Morning 5 For: Calipari gives credit where it’s due, & Bridgewater in Hot Water

Jul 25, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; USA Blue Team center Anthony Davis (left) jokes with a player on the White Team bench during a free throw attempt in the fourth quarter of the 2013 USA Basketball Showcase at the Thomas and Mack Center of the 2013 USA Basketball Showcase at the Thomas and Mack Center. Also pictured is USA Team White forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at right. Team White won the game 128-106. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

As power forwards go, Anthony Davis isn’t typically who comes to mind, but this most recent ESPN Round Table has Davis as the “Most Promising Power Forward in the NBA by a 4-1 margin.  now AD doesn’t come across as a PF because he doesn’t have the power most people associate with that position but his dominance isn’t found in brute strength.  Rather it’s found in his freakish gerth, wingspan and high IQ.  He was a man among boys while guiding the Kentucky Wildcats to the 2012 National Championship but in the NBA he is becoming a giant among men.

"4. Who’s the most promising power forward in the NBA? Christensen: Anthony Davis. Playing for New Orleans, it is easy to fly under the radar, but Davis had a very decent rookie season. He averaged 13.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 steals. He still has to get stronger and develop his post game, but he will definitely be one the best power forwards in the NBA in seasons to come. Levy: Anthony Davis. His promise is covered with the brightly patterned paper of defensive dominance and wrapped with a ribbon of supreme athleticism. Any frontcourt player who can single-handedly control the paint on defense will always find NBA success, and Davis can be that a thousand times over, to say nothing of his untapped potential at the offensive end. Polk: Anthony Davis. At age 19, just two years removed from high school, battling injury and with very little refinement in his game, Davis still managed to be a relatively efficient NBA scorer and rebounder. And with that serpentine body and the ridiculous things he can do athletically, Davis has the potential to be a crushing defender. Shelburne: Blake Griffin. That sounds like a strange answer for a guy whose made the All-Star team in his first three years in the league, but as Chris Paul noted the other day, Griffin is still far from reaching his ceiling as an NBA player. As talented as he is, Griffin is still working to improve his midrange game, timing with the pick-and-roll and defense. At best, he projects to a Karl Malone-type player. At worst, he’s Shawn Kemp. White: Anthony Davis. This is a somewhat circumstantial answer, as the Pelicans could easily move Davis to center full time if his body fills out. However, given that Davis played most of his minutes at power forward last season, I’ll give him the label of most promising at this position. He displays a preternatural sense of timing on defense, which, when combined with his tremendous length, makes him a shot-blocking terror and overall menace at that end."

AD also made the list as the Most Promising Power Forward in the NBA in Five (5) Years on a 3-2 tally.

"5. Who will be the best power forward in the NBA in five years? Christensen: Kenneth Faried. Probably the most exciting player to watch in the league. He is a fierce rebounder and hustles at all times. He moves well without the ball and doesn’t necessarily need the rock to help his team win. When he develops his offensive game, he will be the best power forward in the NBA. Levy: Anthony Davis, again. He shows the most promise, and I haven’t seen any reason to think he won’t deliver on that promise. Polk: Anthony Davis. I considered Love, but I worry that the incredible effort required to do the things he does will hamper his rebounding production down the road. So I’m going to gamble on Davis’ defensive potential and say that, at 25, he’ll be combining an efficient offensive game with the ability to destroy anything an opposing offense tries to do. Shelburne: Blake Griffin. I repeat myself, but in this case it’s because I know the man’s work ethic and desire to be great. Plus, there’s the matter of Chris Paul pushing him every day. There’s a good argument to be made for Love, Davis, or Aldridge, but in terms of ability, talent and ceiling, it’s Griffin all the way. Love and Aldridge pretty much are what they’re going to be, and Davis projects out to a Kevin Garnett-type, if he can add a post game and midrange jumper. But Griffin has the talent and drive to surpass all of them, if he continues to develop. White: Anthony Davis. Again, this comes with the caveat that Davis is of the rare hybrid power forward/center breed and, in five years, could easily be a center. That said, Davis is already a terrific defensive player in the frontcourt and hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface of his potential on offense. His rookie year per 36 averages of 16.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks already foretell of a dominant two-way player."

