Calipari excited about Sixers, says ‘a lot of people' will regret passing on Maxey

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John Calipari is quite the spokesman, isn't he? Or should we say salesman?

The face of Kentucky basketball has mastered the nuances of selling a product. After all, he's an elite — if not the best — recruiter in college hoops. While we shouldn't be surprised to see the Wildcats' head coach back his guys, Calipari has an idea about how this NBA draft thing works, so his high praise of Tyrese Maxey should excite Sixers fans.

Calipari was thrilled to see Maxey fall to the Sixers at No. 21 overall in the first round of Wednesday night's 2020 NBA draft. Maxey, a 6-foot-3, 198-pound combo guard who can defend and score, averaged 14 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game as a freshman at Kentucky in 2019-20.

“I thought he should have gone earlier," Calipari said in a video posted on his Twitter account. "Let me just tell you, there’s a lot of people who are going to regret that they passed. There’s about eight positions that they’re going to look back a few years from now and say, ‘Look where he went and where he could have gone.’”

Calipari highlighted that new Sixers assistant coach Sam Cassell has helped develop some Kentucky guards in the past. Calipari also shared his love for new head coach Doc Rivers and the city of Philadelphia.

"He’s going to turn around Philly," he said of Rivers. "And Tyrese is going to be a part of it. A great city for sports, Philadelphia. I hate to say it because I grew up in Pittsburgh, but it’s a great city for sports.”

With Maxey in town, Calipari will have more reasons to visit.

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