Kentucky vs the NBA

[mister d]

"I honestly believe Kentucky would make the NBA Playoffs in the East." - Larry Brown

This is dumb, but what about the following scenarios ...

1. Current roster, in 7 years: So no additions, just the same guys in their age 24-28-ish seasons. I imagine this is the most talented roster in college basketball history in terms of depth (Chad Ford has 10 current guys inside his top 78). Still never good enough because of the backcourt?

2. Calipari's Kentucky, present day: So the current college roster plus Davis and Wall and Cousins and Bledsoe and Kidd-Gilchrist and Knight. Definitely a playoff team. Legit contender? Has to be, right?

3. UK the expansion team, present day: Current roster going into the NBA, but with the players having trade value and the team having cap space to take on free agents and/or salary dumps. I bet this one would be a lot more fun to consider if I knew anything about the NBA.

[DC47]

#3 is Philly. It's now chic to rip them. But I love the experiment. Trading their best rookie and last-years' Rookie of the Year shows that this GM has reached the level of the Beatles as they were working on the White Album. Take it to what has got to be the limit. Then go further.

[DC47]

#2 would start Cousins, Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist, Bledsoe and Wall. Terence Jones and current UK big men come off the bench up front, and Knight is the combo guard. I'm probably missing someone good. That's a great team if they can play together and will D.

I wonder what school would have the second best recent-alumni team? Probably whatever high school LeBron went to. Texas? Florida? Connecticut? UCLA? Wake Forest?

[Rex]

This is always a stupid topic (not blaming the messenger), but I will say that Kentucky is likelier to beat a bad NBA team right now than Hampton is to beat Kentucky.

[Joe K]

#2 would start Cousins, Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist, Bledsoe and Wall. Terence Jones and current UK big men come off the bench up front, and Knight is the combo guard. I'm probably missing someone good. That's a great team if they can play together and will D.

I wonder what school would have the second best recent-alumni team? Probably whatever high school LeBron went to. Texas? Florida? Connecticut? UCLA? Wake Forest?

Nerlens Noel is still incredibly raw on offense, but he's a good defender and rebounder, so he could complete the 8-man rotation. Unless you count Patrick Patterson, who played for Calipari for one year but was not a Calipari recruit. Archie Goodwin, James Young and the injured Julius Randle are also on current NBA rosters. There's really no other school that comes close for the number and quality of recent alumni in the NBA. A few schools have had multiple good players, but I can't think of any with anywhere near that many solid rotation players.

[Yard of Junk]

"I honestly believe Kentucky would make the NBA Playoffs in the East." - Larry Brown

Agree.... this is dumb. Heard a podcast recently where they were talking with a couple of Vegas bookmakers. They basically said that, yes, this was nonsensical. That Kentucky would be a 4 point dog even against the worst D League teams.

1. Current roster, in 7 years: So no additions, just the same guys in their age 24-28-ish seasons. I imagine this is the most talented roster in college basketball history in terms of depth (Chad Ford has 10 current guys inside his top 78). Still never good enough because of the backcourt?

One of the items the bookmakers focused on was, for all their talent, the Kentucky team is still 18-19 year olds. That if this same team was 24-28, much better chance in the NBA. [/quote]

2. Calipari's Kentucky, present day: So the current college roster plus Davis and Wall and Cousins and Bledsoe and Kidd-Gilchrist and Knight. Definitely a playoff team. Legit contender? Has to be, right?

Has to be.

3. UK the expansion team, present day: Current roster going into the NBA, but with the players having trade value and the team having cap space to take on free agents and/or salary dumps. I bet this one would be a lot more fun to consider if I knew anything about the NBA.

I would think the youth of the team and talen would give a ton of value in terms of acquiring free agents.

[DC47]

#2 would start Cousins, Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist, Bledsoe and Wall. Terence Jones and current UK big men come off the bench up front, and Knight is the combo guard. I'm probably missing someone good. That's a great team if they can play together and will D.

I wonder what school would have the second best recent-alumni team? Probably whatever high school LeBron went to. Texas? Florida? Connecticut? UCLA? Wake Forest?

Nerlens Noel is still incredibly raw on offense, but he's a good defender and rebounder, so he could complete the 8-man rotation. Unless you count Patrick Patterson, who played for Calipari for one year but was not a Calipari recruit. Archie Goodwin, James Young and the injured Julius Randle are also on current NBA rosters. There's really no other school that comes close for the number and quality of recent alumni in the NBA. A few schools have had multiple good players, but I can't think of any with anywhere near that many solid rotation players.

Kentucky is no doubt number one. But I think that Texas could beat them a few times out of ten games. Durant and Aldridge, surrounded by some good role players.

Florida too, starting with Noah, Horford, and Beal.

