OT Larry Brown says UK is an NBA playoff team

Submitted by poseidon7902 on

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2015/story/_/id/1…

 

Earlier in the season (Think pre-season) Briggs said the same thing and Calipari squashed it saying UK would get burried by any NBA team.  

 

UK would be lucky to win 5 games in the NBA.  I get that they are dominant at college, but the NBA is a different game.  I'm not a fan of the NBA and still feel that there isn't a single team or all star team from the NCAA that could hang in the NBA enough to make the playoffs.  Maybe beat the sixers consistently, but not win enough to even be in the talks for the playoffs.  

TheDirtyD

March 19th, 2015 at 11:28 AM ^

Considering their current starting five will most likely be starting in the NBA at some point. I see where he says this. They have the size and athleticism to play

Space Coyote

March 19th, 2015 at 11:32 AM ^

But being drafted high and actually panning out in the NBA are different things. If they got 5 to pan out eventually, that would be a pretty decent clip. And that's panning out eventually, not stepping right in and doing it right now.

These are guys that are limited to the amount they can play, going up against professionals, many who were just as highly regarded as anyone on Kentucky.

Kentucky may be a very, very good college basketball team (they certainly seem to be), but being an NBA playoff team? Absolutely not. I'd bet right now they'd lose to the 76ers more than they'd beat them, and the 76ers are really bad by NBA standards.

taistreetsmyhero

March 19th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

kentucky has 4 projected first round players for this current draft (plus 2 nba-sized bigs projected for 2nd round)...with one being the projected 1st pick. 2012 Michigan team had a bunch of young guys who would eventually become high draft picks.

but this is a stupid argument because neither team would be close to the worst nba team.

Lucky Socks

March 19th, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^

Maybe if you signed them all to 10 year contracts and let them mature as individuals and a team. But now? Not even close.



NBA teams are full of the most talented, most driven players. One team full of dudes with potential? These statements are hilarious

bgoblue02

March 19th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^

I have to imagine there is a massive difference in strength and the grind of the season that there is no way they would be able to handle.  Agree though if you give them time then in a few years they may be playoff worthy.  

 

ijohnb

March 19th, 2015 at 11:32 AM ^

a lot of hyperbole being thrown around about UK.  They are not as good as Vegas was, I don't think they are as good as at least two Duke teams I can think of, and I actually don't know if they beat the Fab Five 93.  They may not be the best Kentucky team of the last 20 years either.

brose

March 19th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^

They would get run out of the gym...I would watch the game and maybe even pay $5 to watch it out of curiosity...someone get on this.

ijohnb

March 19th, 2015 at 11:38 AM ^

think they would make the playoffs, but they could probably give the Pistons a game right now.  What a dumpster fire that is after about one week of semi-relevance.

deshawn swimms

March 19th, 2015 at 11:43 AM ^

In no way am I saying it would happen, but there have been plenty of players who have walked right out of high school/college and had an immediate impact in the NBA. It's a 5 on 5 game, so individuals can make a huge difference. Add in the fact that these Kentucky guys have been playing together all season and have chemistry (it's not just a random assortment of all-stars.) 

Football on the other hand...not a shot. Size of the lines alone would make a world of difference. 

AHM16

March 19th, 2015 at 11:47 AM ^

I still say this team is a product of a weak conference. If Kentucky was in the Big Ten or ACC and possiblly the Pac-12 they are a 2-3 loss team. SEC is absolutely a terrible conference when it comes to basketball. 

copacetic

March 19th, 2015 at 11:49 AM ^

Boston is currently in 8th in the East. Here is their roster, this team would murder Kentucky, there's no way UK would have a better record over the course of the 82 game season. Heck you could take the best college players from this team (as their college version of themselves) and I'd probably still pick them over Kentucky. 



 

 

Point Guard: Marcus Smart, Isaiah Thomas, Phil Pressey

Shooting Guard: Avery Bradley, James Young Small

Forward: Evan Turner, Jae Crowder, Luigi Datome, Gerald Wallace

Power Forward: Brandon Bass, Jonas Jerebko, Shavlik Randolph,

Center: Tyler Zeller, Kelly Olynyk, Jared Sullinger

Perkis-Size Me

March 19th, 2015 at 11:48 AM ^

Some talking heads had this same conversation 2-3 years ago about Bama being able to beat some NFL teams. The argument is the same. No they couldn't, and neither could Kentucky. Kentucky would be lucky to win 5-10 NBA games, and Bama would've been lucky to win 1 NFL game.

These teams excel against their competition because they're the best IN THEIR FIELD. Professional teams are on a whole different level. When they get to the NBA or NFL, everyone else is, at worst, as good as them, or more than likely, is better than them. Kentucky is big. Everyone in the NBA is big, if not bigger. Kentucky is fast. Everyone in the NBA is fast, if not faster. Put Kentucky against the Cavs, Spurs, Warriors, Thunder. Hell, against anyone, and they'll likely lose by 40. And that's if Lebron, Durant, Curry or Duncan are having off days.




