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  • Calipari previews the 2015-16 season and players

    By: LARRY VAUGHT



    With ESPNU planning to televise Kentucky’s basketball practice Sunday night from 7-9 and no football game this week, here’s a bit more from a preseason interview with Kentucky coach John Calipari several weeks ago.

    Question: Was it a problem not having everyone on campus for the entire summer?

    Calipari: "You're allowed to do team stuff two hours per week. You're allowed to do individuals two hours a week. For me, I want the summer - I want them kind of working on themselves. If we take a foreign tour that's a different animal. I just think it's too early to start coaching them. For me to be doing team stuff, it's just too early. Now, our seasons are all ending, it appears, late. So, you really want to have like a nine-month season where they're hearing you and you're on them. It's just a long, long time.

    "I imagine there are some teams that this summer they spent their two hours and maybe more on team stuff to try to get ready for the early season. They have a new team. We have a new team every year. It's nothing - this is what we go through. It means we'll probably be slow early. We're not going to be - that November and probably early December schedule we'll probably struggle some.

    "Last year, that foreign trip was huge for us. It really got us off in the direction we went because we were ahead. That's why I've said I think all of us should have 10 days of practice or more in the summer. If you want to bring a team in or go - I don't understand why we wouldn't do it every year. You have 10 days with your team. You bring teams to you and play, bring foreign teams in. If you want to take a foreign trip, take one. But then there's no advantage. I mean, we had an advantage last year. Big advantage."

    Question: What about all the praise Tyler Ulis received during the summer about being the potential best point guard in the country?

    Calipari: "I hope they're right. I have a lot of faith in him. The last time we went through this where we lost this many guys, the issue we had was we didn't have any guards. You come back and you're trying to figure this out with all guys who have no experience. Well, we've got a couple with experience, and we have a couple really skilled guards that are there. I feel pretty comfortable because of that. And I think that Tyler should be that guy. What he went through last year and how he was."

    Question: What will the relationship be like between Isaiah Briscoe and Ulis?

    Calipari” "It all depends on how you are. When I had John Wall and Eric Bledsoe, everybody said, 'How will they coexist? How will that work? That won't work. They're two of this. They're the same.' Well, first of all, we play positionless is what I've said this summer. We don't really - we can play with three point guards. We can play with three centers, as long as you can play basketball. Guys like Tyler and Isaiah and Jamal (Murray), and those kids who are comfortable in their own skin, they're not in competition with the guy on their team. They are, but they're not. Good kids like that, they're not worried about the other guy. They're comfortable in how good they are."

    Question: Have you been happy with the extra work the players were doing during the offseason?

    Calipari: "It's a bunch of guys. You still have guys that are behind. Coach (Joe B.) Hall and I were talking, he says, 'You don't remember where Karl(-Anthony Towns) was at the begining of last year.' Karl was rated, if you looked at the McDonald's game, I think they rated him the ninth best player in the class. I believe that's what it was. Coach Hall is telling me, 'You don't realize. He wasn't what he was at the end of the year.' But Karl had a fight in him. Skal (Labissiere's) not there yet. Coach is telling me Skal's further along than Karl. I don't believe so, but I can't remember. But he's got a ways to go.

    "Isaac (Humphries) conditioning. Isaac is a 7-foot Josh Harrellson. Really skilled - I'm not talking Josh Harrellson my first year, I'm talking Josh Harrellson my second year. He is that, but again, physically, he's 17 years old. He's got the body of a 17-year-old. You got guys like that.

    "Tyler and the guards are going to be what they are. Charles (Matthews) and Mychal (Mulder), Derek (Willis), one of those guys is going to step up and break through a little bit. You got Marcus Lee is way better, way more confident. Skal, 7-foot and really - and then the other, Isaac is 7-foot and skilled, but you don't have a beast, and that's Alex. A lot of what will happen for us and our team is going to be how quickly can he start being who he is?"

    Question: Can Poythress be an in-your-face type of leader?

    Calipari: "He'll never do that, but he'll lead. The guys are going to listen to him. They respect him."

    Question: Is there anything he can do to help Poythress over that mental hurdle from his knee injury?

    Calipari: "He's going to have to do. I told him, 'You can't tiptoe shoot.' I said, 'The biggest thing Derrick Rose told me is your lift is different, which means your shot is different.' So, you can't tiptoe shoot because then you go out to shoot and it's off anyway. I told him, 'You have to extend and jump every time or shoot free throws. No tip toes because it's not a shot you're going to take in a game.' The last thing that will come will be how does he shoot the ball?"

    Question: What will Mychal Mulder's role be?

    Calipari: "He's a first-year guy. You walk in this place, it doesn't matter if you're 20 or 17, 1 or 21. He's a first-year guy. What he does is he can shoot the ball. He's a catch and shoot guy. He's a good athlete, and he's got to find his way, just like Charles Matthews has to find his way. Derek (Willis), I hope, and Dom (Hawkins) look at this and say, 'Alright, this is the best opportunity since I've been here to play. Now I got to take advantage of this.' But they have to find their way. They have to create their space. It's by what you do, not by how you act. It's what you do, how you play, how do I create that? He's one of those guys.

    "I've said to them, 'This is not communism.' I'm not sitting here telling you 10 guys play. We may play six guys. I mean, if six guys are way better than the others, then I'll play six guys. I've done it before. I'll play seven. I'll play eight, but they have to find their way. They have to figure out, how do I have to play to get on that floor? What does this team need me to do? Is my value that I can make shots? Well, then I'm making shots and I'm getting in this gym.

    "Charles Matthews is my ability to finish, to rebound, to defend different positions. Then that's what I'll do. I'm not going to do any of this other stuff over here because that's not going to get me on that court. So, you have some guys in that mode.

    "And then, like I said, Skal's got to get more of a fight. I mean, his skill level and all that is off the charts. Karl ended up learning to fight, but he was going every day against Dakari (Johnson), against Willie (Cauley-Stein), against Marcus Lee, and there were days he was the worst of the four. Skal now going against Marcus Lee, who's quick, but that's why I said when Alex comes back and goes at him a little bit, and then you have Isaac going at him."

    Question: Why isn't he considering going back to the platoon system again considering the depth on this team?

    Calipari: "Because when someone deserves to play more they play more. Someone deserves to get the most shots, they do. I want everybody to eat, but this is not communism. This isn't the eighth grade league. I did what I did last year because I had no choice. Everybody deserved to play. There wasn't a whole lot of difference between guys and that's what I did. I did that for the players. Some of my best teams I've played five guys, six guys. I mean, my best teams. Last year was a good team."
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