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'He can coach.' Derek Willis defends Kentucky's John Calipari from critics | Lexington Herald Leader

For critics who say Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari is nothing more than a recruiter, former player Derek Willis recently had a rebuttal.

“He’s not being paid millions of dollars a year to not be able to coach,” Willis said in an interview published Saturday by News-Sentinel.com of Fort Wayne, Ind.

Willis, a four-year player who just completed a season in the NBA’s G League, defended his former coach while he was in town recently to participate in the G League’s Elite Mini-Camp.

Calipari has a national title, four Final Fours and has put 27 players on NBA rosters in nine seasons at UK.