Kentucky Basketball at the 2018 NBA Draft

2018 NBA Draft
June 21 at 7 p.m.
Barclays Center | Brooklyn, N.Y.
ESPN

PLAYER BIOS

• Hamidou Diallo
• Wenyen Gabriel
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Kevin Knox
• Jarred Vanderbilt

NBA DRAFT NOTES

• Kentucky has had 122 guys drafted 124 times (Johnny Cox ’58 and Roger Newman ’60 both drafted in Jr. eligible draft, but returned for senior year and were drafted again)
• UK has had 47 players selected in the opening round (24 have come in the last eight years) of the draft
• Kentucky has had 31 players selected in the draft over the last eight years, 14 more than the next closest school (Duke)
• UK has had 12 players selected in the top 10, 17 in the top 15 and 24 in the first round of the draft in the last eight years
• The Wildcats have had at least one player taken in the top seven of the draft in eight consecutive seasons. Since the lottery began in 1985, only two teams have had more than one player taken in at least four consecutive drafts (Kentucky, 2010-17 and Kansas, 2012-15)
• Calipari has had two or more players selected in 10 consecutive NBA drafts dating back to 2008 with Memphis
• UK has had multiple first-round picks in every year of the Coach Cal era (since 2010)
• Kentucky is the only school to have three players selected in the NBA lottery in three different drafts
• In 25 seasons as a head coach, Calipari has coached 42 NBA Draft picks, including 30 first-round selections with 16 of those going in the top 10. He has had 31 selected in the last eight years as UK’s head coach, including 24 coming in the opening round
• All 21 freshmen who have declared for the draft following their freshman season under Calipari at Kentucky have been drafted in the first round. Calipari is 25 for 25 in that regard if you include his players from Memphis
• Since the draft moved to two rounds in 1989, the Wildcats lead all schools with 35 first-round picks. Twenty-four of those selections have come in the last eight years under Calipari

CAL ON THE NBA DRAFT 

Opening statement …
“A lot of the interest in a lot of our guys – I don’t have exactly a feel for where everyone will go. Still got a few days, but it starts shaking out and you get an idea here. I think they’re all ready. I’d like to say that all of our guys in the lottery have made it, so second or third contracts – or about to do that. Even our other kids have done well. Some of the guys have played themselves from second-round picks to getting contracts in the NBA, so I’m proud of the guys. This will be interesting, being able to go to New York. We have two guys in the green room in Kevin (Knox) and Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) and, you know, we have three other guys looking to be picked on that night.”
 
On potential he sees in players that are projected to go later in the draft …
“I don’t think Jarred (Vanderbilt) would be late second round, but I will tell you that his analytics – all of those teams that are really looking into analytics stuff – his analytics within those 12 games were off the charts. NBA motor, goes after balls, fell for the game, a quick twitch, can pass it, can bounce it, got to get better shooting, but my guess is he’ll be gone before the late second (round). There are some teams in the late first round and then you know into the early-to-middle second, so I think he’d be gone. Wenyen (Gabriel) – a couple of the teams that he worked out for later in that first round really liked him and the reason is he’s 6-foot-10 and can really shoot. That’s kind of where the league is going. Now, physically, he’s got to get stronger, and I think – in an NBA environment – I think within a year, you would see someone that’s 6’10”, physically able to battle, and can really shoot it. Right now the physical part is a little tougher for him, but again I think if someone could get him in that late second, that’s a steal in my mind.”
 
On if he sees the G-League as beneficial for guys that are taken later in the draft …
“Oh yeah, absolutely. I think there are teams in the league that have really utilized it, and I think because of the success of those teams – Oklahoma City and a couple others – the other teams move toward that. Literally, we’re not just having a team to have a team. We want these kids to get on that court. We want them to play. It’s hard to get better not playing. Like Dakari (Johnson) and we can talk about Andrew Harrison, who earned his space on the Grizzlies and they love him. I’ve had guys that have gone second round and have had to play their way into the NBA, and it’s a great way of doing it. And then the up and down stuff, which is now you have some two-way contracts, which I think are beneficiary to those kinds of kids too.” 

