John Calipari celebrated his 61st birthday Monday, and the two Knicks who played for him at Kentucky — former one-and-done college stars Julius Randle and Kevin Knox — reached out to offer their best wishes.
The two teammates also had thoughts about Calipari’s name being linked to the Knicks’ head-coaching job because of his relationship with incoming team president Leon Rose, although the Basketball Hall of Famer already has denied he would leave the Wildcats for the NBA.
“I talked to him yesterday. He said he’s coming. He’s in,” Randle said with a broad smile Tuesday after practice in Tarrytown. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon. Make sure y’all tell him I said that.”
Randle, the Knicks’ highest-paid player, then quickly added, “nah, I’m messing with you” and recounted why he believes Calipari will remain in Lexington.
“I think he’s sitting on a pretty high throne at Kentucky,” Randle said. “I think he’s very comfortable there. But I can’t speak for him. So I don’t know. But just looking from the outside in, I think he’s living great at Kentucky right now. And they’re doing great.”
Knox, the Knicks’ 2018 first-round draft pick, also said he believes the denials from Calipari, who coached the Nets to a 72-112 record over two-plus seasons from 1996-98 in his only NBA head-coaching stint. He entered Tuesday with a 323-76 record in 11 seasons at Kentucky, including the 2012 NCAA championship, and was 768-216 in 28 college seasons, including stays at Massachusetts and Memphis.
“When Cal says he’s not going to do something, he’s pretty solid that he’s not going to do it,” Knox said. “I think he came out in multiple reports, said he didn’t want to do it.
“Cal, he loves Kentucky, man. He runs that state. The fans love him there, he’s got the basketball program on lock there. I don’t think he would leave that opportunity to keep helping kids get to the NBA. That’s something he really loves to do. I think when he said he wasn’t going to do it, I think he was sold on that. I think he really doesn’t want to leave.”
Calipari praised Rose last week and said he would, “Help him in any way I could, being a resource. … It just wouldn’t be to coach.”
Nevertheless, longtime NBA agent and power-broker David Falk — the former rep for Michael Jordan, Knicks legend Patrick Ewing and others — said Friday on WFAN’s “Joe and Evan” show he doesn’t believe Calipari isn’t interested in the Knicks job, currently held by interim coach Mike Miller.
“I’m waiting for, I’ll take bets on how long it’s going to take before they hire John Calipari to be the next coach. I’d say 30 seconds. And I hope it works, I’m rooting for him to make it work,” Falk said on WFAN. “I will take bets, despite the denials, I will take bets on Calipari being the coach next year.”
Both Randle and Knox praised Calipari for his help on and off the court during their respective seasons at Kentucky. But coaching college kids and professional men come with different challenges, Randle added.
“It’s different. I wish he would’ve cussed me out now. I’d have something to say to him,” Randle joked. “No, it’s different. One thing about Cal, man, he’s great. He’s a great motivator. I learned so many life lessons when I was at Kentucky about being a man and about being a basketball player just in general. But he’s a great motivator, for sure.”
Said Knox: “He helped me out a lot. Just [getting me to play] aggressive, playing with confidence. He was on me 24/7. That’s how I grew up. My pops was on me 24/7. That’s one of the reasons I went to Kentucky. Because he challenged me every day to guard, go after people on offense. He stopped practice a lot of the time to yell at me, cuss me out. And that just got me going. Lit a fire underneath my bottom. That’s something I needed.”