Here's a bit of a "duh!" moment. In early March, SI's Seth Davis reported that William Wesley, friend to the stars, had sought certification as a coach's agent in the NBA and NCAA. The appropriately nicknamed Worldwide Wes, who is perhaps the most well-connected person in basketball, has long preferred to stay out of the limelight, giving little indication to prying eyes what he actually does for players and coaches. Becoming an agent -- making his relationship-building official business -- was a huge departure from Wes's modus operandi. Which made it mighty confusing.And now for the head-slapping "Ohhhh!": Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski ties longtime Wes friend John Calipari, currently coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, to the situation. Calipari, previously at the University of Memphis and now at UK, has magically landed several of the top high school players who have strong relationship with Wes, namely Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans and John Wall. Cal is a master recruiter of course, but the Wes connections certainly can't hurt.
Woj reports (in the midst of another aggressive, perhaps agitated column going after LeBron James) Wes now aims to bring Calipari back to the NBA, with the Bulls or Cavaliers. Woj is convinced LeBron has been convinced to "recruit" Calipari, with Wes both reaping some minor financial rewards while facilitating the whole shebang. The direct implication is that the allowance for LeBron to choose his own coach will weigh heavily on his July decision, with James perhaps even holding Mike Brown's job hostage, and with Calipari waiting in the wings.
Is this legit? I mean, it certainly explains Wes's change of heart better than any other theory, and it is supported by anonymous sources quoted by Woj. It makes logistic sense. Eight teams can pay LeBron what he wants, so he has the opportunity to suck out any bit of extra power he can. Calipari attended Game 5 of the Boston series in Cleveland, and while FanHouse's Sam Amick reported last week that the Bulls hadn't heard from Calipari about his interest in returning to the NBA, that doesn't necessarily mean the table isn't being set.
The weirdest thing about all of this is that Calipari actually has a fairly poor reputation as a coach; he's an ace recruiter, but despite all the talent hasn't won a championship this century. Brown gets plenty of flak, but I think it's fairly safe to say he's a better coach than Calipari, to say nothing of all the other fantastic NBA coaches out there. It's a bad idea to hire your friends to handle your money, and it's probably a bad idea to attach yourself to a coach because he's tight with your mentor.
Whatever the case, I'm just blown away that all of this makes the Clippers look brilliant.
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