Kentucky Basketball: John Calipari excited for new NBA Cats, giddy about his new team

Another NBA Draft is in the books, and it featured another big class of Kentucky Wildcats now having their NBA dreams realized.

Kevin Knox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jarred Vanderbilt and Hamidou Diallo all heard their names called Thursday night in Brooklyn. As you can imagine, Calipari is exuberant after watching four more of his guys have their lives changed forever as their now part of the world’s best basketball league.

That, as well as the prospects of Calipari’s incoming team for next season, has him in an extra swaggy mood this Friday. He talked about it on Twitter before releasing a statement, and he sounds really giddy about his guys becoming a special team.

“Graduation day is over. Last night was both exciting and disappointing, as it always is. I’m excited for the four players who got drafted,” said Cal. “I’m excited for Kevin, Shai, Jarred and Hami because they are all in good places.

“I’m disappointed Wenyen’s work to get on a team is not done yet, but I always tell every player that I coach when we go through this process, ‘It may not go perfectly, but if it’s your dream, you’ll make it.’ And I know our guys are made for this. I can look back at DeAndre Liggins and Andrew Harrison and know that the draft doesn’t define your dreams.

“Everybody’s path is different. Now my work begins on next year’s team. With the added hours, I’m going to spend more time in the summer than I normally do trying to create something special. This team is as hungry as any team as I’ve coached, individually and collectively. They inspire me to want to do more.”

With Reid Travis now in the fold, Cal’s new group of Cats already look like a strong national title contender. But what could really make them special is that they have a lot of tireless workers on their team that will be grinding for the next nine months as they push toward winning a national title.

Let’s ball.