National Basketball Association

Kentucky Basketball: 24 John Calipari Alum On Opening Day Rosters

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Kentucky basketball head coach John Calipari has produced an obscene number of NBA players. Opening day of the 2016-17 NBA season will prove it.

As it pertains to developing NBA players, Kentucky basketball head coach John Calipari is the most prolific coach in the country. Since 2008, no coach has produced a steady stream of NBA-caliber prospects quite like Calipari.

Calipari’s success as a developer of NBA players can now be quantified.

The 2016-17 NBA regular season will begin on Tuesday, October 25. A vast number of rosters have at least one Calipari player on them, which is now being expressed numerically.

Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com reports that there will be 24 Calipari players on opening day NBA rosters.

Knicks PG Derrick Rose is one of 24 John Calipari-coached players on NBA Opening-day rosters. One of two not from UK. pic.twitter.com/wsesvn9oNN

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) October 25, 2016

Unreal.

Calipari has produced four No. 1 overall draft picks since 2008. Derrick Rose went No. 1 overall in 2008, John Wall followed in 2010, Anthony Davis went No. 1 in 2012, and Karl-Anthony Towns was the first overall draft pick in 2015.

Calipari’s history of producing Top 10 draft picks, however, stretches back to 1996.

While coaching at UMass, Calipari helped Marcus Camby go No. 2 overall in the 1996 NBA Draft. While coaching at Memphis, Calipari helped Dajuan Wagner go No. 6 overall in the 2002 NBA Draft.

Since Rose went No. 1 overall in 2008, the volume with which Calipari has produced Top 10 picks has improved exponentially.

Tyreke Evans went No. 4 in 2009, DeMarcus Cousins was picked at No. 5 in 2010, and Brandon Knight went No. 8 in 2011. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist went No. 2 in 2012, Nerlens Noel was drafted at No. 7 in 2014, and Willie Cauley-Stein was selected at No. 6 in 2015.

This past year, Jamal Murray was selected by the Denver Nuggets at No. 7 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft.

Other NBA players whom Calipari has coached include Eric Bledsoe, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Terrence Jones, Enes Kanter, DeAndre Liggins, Trey Lyles, Patrick Patterson, and James Young.

Fourplayers from the 2016 NBA Draft class made the main roster: Skal Labissiere, Murray, Tyler Ulis, and Kyle Wiltjer

The talent pool in the NBA is more heavily occupied by Calipari players than even ambitious projections could’ve assumed.