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By: Tyler Adkins
I had the opportunity to speak with former UK and Boston Celtics big man Walter McCarty today who is in the process of finishing up the final song for his new album “Unbreakable” that will be coming out in November. McCarty said the new album is much different than any he has done so far and it is much more upbeat and club-like than his previous albums.
McCarty said you will be able to purchase his new album on iTunes or off of his website www.waltermccarty.com. McCarty is also releasing a single in the next few weeks with DJ Khaled, Rick Ross and others that he was very excited about. He said the new album is 97% finished and should be finished this week. “The album is honestly the best work we have ever done, and we are really excited about it.”
McCarty said he has watched all of the guys who are returning to UK this year and thinks they have a chance to be a special team. He said Harrow is a great athlete and the team as a whole is a “group of really good basketball players.” Of this UK team he said: “If they keep everything within the lines and focus on playing for each other and not worry about the hype or anything that comes along with it, then they can be a team that competes for a national championship again this year.”
He has also watched Nerlens Noel: “He is a Boston kid, so I have watched him some and know him a little.” McCarty knows what it is like to come to UK as a premier big-man and bring home a national championship, so he had some advice for Noel and fellow big man Willie Cauley-Stein, both of whom will be making the transition from the high school game to the college game: “They need to show up and be ready to do whatever Coach Calipari wants them to do. It is easy to get caught up in the hype, to believe you deserve more shots or more playing time. They can’t try to be the next Anthony Davis or anyone else, they just need to do what Coach Calipari wants them to do and they will succeed.”
We also spent some time talking about why the 1996 team was such a great team even though they had such great individual talent: “We bought in, we had no egos about who should score, we were all really good friends and we enjoyed playing with each other and seeing the other guys do well.” He said the 2012 team reminded him of the 1996 squad, “To be honest we (96 team) talked toward the end of the season about how much they reminded us of our team. They didn’t care who scored, they had fun playing with each other and they only cared about winning.” He also compared another former UK great with Darius Miller, “Darius Miller reminded me so much of Ron Mercer, they both could have started anywhere in the country and they sacrificed some of their glory for their teammates, and that’s how teams win championships.”
Having watched Calipari practices and been a part of Pitino practices, I asked him how Pitino’s practices at UK, especially during the 1995-1996 season, compared with Calipari’s first three years: “They are totally different. Calipari has had five or six players who were really good every year, but we had nine NBA players on one team. Calipari does a great job of accomplishing what he wants to get done in practices, but the competitiveness level isn’t what we had. We knew that if we slacked off one practice the guy behind us would jump us in the rotation, it didn’t matter who you were because of the talent we had. We didn’t have the luxury of slacking off during any practice, so we really went at each other everyday and it was just a lot more competitive. We really felt like we were playing a top 5 team in practice everyday, so the practices were honestly tougher than any game we had.”
The most interesting answer to me was when I asked him which player had the most pure talent of any player he played with while at UK and almost without hesitation he said Rodrick Rhodes. He said, “We all knew how good Jamaal Mashburn was and stuff like that, but based on pure talent it is Rodrick.”
McCarty is planning to come to a football game this year since he didn’t get to last year because of his friendship with Joker Phillips, “Joker is a great guy, I have known him since I was at UK and I think he is a great coach. I will be there on the sideline for a game supporting those guys.” He is also planning to come to several basketball games this year and is expecting another great basketball team; “They have a chance to be special if they buy in.”
Big Blue Nation, make sure to pick up McCarty’s new album and visit his website, continue to show this former Wildcat the same support he shows the current Wildcats.
You can follow me on Twitter: @tyleradkinsKSR1
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