On advice for players on the bubble of potentially not getting drafted …
“Well, I don’t have any at any point with any of the kids overriding. I mean, PJ (Washington) and I didn’t talk the last two weeks before he made his decision. He just hit me and said, ‘Coach, I’m coming back.’ I think you just try to be honest. Which is what we do in the recruiting process. We’re not going to over sell. I’m not going to tell you that if you come back I’m going to do this, that and the other. It’s not what I do. It’s what they do. If you’re honest with a young man and you say, ‘Look, there’s a good chance you’re not going to get drafted.’ ‘I know, but I want to do this.’ I can remember with DeAndre Liggins where I said, ‘DeAndre, the best that you’re going to do is in that second somewhere. That’s the best and you may go undrafted.’ ‘Coach, I’m ready. I’m built for it. I’m going to do this. I’m going to go after it.’ And you know, it’s kind of worked out for him. I remember saying it to Jodie Meeks when I first got here. ‘Jodie, if anybody is telling you you’re going in the top 15 picks they’re not telling you the truth.’ He said, ‘Coach, I’ve been here three years. You would be my third coach. It’s time for me to do this.’ And I said, ‘I’m with you kid. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.’ And Wenyen, the same kind of conversation. My hope is that he goes somewhere in the second round. He may not. Well, you know what either way he’s probably going to have to go through that G-League and work his way in. He’ll figure out that I gotta get stronger, all those kinds of things. You know, he wanted to go for it. He was adamant. ‘I’ve gotta do this, Coach.’ At that point my shift is, ‘Okay, how do I help him? What teams are you working out for? Who can I call for you? I’ll give you a feel for what they’re saying.’ I think it’s bad business trying to override or ‘you have to come back,’ or this one, ‘I’m going to play you like this or you’ll be able to show’ – I’m not going to do that. At the end of the day, you’re not tricking the NBA. At the end of the day you cannot play around whatever weakness you have. You’ve gotta really get into the gym whether it’s weights, whether it’s ball handling. A lot of times it’s just plain shooting. There’s one way to do it. You’ve gotta get in the gym and show them you’re moving in the right direction, and if they see that growth going the right way you’re fine. If they don’t – now you have issues.”
 
On Kevin Knox …
“Well, I’ve had conversations with those guys (New York Knicks). They gave no indication of what they’re doing. So, the conversation was more about my players. I would tell you that Kevin Knox – there are going to be teams that pass on him and people are going to say two years from now, ‘Why would we have passed on him?’ He’s the youngest player in this draft. He’s mentally mature. He’s got a great drive and will within his body. But, physically his body is not there yet. So, you’re getting a 6-10 scorer who’s tougher than you think, but has a way to go because he’s going to mature physically. And what you find out when you get him is that is what the league is moving to. Six-ten guys that can score the ball, can shoot it, can block shots, athletically can do it. And then the thing about the toughness becomes, he has the mentality to be tough it’s just physically he’s growing into his body. I look at guys like Jayson Tatum who I thought was unbelievable in the playoffs. Recruiting him and knowing him, being around and watching him – I never knew he had that kind of toughness in him. I watched him. I watched him at a ton of games – AAU, all summers – what I saw he never showed in college. But, what I saw in the NBA obviously he’s starting to mature and his body is starting to mature. Now you have a skilled, long, tough player who’s a future All-Star. But, you know, people knew he was good they didn’t know he was that tough. And Kevin falls into the same mold right now. When that toughness sprouts out that’s when everybody says, ‘How did we pass on this guy?’ How do you pass on a 6-10 shooter, long, long arms and who is a good athlete? How do you pass on that? And that’s what’ll happen. But right now there’s probably guys who have been in college longer who are more physical, that are more mature physically that he’s gotta catch up with them. But, he will. They all do. It just takes time and it’s a different time for each kid.”

On not having not a top draft pick and it changes his thoughts on the draft …
“No it doesn’t. When I had the one pick our teams won almost every game we played. This year we lost four in a row. That hurts your draft position. That does both. If we would have won 38 straight games guess what – those guys would have been considered right there. That’s why winning matters here. That’s why winning championships matter. That’s why winning national titles and being in Final Fours matter and you try and tell these kids. Now, a lot of times, you have to go in – I mean, you look at guys like a Jamal Murray, where he went in the draft, wait a minute now, he could have been down a couple notches here. Where they’re picked – it’s more going to the right team. If you’re picked 12th or eighth or seventh or sixth, I’m going to be honest with you it’s not much difference. It’s who’s ready to play. Who’s going to be a player that within two to three years becomes that guy. These guys are asking me all the time “who do you think would be an all star?” and I said “you know what, I don’t know.” Of all of our guys that have gone out, it looks like it’s going to be five, six next year, right in that range. But none of the guys are a bust. Every one of them make it. The only guy that hasn’t had the opportunity and is getting it now is proving “yes, I was picked as a lottery pick and I deserve it” is Trey Lyles. He didn’t play in Utah and now in Denver he’s playing and they know. Every other guy, second contracts, max deals, third contracts. So by taking one of our guys in the lottery, probably a pretty good bet he’s making it. Three of them have been all-stars. There’s something there.”
 
