Rex Chapman, former Kentucky standout and 12-year NBA veteran tweeted today around 4:30 pm that no matter what happens tonight in the NCAA Championship, John Calipari will leave his post at Kentucky to lead that Lakers in the 2015 season. Here is the tweet:
Was messin' 'round on Sat nite re: Cal. But word is - win or lose 2nite - it's a #DoneDeal ...Cal 2 La-La-Land 2 coach Mamba's Lakers. #NoBS
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 7, 2014
Judging by the language in the tweet, there is no telling what level of truth there is to this claim. What we do know, are that Coach Cal has led two different Kentucky teams, both comprised of mostly freshmen, to the NCAA Championship game in only 3 years. If Coach Cal won tonight, there would be almost nothing left for him to prove on the college level. If he lost, he still went to the game twice in 3 years, this time without the mega star (despite what you think of Julius Randle’s game, he is no Anthony Davis on the NCAA level.) Chapman even offered this follow up after hundreds of responses claiming he was joking:
@bigbluetony11 If I knew what "trolling' was - maybe I could answer. But not bullshittin' re: Cal/Lakers. What I'm hearing. Reliable source.
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 7, 2014
Hmmm, I am not sure what to make of this. I do find it ironic that Coach Cal, while with he Nets in 1997, was the one that wanted to draft Kobe Bryant with the 8th overall pick. What happened instead? Jerry West convinced Kobe to tell Cal and the Nets that he wanted to join the Lakers, proceeded to convince Cal that Kobe would not play for them, and knew that Kobe would fall to Charlotte after that pick. Once he knew he had Cal is his palms, he went to work on a deal with the Hornets. A very savvy lesson by Mr. West that I’m sure Calipari remembers when he is recruiting.
So, we know that Coach Calipari did, in fact, want to opportunity to coach Kobe Bryant. Does he still want that chance? Do the Lakers even want him? Other teams are reportedly in the mix for him as well, namely the New York Knicks.
At this point, I think Coach Cal would be a great coach for this team. He is fiery, he is a leader, he knows how to interact with superstars, he sure as hell knows how to recruit, but most importantly, he knows how to win. Coach Cal can save the Lakers from this tailspin and completely turn around the culture on the floor. If there is any truth to this rumor, I am all in.
Update:
Lakers are refuting Calipari to Lakers story put out by Rex Chapman before NCAA tip: GM Mitch Kupchak says "rumor is untrue"
— Chris Dufresne (@DufRankman) April 8, 2014
Although, why would Mitch confirm he is in talks with another coach with D’Antoni still under contract and games left on the schedule?