Apr 15, 2014 03:16 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

During my lunch break today, I watched John Calipari on "First Take" with Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. The most headline-grabbing news from the appearance (which was primarily to promote his new book was his denial of any desire for the Laker's head coaching job, which will almost certainly be open after this season.

More revealing was Calipari's take on the era of one-and-dones. Just 10 Kentucky players graduated in the last 5 seasons, Calipari admitted. He also made the point that the program has produced more millionaires  than a Wall Street firm, many players come back to complete their education at Kentucky, and players achieve respectable marks during the year or so they do stay in Lexington. Opinions against his system are typically the words of "bitter old men," and the reason his team received a lower-than-expected seed in the NCAA tournament, according to Calipari.

Is Calipari better at developing "millionaires" as he calls them, than other programs, or does he simply receive more potential candidates? The latter reason is closest to the truth, but the former is probably also true.

Current prospects like the Harrison twins, Julius Randle, and James Young, and former ones like Brandon Knight, Demarcus Cousins, and John Wall are best suited for Kentucky's free-wheeling system that allows multiple individuals to shine. Calipari's offense has always yielded surprisingly unselfish play -- why few of his lottery picks ever post Doug McDermott-like numbers -- while somehow emphasizing the team's distinctive parts. (Also, it's hard to score 25 points per game when three or more of your teammates are capable of the same.)   

On other teams in which they wouldn't be paired with fellow fab freshmen but upper classmen with other agendas besides playing in the NBA as quickly as possible, 5-star recruits like the Harrisons and Randle might not feel as comfortable during their freshman year. Thus, they wouldn't be making their millions after one year but two, creating a backload of other freshmen who'd be delayed a year or more of their money. Or, like in the case of Arizona freshman Aaron Gordon, the player might not be drafted as high.

All year long, Gordon deferred scoring duties to leading scorer (and junior) Nick Johnson. In the NCAA tournament game against Wisconsin, he practically had to force himself to look for his shot, if only to end point guard T.J. McConnell's sudden fascination with his crooked jumper.

As a result, Gordon isn't even projected to land in the lottery, according to NBAdraft.net's latest calculations. If he played for Kentucky this year, he'd probably be a top 10 guy.

Where Calipari's system might not be suitable for millionaire development is in the case of can-miss prospects (anti-coinage: 4/15/14) like big men Willy Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress, Dakari Johnson, and Marcus Lee. All four are physical specimens, but not quite skilled enough to keep up with the teams' more impressive talents. Only Cauley-Stein could enter this year's draft (and might go in the first round). On lesser teams, however, they might have better opportunities to shine -- at the least after a few years. With big time recruits coming in and out every year, Kentucky might not be the best place for three to four year basketball development. If anything, such a long stay turns you into a role player and ultimately hurts your draft stock.

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