In sports, you're always worth what one person is willing to pay. Brooklyn reportedly have interest in giving John Calipari full control of the team. But Calipari denies that he will leave Kentucky, but at the right price he could end up with the Nets.
Calipari has a ton of connections in the NBA and the players he coached at Kentucky and Memphis. After sending 6 players to the NBA just the last season, he probably could pick his phone and put together an All Star roster playing for one team over night.
When Rick Pitino returned to the NBA to coach the Celtics from Kentucky, he did not have this luxury to look up for. Ironically, both the coaches are associated to Kentucky while the NBA is interested in them.
Coach Cal is going to want a huge contract to return to the NBA. The reported asking price that he wants is an absurd 10 years $120 Million.
Mikhail Prokhorov the owner of Brooklyn Nets wanted a championship, and the Nets never got close. A day after firing Coach Lionel Hollins and reassigning general manager Billy King, Prokhorov blamed himself for a win-quick strategy that's left the Nets in one of the NBA's worst situations
Tony Brown is the interim coach and Prokhorov said assistant general manager Frank Zanin will oversee the front office until the replacements are hired.
Kentucky coach John Calipari, the former Coach of the Nets in New Jersey during 1996 – ‘99, could be on it. But Calipari signed a seven-year and $54 million extension at Kentucky in May. He also rebuffed interest from the Sacramento Kings last offseason and the Cleveland Cavaliers the summer before that.
Well, at 120 million dollars and a promise to offer complete control of the Nets organization you will never know. Somewhere in his mind, Coach Cal will want to prove the world that he can coach at NBA level and rewrite his NBA story.
The strategy of the Nets have been clear, it is to build a team via trade and free agency. They do not control any first round draft picks until 2019. Even this year’s pick if they result in one will land in Boston’s pocket. And, this is where Coach Cal would be of enormous help by signing superstar free agents.
How? It’s simple; he has coached Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, etc... to name a few whilst in college. Coaching the players earlier in their career do not hold any promises; but the respect he will command and comfort he would offer is irreplaceable and precious.
With a 120 million dollar contract he would almost be par with Knick’s Phil Jackson as the highest paid NBA executives followed closely by Doc Rivers and Greg Popovich.
Another name that is associated with head coaching job at Brooklyn is Mark Jackson. Jackson is a Brooklyn native who worked as a YES Network analyst for three seasons. He is currently an analyst on ESPN and credited by a lot of people for helping the Golden State Warriors turn into what they are right now. Jackson was the Warriors coach from 2011-2014 and he helped turn them from an irrelevant team into a playoff team.
Mikhail Prokhorov highly covets Ettore Messina, a highly respected Championship coach at his club CSKA Moscow in Russia. Tom Thibodeau and Scott Brooks will send their applications in too. Because, Prokhorov has promised to spend more time and effort to improve Brooklyn Nets.
