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Posted by GA Cat (Member # 642) on 08-11-2020, 10:27 AM:

Kenny Payne to the Knicks

quote:
Long-time Kentucky assistant and John Calipari right-hand man Kenny Payne is heading to the New York Knicks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Payne is the first assistant added to new coach Tom Thibodeau’s staff.

Payne to the Knicks had long been a rumor, thanks to his connections to new Knicks president Leon Rose and executive vice president William Wesley, known in basketball circles as “World Wide Wes.” In fact, the New York Daily News pointed to Payne as a possible assistant for the Knicks if Jason Kidd were to land the coaching job earlier this summer.

Half of that hypothesis was right; the job went to Thibodeau — at the time he and the Knicks were in contract negotiation stalemate — but Payne is still headed for the Big Apple. A star at rival Louisville, Payne joined the Kentucky staff for Calipari’s second season in 2010-11.

Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 08-11-2020, 02:05 PM:

Huge loss for us. I wish him well, but this will set up back.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 08-11-2020, 03:21 PM:

Ouch, it hurts to lose him but it's good to see him move up the ladder..

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 08-11-2020, 04:01 PM:

This is what Cal had to say.

"“This is a bittersweet day for us at Kentucky,” Calipari said. “Kenny has been an extremely important part of our success here. His relationship with our players is second to none. He coaches them and challenges them as hard as anyone, but they respect him, they listen to him and they learn from him because they know he cares. As a basketball coach and a teacher, he could run any program in the country. Simply, he’s as good as they get."

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 08-11-2020, 06:06 PM:

Hate to see him go but I really think if he wants to eventually become a head coach he has to leave the nest and spread his wings a little bit.

One rumor bouncing around is the possibility of Dewayne Peevy taking the AD job at DePaul. If this does happen and a head coaching job becomes available guess who one of the first candidates for the job would be? KP!