Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
John Calipari and his Wildcats find themselves on a two game win streak after starting conference play with a 1-1 record. Even when it looked as though the initial early season struggles had been left behind, Kentucky still had trouble putting away inferior competition at the beginning of SEC play. But, as we’ve learned in previous seasons, that’s sometimes the risk you take when your roster is mainly composed of Freshmen. While it’s uncertain which Kentucky team will show up on a given night due to its inexperience, this type of “struggle” isn’t uncharted territory during the Calipari era. Many young players have stumbled initially only to find themselves on an NBA roster a year later. As it currently stands, there are 18 former Wildcats active on NBA rosters, many of which are having standout seasons. Since these players have moved on to pursue careers in basketball, its difficult to keep up since they all have different schedules. But fear not! The below chart contains basic statistics and an efficiency metric (similar to PER) of all former Cats in the NBA.
Notes:
-Doron Lamb has been recalled from the D-League according to the Milwaukee Bucks’ Twitter account. During his time as a Fort Wayne Mad Ant, Lamb averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game.
-Daniel Orton remains on the Oklahoma City Thunder’s roster despite not having played since November 11th. In his only game of the season, he scored two points in two minutes of action.
-DeMarcus Cousins is still proving why he is one of the NBA’s most elite Centers. In four of his past five games, Cousins has scored at least 20 points. In all five of those previously mentioned games, he pulled down at least ten rebounds. Those numbers include today’s 105-114 loss to New Orleans where he dropped 29 points and took down 13 boards.
-John Wall is back from his knee injury which sidelined him for a majority of the season. His return sparked the struggling Wizards to go 3-2 in the process. In Friday’s upset win over the Denver Nuggets, Wall had his best game of the season, pouring in 24 points on 7-16 shooting (10-14 FT’s), also distributing 12 assists.
-Anthony Davis injured his ankle today against the Sacramento Kings. Before leaving in the first half with his injury, Davis had 11 points on 5-7 shooting from the field. The severity of Davis’ injury is unclear, but it’s worth noting he re-injured the same ankle which caused him to miss 11 games previously in the season.
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January 21st, 2013 at 9:59 pm
Wish Boggie was on a better team. It would suck to score 29 points and still lose the game.
January 21st, 2013 at 10:14 pm
Boogie puttin up All-star stats!
D. Orton is stealin from the league.
January 22nd, 2013 at 6:49 am
Kanter is NOT a former Wildcat. Stop listing him as if he was or list every other student that stepped on campus.
January 22nd, 2013 at 7:58 am
3- Technically, he is. He practiced with the Cats before being ruled ineligible by the NCAA, at which point he was made a student assistant coach. Kanter was announced from Turkey and the University of Kentucky when David Stern called his name on NBA draft night and he dedicated his rookie season to UK fans after a season in which he was showered with love from Big Blue fans. This is enough, in my book, to consider him a former Wildcat.
January 22nd, 2013 at 8:00 am
Here’s a great picture for the NBA Cats archives: http://sports.cbsimg.net/u/photos/basketball/nba/img21594404.jpg … Davis being guarded by Boogie.
January 22nd, 2013 at 8:05 am
If Kanter had went on to play for another school before going pro, then I would not consider him a former Cat. IMHO, he is and always will be a CAT!!!
January 22nd, 2013 at 9:00 am
HOW ARE YOU NOT LISTING JORTS?!!!!!!
January 22nd, 2013 at 9:51 am
3- is ABSOLUTELY right. Kanter NEVER stepped foot on Rupp Arena or played a minute. Rudy got more playing time!
7- Jorts is listed, look at the bottom…
2- Orton isn’t the only one stealing from the league… Every one on this list from Bogans down is stealing from the league.
January 22nd, 2013 at 10:12 am
I love that KSR follows the Cats in the NBA! I would really love it if KSR would do stories on former Cats and there achievements while playing at UK,to see how former greats compare to todays players.
January 22nd, 2013 at 1:45 pm
No one on the list is stealing from the NBA. If they didn’t provide some value they would be cut or never signed in the first place. You think you know value better than the NBA GMs? I didn’t think so. Oh and Kanter is as much a Wildcat as the rest.
January 22nd, 2013 at 2:58 pm
i hope poythress cauley-stein and even goodwin see and talk to lamb and jones about how much time they spent in the d-league…especially jones who was taken top 20…yes, they get guaranteed first round $$ but to give up what they have at uk to get picked 20-30 and spent half your time in the d-league vs playing on next years loaded uk squad seems like a no-brainer decision to me…i wonder if jones and lamb regret their decisions now…with those 2 back we’d be looking at a 1 seed vs a 10 seed…go big blue!
January 22nd, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Marquis Teague proving every week what a mistake he made leaving early!