And if you’ve ever wondered just how Coach Cal gets the results he does with the players he coaches, look no further than his most recent post on CoachCal.com where he doles out all the credit.  Hint:  None of it goes back to John Calipari.  You’ve heard the expression “It takes a village” in reference to raising kids, but that is exactly what Coach Cal is doing in this program and it still takes a village.

"I’m taking a final, last few days off before our guys return to campus and we really get this thing cranked back up again. While I was sitting here thinking about some things – and the Big Blue Nation knows I like to think when I have a little free time – it occurred to me that our staff doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves. My staff – everyone from the assistant coaches to our strength and conditioning staff, our trainers, our media relations staff, our managers and so forth – is instrumental in what we do here on a daily basis. It takes a village to do this job right, and without them, we couldn’t do what we do here at Kentucky. The backbone of our program is our players. Without our players, our program is nothing. Everything we do here is for them, their well-being and their future. But, if we are to achieve our goal of a players-first program, our staff has to be the best it can possibly be. If our team sees any crack in our staff, we can never truly be a team on that basketball court. Whoever I hire, my staff must be an unbelievably strong team that works together, and more importantly, works for each other. Just as we tell our players to be their brother’s keeper, each staff member is each other’s PR team. Orlando’s PR machine includes me, John Robic, Kenny Payne, Rod Strickland, Lunetha Pryor, Chris Simmons, Preston Spradlin, Mike Malone, etc. If anyone talks with us about Orlando, we are his PR machine. The same goes for Kenny or anyone else on our staff. Kenny’s PR team includes all of those people and Orlando. When it comes to how we make up our staff, I need positive people around me. I need people who are upbeat and have a positive outlook on things with a “we can do this” mentality. I’m not saying everybody has to be whistling and skipping every day, but they have to look at things with an idea that we can tackle anything together. I need people who look at adversity as a challenge and failure as a learning opportunity. I need people with an attitude that we either win or we learn. Even knowing how difficult it is, I can’t have negative people around our program. It is really important to me that every guy has a certain seat on the bus. In other words, I won’t hire the same type of person five times for five different positions. We need everybody on the bus to do something different – what they’re better at than anyone else on the staff – and to do it well. The only one thing I require all of my staff to be able to do is recruit, which I’ll get into in a moment. As long as there is something that you add to our team, I’m good with you. I’m always trying to hire people who are strong in areas that I am weak in, which is why I have a big staff. I’m an idea guy who enjoys being on the court teaching the game. A lot of the ideas we present on basketball are presented by me, but they may have been someone else’s ideas because we are a team in what we do. Like I said before, the only thing I require everyone on my staff to be able to do is recruiting. Anyone who is helping our program – everyone from Ray Oliver in our strength and conditioning program to Tim Asher in our video department, John Hayden and Deb Moore in media relations, and Linda Carmack and Allie Schick, who help run our office – has to help us recruit. When they come in contact with the kids and their families, I want those people walking away saying, “Wow, what a nice person. That person will care for and look after my son. That’s someone I can talk to.” That part everyone must be able to do. The people who are hired as my on-floor coaches have to, of course, be able to coach. You can’t be a coach here and not be able to coach basketball. I’m not hiring people to get players; I’m hiring coaches who can develop players. If we can develop players who become NBA players, who then become good NBA players, who then become the best NBA players, a la Derrick Rose, an NBA MVP, then we will continue to recruit the best players. That’s how it works in my mind, but at the end of the day, we are out to develop players, so they all have to be able to coach."

That might seem like the entire article but I assure you, it’s not.  It’s a fascinating read so please check it out.