Kentucky coach John Calipari is intrigued with the Chicago Bulls’ coaching job and would be willing to listen to a pitch from management, NBA and NCAA sources told Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday.

Sources say the combination of roster talent, tradition and market make Chicago one of the few NBA jobs that could pry Calipari out of Kentucky. The Bulls have been hesitant to pay the $4 million-$5 million annual packages it would take to lure high-profile coaches like Calipari.

Calipari could be an intriguing candidate on several levels for the Bulls. He coached Bulls star point guard, Derrick Rose(notes), at the University of Memphis, and his strong ties with the powerful agency, CAA, could give the organization leverage in free agency this summer.

Calipari is close with Cleveland’s LeBron James(notes), and shares representation with two of the Bulls’ top free-agent targets – Miami’s Dwyane Wade(notes) and Toronto’s Chris Bosh(notes).

Sources say Calipari “hasn’t connected” with Kentucky’s athletic administration in his first year on the job, and that could contribute to his willingness to rekindle a long-standing goal of realizing NBA success.

Calipari has returned Kentucky to prominence, winning 35 games and advancing within a victory of the Final Four. He has four freshman, including expected No. 1 pick John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, who also is expected to be a high lottery pick. He’s already recruited a top five national class for next season.

Calipari coached the New Jersey Nets for three tumultuous seasons from 1996-99, reaching the playoffs once. He also had complete control of basketball operations. His ego and immaturity at the time caused him to clash with ownership, players and media, but most agree that Calipari has grown a lot since those days and would be better equipped at the pros.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...aribulls050410

Every year you will hear my named mentioned for NBA jobs because I coached in the league before. I'm very happy at Kentucky

mallymal614 wrote:

Curly J wrote: All I know is I get a nice 404 and a nice Sorry, the page you were looking for could not be found on Yahoo! Sports.

Even while doing a search on their page...meaning not happening = Bullshit.

Just sayin'...

LTrain23 wrote: With that said, Calipari is a shady dude, and he also seems to have issues keeping the egos of his college teams in check, I don't think he'd fair too well in the NBA.

Prescott wrote: Why shouldn't Calipari chase the money? The schools do, the leagues do, and the NCAA does. He is just following their lead.

LTrain23 wrote:.


Did you search hard enough?

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-caliparibulls050410