John Calipari held a season-ending press conference on Monday to update the media and the fans on the state of the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team.
Among the topic covered was what he thinks players will do as far as going through the NBA Draft process. The top two names on the minds of BBN are Immanuel Quickley and EJ Montgomery.
This is what Calipari had to say about each player:
Cal: In my mind, Quickley will put his name in the NBA Draft process.
— Jerry Tipton (@JerryTipton) March 16, 2020
Cal: I told EJ, I'm with you whatever you do. ... Will have to lead more and be more vocal if he returns to UK
— Jerry Tipton (@JerryTipton) March 16, 2020
Quickley had a breakout season for the Wildcats. His emergence really started to ramp up against the Louisville Cardinals back in December. In that game, defensively, he locked Cardinal star Jordan Nwora down while scoring 18 points on offense.
He also saw his season stats jump tremendously. He averaged 16 points per game (up 11 points from 2019), shot 41% from the field (up 4% from 2019), shot 42% from the three point line (up 8% from 2019), and shot 92% from the free throw line (up 9% from 2019).
Quickley won SEC Player of the Year according to the coaches poll.
The good news here is that he can still return to UK even if he goes through the draft process.
As for EJ, I don’t think Calipari thinks he is ready. And who knows if there is even going to be an NBA combine for these players to show off their skills.
As per usual, this time of the year it is wait and see. But the waiting is going to be even more difficult that usual with everything going on in the world.