’t coach exhibition games so he can be on the sidelines to observe, but today, he said that because Kentucky will be representing the United States, he may feel obligated to step in.
“We’ve got ‘USA’ on our backs, which, will I coach, won’t I coach? I’ve never coached in the summer but this may be one that I do because of USA.”
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7. Tre Mitchell coming to Kentucky was “fate”
Calipari touched briefly on Kentucky’s latest roster additions, West Virginia grad transfer Tre Mitchell and freshmen Jordan Burks and Joey Hart. Mitchell committed to the program on Monday in the wake of Bob Huggins’ DUI arrest and subsequent resignation.
“What happened with Tre was fate. If Huggins doesn’t have an issue — that kid loved Bob Huggins. He wasn’t leaving. And all of a sudden it’s like, wait a minute, what’s happened, I’m out. That’s fate.”
Fate or a lot of poor decisions. However it happened, we’re happy that Mitchell is a Wildcat.
8. Lots of praise for Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso
There wasn’t a ton of talk about the actual team, but Calipari did praise sophomores Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso for their improvement since last season. He said Thiero is starting to resemble his dad, Almamy, who played for Calipari at Memphis.
“Adou, who’s looking more and more physically like his dad, who I coached. He’s probably near 6-7 now and he can play multiple positions — probably a 3 and a 4. But he’s way more confident, so yes he’s better. He’s living in the gym.”
Almamy shared these before and after pictures of his son today which really showcase his transformation:
9. We got a Rich Paul reference
Klutch Sports is now a household name in Big Blue Nation, and not necessarily for good reason. The agency represents Chris Livingston, who decided to go pro instead of return to Kentucky, and current freshmen Aaron Bradshaw and Justin Edwards. When the news of Bradshaw’s injury broke, there was concern among fans that Klutch would use it as a reason to hold Bradshaw out this season. As mentioned earlier, Calipari was adamant that Bradshaw wants to play this year, hence his decision to have surgery, and he even mentioned Klutch founder Rich Paul by name when talking about where Kentucky’s guys went in the draft. The Milwaukee Bucks selected Livingston with the final pick of the draft, No. 58. With another year at Kentucky, Livingston’s stock could have been much higher.
“With Chris Livingston, I was ecstatic because he’s going to have a chance,” Calipari said. “And I told Rich, he did a heck of a job giving him that opportunity in Milwaukee where they need somebody like him or he’s got a chance on a roster and all the other stuff going.”
10. He made a transfer portal joke
One of Calipari’s biggest gripes about the transfer portal is the number of older players still competing due to the NCAA’s extra year for COVID relief. Today, he cracked another joke about it — even though he has a super senior and a grad transfer on the roaster.
“We’ve got guys playing at 26 and 27 [years old]. I’m for the players but this is about the safety of an 18- and 19- — we’ve played 17-year-olds. So now, you say you have five years to play four [seasons]. We’ll come together and that’s it. No more COVID year. Next year, no. We decided we’re not doing another COVID year, so a 28-year-old now becomes 29 and plays. He has two kids, his wife, he’s on his second marriage but he’s playing. Can’t do this. That’s not what this was. So, we can change that and it will eliminate 70% of our problems.”
Oh, Cal.
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