The Brooklyn Nets made some major changes on Sunday as they fired head coach Lionel Hollins and general manager Billy King stepped down. With these changes it has gotten people wondering who might be next in line for the Nets head coaching gig and nowadays in the NBA one of the first names that always comes up is John Calipari. Calipari has also recently been linked to the Sacramento Kings and might actually consider a return to the NBA but he wants to be paid a ton of money for that to happen, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Calipari's current salary demands are $120 million over ten years which is an unprecedented amount for a head coach. If Calipari were to come back to the NBA it would likely be as a team president as well, and he would likely have the final say on personnel but still those are some outrageous demands. Phil Jackson is being paid $12 million a year to be an executive with the Knicks, which is the only other comparable situation.
Calipari served a short stint in the NBA back in the late 1990's with the New Jersey Nets and didn't have much success. Calipari was a surprise hire from UMass at the young age of 37 and lasted just two-plus seasons, finishing with a record of 72-112 and one playoff appearance (the Nets were swept in the first round.) Since leaving the Nets though Calipari has had tremendous success at the college level as he built Memphis into a powerhouse and has made Kentucky the cream of the crop in the college game.
There are many people who believe that Calipari is itching for another shot at the NBA after his failed stint last time but it would likely have to be a near perfect situation for him to leave Kentucky. The Nets situation is currently very bleak so it seems as though he would be more likely to take the Kings job if they were willing to meet his demands. It also helps that the Kings have a couple of his former players on their roster in DeMarcus Cousins and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Calipari does have some connections to the Nets though aside from his previous coaching stint with the franchise, and that is CEO Brett Yormark who happens to be a good friend of his. It is unclear if Yormark will be involved in the decision making process for the new coach but if he is he will offer Calipari "everything under the sun," according to Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post.
Overall it seems like a longshot that Calipari returns to the NBA considering he has what many consider the best job in college basketball and nothing is guaranteed in the NBA. It will be interesting to see if either of these teams offer Calipari the money he is looking for but in the case of the Nets specifically they might be desperate enough to bring in a star head coach since the product on the floor is not very intriguing right now.
