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John Calipari: ‘if I had a chance to, I would absolutely’ coach LeBron James

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FOXSports.com is reporting that the Cavs are interested in hiring Kentucky head coach John Calipari to replace Mike Brown, who they fired this week.

That’s interesting because, earlier today, Coach Cal gave an interview to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer saying, among other things, “Yes, I would love to coach him [LeBron]” and “if I had a chance to, I would absolutely [coach LeBron].”

Coach Cal’s not an idiot. As Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com thoroughly explains here, Cal is as calculating when it comes to what he says in the media as anyone, and he’s in a business where cold, calculated, premeditated statements are the norm. This is the same guy that managed to convince everyone in college basketball that he put together some kind of masterful tweak to his team’s offense that allowed them to make a run to the national title game after sputtering through much of the season.

He’s the best.

And, despite recovering from hip replacement surgery, he granted a phone interview to a newspaper in Cleveland and said he would love to coach a player that the Cavs would love to resign.

You see it, right?

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Cal is looking for a way out of Kentucky -- he says as much to the Plain-Dealer -- and, to be fair, I can’t think of a single coach on the planet that wouldn’t want to coach LeBron.

But for a guy with Cal’s reputation to be making this comment to this paper at this moment, well, you shouldn’t be surprised when it sets off a firestorm of speculation.