Kentucky Wildcats 5 for Thursday: Kevin Grevey is scouting the Kentucky Wildcats edition
By Paul Jordan
Are you ready for a blast from the past this morning? Former Kentucky Wildcat Kevin Grevey is a scout for the LA Lakers and for a few reasons has been paying close attention to the Wildcats and he likes what he sees this season:
"“They are very unselfish. A team that doesn’t turn the ball over. You would think that a freshman orientated team would but John Calipari is doing a great job with these guys and it puts a lot of pressure on the defense because you have to go out on the shooters, yet they have that dribble drive. Literally, everyone on the floor can take the ball to the basket if they would like to. Great spacing. This is a very dangerous team. I really like Kentucky’s chances.”"
As for scouting the actual players, Grevey thinks that Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb, and Brandon Knight are all eventual NBA players and that Josh Harrellson would be a solid D-League player or can possibly earn a spot on a NBA roster.
As we know, former Cat Antoine Walker is currently toiling in the D-League for a salary around $24,000 a year — a far cry from the more than $100M he earned in the NBA. Now his quest is starting to get some national publicity, you can only hope that one more chance in the NBA can follow for Antoine.
"Now Walker believes — no, hopes — that his career isn’t over. He can’t afford it to be over, which is why Walker is slumming in the D-League with the Idaho Stampede. On sore knees with too much weight to carry around, Walker is pushing himself up and down the court in such unappealing venues as Boise, Fort Wayne, Tulsa and Sioux Falls, hoping some scout or assistant GM will see him and think, “He can still play.”"
Thanks in part to what was probably massive amounts of Kentucky based Internet voting, former Cat Stevie Johnson was the proud winner of the Vizio “Top Value Performer” Award. Johnson was awarded for his past season in which he caught 82 balls for 1073 yards and 10 TD’s … all while on a $470,000 salary. The Bills definitely got their money from Johnson and you can bet that Stevie will be getting loose all the way to the bank when it comes to contract renewal.
John Calipari’s NBA buddies just keep stopping by Lexington. Recently the coach of the Charlotte Bobcats and now unemployed, Larry Brown paid a visit yesterday to hang with Cal and watch the practice. Calipari tweeted out this morning that Brown will be visiting for a few days and can help the Cats improve. Calipari considers Brown a “friend and mentor” and will likely listen to what the Hall of Fame coach has to say. If we recall, last time Brown visited Cal, Cal was tweeting about starting a JV team. To be honest, I’m not how viable a JV team would be this year as the Louisville Cardinals are still in the midst of their Big East season.
Word is that John Calipari offered 2012 recruit Archie Goodwin a scholarship this week when Cal went to Arkansas to visit him. Goodwin is one of the top shooting guards in the class and the 18th ranked player overall. This is also a pretty big weekend for UK recruits that will not be visiting UK. Perry Ellis will be making an unofficial visit to Kansas to catch the Kansas-Kansas State game. Incidentally both of those teams are on Perry’s list of six teams. 2011 SG Trevor Lacey will be in Tuscaloosa for an unofficial visit to watch the Crimson Tide take on LSU.
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