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Mr. Yost

March 19th, 2015 at 1:04 PM ^

Not a chance in hell. But it's a COMPLETELY different argument - and that's what people don't understand.

In the NFL there are college players who aren't draft eligible, even high school players who COULD play in the NFL. There is no TEAM that could ever beat an NFL team.

But it's a completely different game.

The best college team would struggle to get 5 first downs against the worst NFL team.

...basketball, baseball, even hockey are WAY different. Just by the nature of the sport.

Basketball - if UK has 7 NBA level players (which they do), they could beat a bad NBA team. Not in a best of 7, they wouldn't be a playoff team and they'd still be the worst team in the league...but in basketball inferior talent can beat superior talent. We just lost to EMU and NJIT. We're closer to those teams than UK is to the worst NBA team, but the point is, superior talent doesn't always win because it's only 5 guys on the court.

Anyone arguing it is just close-minded. It like saying I couldn't score a basket on Michael Jordan in his prime. I was a low-mid major level D1 basketball player. If we played to 21, no "make-it/take-it" I could just shoot 3's from halfway between midcourt and the 3-point line and I could make at least one. I'd get destroyed, but the nature of the game allows even a low-mid major level D1 player to score against the greatest ever to ever play. If a good team plays bad and a bad team plays good...the bad team might win. That's not the case in football. Michigan could've played it's best game EVER last year. It would've never sniffed the endzone versus the 0-16 Lions.

UK actually already beat pro teams this year. Not NBA, but they beat pro teams over the summer.

Baseball - If you have a MLB level pitcher on your college team, it's possible for a college team to beat a professional team.

Hockey/Soccer - Happens every year.

Football - Never. 

It's an argument in basketball, it's not even a thought in football. But don't think for a second there aren't a handful of college freshman or even high school seniors that couldn't play in the NFL right away.

Bambi

March 19th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^

Larry Brown is wrong.

To expand on this point:

This is the current NBAdraft.com mock draft.

Currently, the projected Kentucky players in the draft are:

Karl-Anthony Towns: #1 overall

Willie Cauley-Stein: #10 overall

Trey Lyles: #12 overall

Devin Booker: #14 overall

Dakari Johnson: #41 overall

Alex Poythress: #47 overall

Andrew Harrison: #52 overall

So NBAdraft thinks that this current Kentucky roster has 7 NBA caliber players. That means the rest of the roster isn't NBA caliber, and it doesn't even touch the fact that 2nd round picks probably aren't going to stick in the NBA either.

The worst team in the NBA by record is either the Timberwolves or Knicks. Because I think the Knicks would be better if Melo wasn't hurt, lets look at the Timberwolves.

Every single player on the Timberwolves team was drafted except for Gary Neal who has proven to be a servicable NBA bench player.

From the past two draft classes alone, the Timberwolves have 6 first round draft picks, and that doesn't include players like Kevin Garnett, Kevin Martin, Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic. They also have the last two #1 overall picks.

So no, this current Kentucky team would struggle to not have the worst record of all time. They wouldn't come close to being a playoff team.

 

 

Bambi

March 19th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^

No I didn't forget. If they aren't being projected to be drafted this year, then regardless of future projections, they aren't NBA players this year. So on this years team, that really doesn't factor in

MAZandBLUE

March 19th, 2015 at 12:05 PM ^

Thread jack?

Just watched the NCAA Tournament intro on CBS and I couldn't help but notice there were three clips of Michigan from the last couple seasons. #GoneButNotForgotten

Qmatic

March 19th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

Looking at some of Kentucky's players in the NBA right now, I can think of 6 players in the league right now who are good/great. John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, and Anthony Davis are in the top 3 in their positions in the league. Brandon Knight, Eric Bledsoe, and Terrance Jones are good to really good players. It took several of these guys a couple of years to get acclimated to the nba.

I look at this Kentucky team and I don't see anyone who would be a great nba player right now. Yes they have size, but can Towns score consistently against nba big men? Without the zone how effective is Cauley-Stein defensively? How well can the Harrison's shoot an nba 3?

It's ridiculous to think this team would succeed in the nba right now. I don't think they'd go 0-82, but they'd be much closer to that mark than say 41-41 (which would get them in the playoffs in the east this year)

ckersh74

March 19th, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^

They wouldn't touch 10 wins. The bench depth, plus the grind of the schedule, plus Calipari's NBA track record would make for an epic disaster.

EDIT: Has anyone considered the fact that an NBA game is 20% longer (48 min vs. 40) than the collegiate level?

Mr. Yost

March 19th, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^

But anyone who thinks this UK team wouldn't win a game in the NBA is also on crack.

This UK team would win 10 games in a full NBA season. They'd get blown out by 20+ in more games than they'd win. They'd be a lottery team hoping to land Mudiay or Okafor.