On adding Hagans and how he is envisioning having all the guards …
“Well last year we were short on guards as you all know. Our skillset we had more turnovers than assists most of the year and that’s just unusual for one of our teams based on the fact that most years I’m playing three point guards or three guards you can consider point guards. Last year, a lot of times we had one on the court. We were a better skilled team when we had two but we weren’t as dominant when we had two. This year, you’ve got, with Quade (Green), Immanuel (Quickly), with Ashton (Hagans), you have three legitimate point guards. But being able to handle the ball, Keldon Johnson, he could be a point. He could be that big guard who starts your offense because of how he plays. You’re also skilled with Jemarl (Baker), you’re also skilled with Tyler (Herro), and the other thing is I’m hoping we will be the kind of three point shooting team that we’ve been in the past where it’s a true weapon, we can shoot it in transition, we can shoot it off ball screens. We just weren’t able to and some of you “boy you should have shot more threes.” We probably would have missed more threes then. It just wasn’t what our strength was. I think we’re also going to have some upfront guys who can play like guards. I think we’re going to be a little different, well, we’re going to be a much different team than we were a year ago which is why as we finish this out and we get all these guys in here probably by next week we’ll do some team stuff on the court and the Bahamas trip, you know, bode well for this team. PJ (Washington)’s not playing yet because of his hand. He’ll probably be, my guess is, two and a half more weeks in the cast. Probably another week, 10 days, two weeks of rehab then he’ll be ready to go. But we’ll be ready.
 
More on PJ Washington’s injury …
“No, he’s gotta get through the four weeks in a cast. Then it’ll be another 10 days two weeks of rehab. I think he’s got two more weeks in the cast, I believe.”

On if Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is only working out for a few teams …
“Well he and I just texted back and forth like two days ago and we didn’t get into that. I had heard that he had limited some of the things. I don’t know what that means. Sometimes it means they have a good idea where he is going to go. I have not talked to his agent about it. But the teams love this kid. Again you are talking 6’6″, seven foot wingspan. You’re talking a projection, which is what the NBA is, it’s a future league. A projection of where he was at the beginning of our year. He was our ninth rated player to where he was at the end of the year. When he played well, we won. To a guy that proved he could shoot it better than everybody thought he could. Why? Because he was in the gym at 7 a.m. in the morning working on it. A guy that got stronger physically. Why? Because he was the best we had in the weight room and he started to mature physically. And now they are all looking for big point guards. Why is that? Its because they want to switch one through four. And they’d even like to switch one through five. The game has become position less. Who was Cleveland’s point guard? Who was Golden State’s point guard? So you now have a young man that is 6’6″, seven foot wingspan, that can play point because he did or he can play away from the point if you have (James) Harden or LeBron (James) or whoever like that. So I think you got, he is one that everybody is intrigued with. Has not been spoiled with the process. Kind of like Jamal Murray, wasn’t spoiled by the process. I talked to a team yesterday who I tried to say take Jamal Murray and they didn’t. And we laughed about it yesterday. And I said here is a kid, unspoiled by the system. Hard to get a hold of Jamal because he doesn’t look at his phone that often. Could you imagine. He doesn’t watch TV and is not on the phone. He is into basketball and that is who Shai is. So don’t know with either he or Kevin. I don’t have that kind of feel right now.  My guess is they both go in the top 14. You know how down low do they go, I don’t know, I don’t know yet.”

On if Jarred Vanderbilt’s decision was based off of his injuries …
“Right and that was our conversation. The whole conversation and let me say this, of all of the kids, he is the one that kept calling and saying what do you think. And then we had to talk about what is out there. What is the opportunity? And what are teams saying? Can you get a two year deal because at the end of the day, he has been injured and you know now it becomes ok what happens if next season you can’t play right away or whatever. But he was great about it. I think we talked through everything, every scenario. He knew what they were. And in his case, I’m counting on his agent being on top of what is true and not true for him, the opportunities. And what I’m hearing is late in that first round somewhere or early to the middle of the second round. If someone pops late and someone has to wait and take a guy and he moves back, you know I think with his numbers, pro spirit, pro energy, you know NBA body, all of that stuff. You know got to shoot it better, but there have been many players that have gone into the league and got better shooting the ball. I’m also you know the stuff we haven’t talked about Hami. I’m hearing good stuff with Hami. Hami may end up going about where he was going to go a year ago in that range. Late first, early middle second round, somewhere in there. But I know this because I have been with him, way more prepared to make it than he was a year ago. Now you know there are areas where he has to get better and he knows. But athletically there is probably not a better athlete in the draft. So now you are taking one of the best athletes in the draft, who played at Kentucky which means everything was thrown at him. Who had a great attitude, never not one time was an issue for me as a coach and he could have been. I mean who could have been ‘come on I came back.’ Never. Coach I need you to tell me what I got to do. Again I think what he went through is going to prepare him to make it in that league and even though he’ll go in the same area that he probably would have a year ago, he is way more prepared to make it.”

MOCK DRAFTS

• ESPN.com
• Sports Illustrated
• CBS Sports
• The Ringer
• NBADraft.net