NBA Rumors: Would John Calipari Make The Move To The NBA?

NBA Rumors: John Calipari reportedly is very interested in making the move back to the NBA, and a perfect season at Kentucky could trigger it

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The last time we saw John Calipari in the NBA, he was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers under Larry Brown after a failed two and a half seasons as the head coach of the New Jersey Nets.

During those two-plus seasons, Calipari was 72-112; he was fired after just 20 games into his third season with the club.

To say his stint in the NBA was a failure would be an understatement. It was clear that he wasn’t ready; or prepared. However, much has changed since the 98-99 season, when he was fired by the Nets.

And according to a report, Calipari wants another crack at the NBA — and, potentially, the Nets.

"[via NorthJersey.com]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."

If there was a time for Calipari to make the move back to the NBA, it could be after a compiling the first collegiate basketball perfect season since Indiana’s 1976 32-0 campaign. If he can achieve that with this year’s Kentucky team, what would he be coming back too, other than comfort level?

That could be his potential opportunity to make the move back to the Association, although, it appears, it would also need to come at the right price — and place.

Even though it was rumored that Calipari denied the Cleveland Cavaliers job offer this past summer, that doesn’t exactly mean that he wasn’t interested in making the move back. After all, at that point in the offseason, the Cavaliers coach job was anything but intriguing.

Calipari will eventually make the move back to the NBA, it’s just a matter of when — not if — at this point.

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