My surprise team would be UCLA. Never much good in recent college seasons, they still could put out a surprisingly good team that starts Love, Affalo, Holliday, Westbrook, Barnes/Arriza.

[govmentchedda]

Don't forget Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, or did they retire while I wasn't paying attention?

[DC47]

Ah, a Florida guy. They retired twice and un-retired three times. They will play important roles on the Florida alum team.

[mister d]

La Salle would be interesting since it would just be Rasual Butler spotting up all by himself. Unless you want to include rapists who got thrown out of school, then Gary Neal would also be spotting up.

[DC47]

If those two alone don't cut it, they just bring back Tom Gola, Lionel Simmons, and former ABA gunner (weren't they all?) Larry Cannon.

[howard]

Jelly. Bean. Bryant.

[mister d]

The dude who couldn't even recruit his own son? Pass.

[teeteebee]

Don't forget Dougie O and Legs.

[mister d]

There are old timers who swear Brooks was / would have been the best of them all post Gola.

[Shirley]

Duke has enough players to nearly field two squads. Just not too many stars. Maybe only Irving. Deng, Redick, Henderson, Parker, and maybe still Dunleavy are solid, average players.

Of course, I think Okafor could start for at least a third of the nba teams right now.

[DC47]

Don't forget Dougie O and Legs.

Ah, Overton. Legs = Legler?

[phxgators]

Don't forget Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, or did they retire while I wasn't paying attention?

Poor Chandler Parsons...

[DC47]

Don't forget Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, or did they retire while I wasn't paying attention?

Poor Chandler Parsons...

I forgot him. With these three guys alongside Noah, Horford and Beal, Florida would probably have the best chance against the Kentucky alums. Not nearly as much firepower as Texas with Durant and Aldridge, or UCLA with Love and Westbrook, but they could hold up in the paint a lot better. Cousins, Davis, Noel, Townes, Cauley-Stein, oh my.

My new dark horse is Davidson College. I can only think of one of their players who's now in the NBA. But it's possible that Steph Curry and any four guys down at the gym could give the Kentucky alums a good run. He made a play the other night that just didn't seem possible at several moments. If it hadn't been Curry, his coach would have decided to bench him like four times in that sequence, before the ball went in. It was such a low-percentage move that I was sure that time must have been running out. But no. Just genius at work.

[L-Jam3]

You're talking about the play where he dribbled into four guys then threw up an off-balance prayer, right? That was criminal.

[DC47]

You're talking about the play where he dribbled into four guys then threw up an off-balance prayer, right? That was criminal.

Any other player and they would have had the paperwork done for his trip to the D League before he beat the fourth guy. That was pretty stupid. For anyone else.

And it's not just that he beat four guys. Wilt did that all the time. It's that he beat them quickly, and by dribbling backwards, before he took the shot. And the shot wasn't really that off-balance if you look closely. The form was actually pretty good. The other guys were just lucky they couldn't get close enough to get called for the shooting foul.

I think the NBA is learning that the best way to cover Curry is to position someone standing behind him, between him and the mid-court line. Perhaps two guys.

Curry is certainly developing his game. He now attacks by retreating. This is like something out of an early Taoist text on the philosophy of war.

Soon Curry will score by not scoring. Ultimately he will play by not playing.

I see Curry winning the MVP award in the 2015 NBA Finals, He will be sitting cross-legged in a cave high in the Himalayas, with a single stick of smoldering incense casting a flickering light apon his beatific visage. His stat line will be as empty as his mind. But, somehow, ineffably, due to the simplicity and perfection of his being, the scoreboard in game 7 will register a Warriors' victory.

[howard]

Soon Curry will score by not scoring. Ultimately he will play by not playing.

[DC47]

If Kentucky blows away the field, imagine the money that could be made with a one-off game versus a top NBA team. Ideally the league champion. Allow Kentucky to add some recent alums -- roughly young enough to still be in college -- to their roster so it's more competitive, but not so many that it detracts from the college versus pro feel.

All revenue after recovering the modest hard costs would go to a scholarship fund for poor children, which would give both sides the PR angle that would justify participating in the game. And give the embattled NCAA the reason to approve. The ticket price would be final-four high, and media rights would be gigantic. So perhaps a few poor children might someday benefit before all the money was stolen or wasted by the well-connected fraudsters who would be appointed to run the resulting foundation.

Calling the game would be the Barack and LeBron, with some play-by-play guy who would keep as quiet as possible. Remember, this is for the children, so it's possible. At half-time, I see a performance featuring the holograms of Adolph Rupp and Wilt Chamberlain. The music would be Taylor Swift and Pharrell fronting the re-formed Led Zeppelin. Special surprise guest: Elvis. He'd sing a few numbers, then bring on Bibi and whichever Hamas leader who hasn't been assassinated yet to announce the end to Middle East conflict.

Could even work as pay-per-view with the right promotion.