We’re deep into March Madness, which can mean only one thing — the John Calipari to the NBA rumors are heating up.
If Calipari can lead this Kentucky team to an undefeated season and National Championship, will he have anything left to prove on the college ranks?
Calipari has only failed as a coach one time in his life — during a misreable stint with the Nets from 1997 to 1999.
The Brooklyn Nets currently need a big name — while Cal likely needs a new challenge in coaching. Could the two sides come full circle for one more go at it?
It’s simple to follow the trail of where it went wrong, but one NBA front office official looked at the situation and believed there is a way back — and one that could happen.
The one name that could return the Nets to all of those things they thought they could be, that they seemed primed to be, is currently guiding the best college basketball team in the nation, a coach who crashed and burned with the Nets once already. The Nets can be saved by John Calipari.
“He desperately wants it,” the front office official said. “He won’t say it out loud. The NBA is the only place he’s ever failed and it drives him nuts. He’s not the same guy he was then. He came to the NBA and he wasn’t ready. He’s ready now.”
If it seems like grasping at straws, a big name to save the day, maybe it is. But NBA sources point to ties that are already in place. In the Nets’ struggles, the one person who has held the trust of Prokhorov is the man behind the marketing, the tireless Brett Yormark. While the product on the court has struggled, the branding of the Nets has been a blueprint for other franchises. While Calipari may have left some rifts when he was fired by the Nets, he remained close with Yormark.