Dontaie Allen and Devin Askew are two of UK's returning players for next season. (UK Athletics Photo)
Have you ever bought a new pair of shoes that really looked good at the store? As you walked around in front of the mirror at the shoe store you thought, “These look great and yeah, they might be a little snug, but once I wear them a little and break them in they will be great.” Then you get home, take the shoes out of the box and wear them around for the day and you realize that they are a little tighter on your big toe than you remembered, and they kind of rub on your heels when you walk.
But they still look great in the mirror and they match your outfit perfectly so you wear them anyway and by the end of the day you have blisters on both heels and your big toe is aching from the constant pressure of the front of the shoe.
That makes for a miserable day. Something that you looked forward to, wearing a brand new pair of nice-looking shoes, ends up causing a whole lot of pain and misery because the fit isn’t exactly right.
Well, that’s kind of where John Calipari finds himself looking at his roster after a dismal season last year. Sure, it looked good on paper. The No. 1 recruiting class in the country. Two top 10 freshmen who were “can’t miss” NBA Lottery picks. An All-ACC senior transfer center to go with a do-everything senior guard from Creighton. Several really good role players including a returning sophomore forward from last year’s team and a former Kentucky Mr. Basketball that scored a boatload of points in his career in the KHSAA.
Add all that up and it’s a very nice-looking roster. Big men that are athletic, wing players that can theoretically create their own shots, and guards that can shoot from the outside and drive the ball. It was a roster that seemed to match the John Calipari system very well.
But then the season started; an abbreviated season due to COVID. One where the players couldn’t get together and build the type of team chemistry that seems to be so important for John Calipari-coached teams. All of a sudden the coaches, players, and fans were feeling the pain of a completely new roster, one that didn’t fit as well as it looked before the season started and it pinched a lot, rubbed a lot of blisters, and finally ended in a very painful 9-16 record.
Now that the season is over, to continue the analogy, John Calipari is looking for a new pair of shoes. He is looking to remake his player roster into something that is a much better fit for the offensive and defensive systems he wants to run.
Gone are two former “can’t miss” lottery picks — BJ Boston and Terrance Clarke. In their defense, nothing about the logistics of the season seemed to put them in a position to play their best basketball. Too much was expected of Boston from day one and Clarke ended up in an injured reserve role for most of the season. They both just never seemed to fit very well. Gone also is Cam’Ron Fletcher, the 6-6 wing player from St. Louis. After a locker room disagreement with his head coach Fletcher never seemed to get out of Calipari’s doghouse. Potentially gone is possibly the best player on the team — big man Isaiah Jackson. My opinion is that his testing the NBA waters will probably provide enough positive feedback that he will keep his name in the draft.
Also potentially gone is 7-foot center Olivier Sarr and Davion Mintz — a transfer guard that played about as well as he possibly could have in 2021. Both, I’m sure, had much higher expectations for the season but neither one ever seemed completely in sync with what the Calipari system required.
Potentially gone also (my guess is at this point it could go either way) is Keion Brooks Jr., the only returning player from the 2019-2020 team. Brooks started the season on injured reserve and midway through the season tried to fit into the jigsaw puzzle that was UK Basketball but never quite found his spot.
So who does that leave on the current roster for the 2021-2022 season? Glad you asked. First of all, rising junior Oscar Tshiebwe, a 6-9, 260-pound big man who formerly played at West Virginia joined the team during the second semester last season. He should help improve the inside presence with some much-needed muscle.
Along with Tshiebwe, shooting guard Dontaie Allen, big man Lance Ware, forward Jacob Toppin and point guard Devin Askew have also committed to return for next season. Kentucky also has three incoming freshmen — 6-9 five-star power forward Daimion Collins, 6-7 four-star power forward Bryce Hopkins and 6-4 four-star point guard Nolan Hickman — in its No. 4 ranked recruiting class.
Also, as of the writing, Calipari is currently fishing in the transfer portal and has already reeled in Kellan Grady, a four-year player and former starting guard for the Davidson Wildcats. He is a 2,000 point career scorer and averaged 17 points per game. That could add some much-needed scoring punch to the anemic Kentucky offense from last year. The rumor mill says that Calipari could potentially reel in a couple of more transfers before the fishing season is over.
For those that read my last article about John Calipari’s dribble-drive offense (let me say thanks to both of you) you know that UK needs a quick, athletic point guard that can finish at the rim — preferably 6-4 or taller — and a couple more athletic outside shooters that are quick enough to drive the ball to the basket given the opportunity.
If Kellan Grady is quick enough to consistently beat his man off the dribble he could be just what the doctor ordered to help reignite Kentucky’s lethargic offense. He shoots a great runner in the lane and is a 38 percent 3-point shooter but I’m not completely sold on his ability to consistently beat his man off the dribble with a quick first step and pull the defense to him, but he could definitely be an upgrade to the offense playing as a two-guard and maybe as a backup point guard.
So where does that leave this Kentucky roster for next season? If John Calipari sticks with his staple “dribble-drive” offense (and there is no indication that he won’t) it appears to me that the Cats have a good mix of inside players that could get even better if a couple of undecided players choose to return. They have a couple of very good shooting guards, with the possibility of Mintz returning which could make three, and some freshmen that could fit nicely into the mix.
So, in my opinion, based on what I have seen of Askew as the point guard last season, Grady’s highlights from Davidson, and Nolan Hickman’s highlights from high school it appears to me that John Calipari is still short a knowledgeable, quick, “finish at the rim” type point guard. One that can draw the defense to him which would then allow him to facilitate the offense and get open shots for his teammates.
Even with the improved lineup and added experience, without that type of point guard, in my opinion this team will struggle to beat high-level competition next season. Don’t get me wrong, they will be an NCAA Tournament team and should finish in the top four in the SEC but I wouldn’t look for them to compete for a national championship without the key piece that makes the John Calipari offense go.
Who knows, Kentucky may reel in a great point guard, another knock-down 3-point shooter, and become a potential Final Four contender in the next couple of weeks or they could stick with what they currently have and be a much better team next season. That’s the great part of the basketball off-season, without a crystal ball nobody really knows what’s going to happen next year until they toss up the first basketball in November.
— Keith Peel, Contributing Writer
