John Calipari takes issue with Jay Bilas' comment about colleges not 'producing' NBA players
John Calipari doesn’t agree with ESPN’s Jay Bilas, and he explained his thoughts following the NBA Draft.
While sharing an ESPN article, Bilas tweeted that “college programs don’t ‘produce’ pros, they recruit them. Good coaches at every level help players improve, but don’t “produce” pros.”
Naturally, after having three players drafted in the first round Thursday night, Calipari was asked about Bilas’ comment.
“I don’t agree,” he said. “What about Tyler Herro? What about Eric Bledsoe?”
It’s borderline ridiculous how many NBA players went to Kentucky. Guys like Anthony Davis, John Wall, Karl-Anthony Towns and DeMarcus Cousins are all NBA talents and household names.
Did Kentucky produce them or did it just recruit them?
“I think there’s a culture that we have and a system, a process that we have of developing them with an idea of what the end result is – trying to win,” Calipari said.
Check out Calipari’s full comments below, as shared by WKYT Sports’ Alex Walker:
“What about Tyler Herro? What about Eric Bledsoe?”
“It doesn’t matter what school you go to, you’re going to make it if you’re supposed to. Do you believe that’s true?”
John Calipari disagrees with @JayBilas‘ notion about college programs not “producing” NBA players. pic.twitter.com/5LGUJ2OjYK
— Alex Walker (@AlexWalkerTV) June 23, 2019
Both men have a point, but I agree more with Bilas here. Ben Simmons is proof of this. Went to LSU and played for one of the worst coaches in the country. He then won Rookie of the year and was an all star his second season. The Vandy PG is another example. He only played a few games and was still a lottery pick. College basketball is not at all like football in this regard.
Some of those guys are going to the NBA no matter what but it is impressive that Herro went from number 37 high school senior to number 13 in the draft.
There are way more impressive jumps than that. Morant was the second pick in the draft. He was completely unranked as a HS player and had to go to Murray St. Hunter rose to four from 91 in HS. Culver rose to 6 from 312. Hayes went 8th and he was 102, Hachimura 9th from 148, and Johnson 11 from 224. Those are just the guys drafted before Herro.
Colleges can produce NBA players if they stay 2-3 years. 90 % of one and done players would have been drafted out of high school.