John Welch

Kyle Ramos

Kings rookie Willie Cauley-Stein is anything but your typical NBA big man. While already being touted as potentially the best defensive player in his draft class, Cauley-Stein, and those around him, believe that his ceiling could be even higher.

James Herbert of CBS Sports' "Eye on Basketball" blog wrote about the rave reviews of Cauley-Stein's play thus far and also how he continues to improve his potential.

Kings assistant coach John Welch also spoke highly of Willie, telling Herbert in an interview that he'd never seen a 7-footer with quicker feet. Welch also repeatedly referred to the Kentucky product's high motor and energy during the Kings Summer League games in Las Vegas, stating that Trill's play is contagious.

"I'm athletic enough to do guard stuff so if you were to mold me into having guard moves and footwork in a big's body, that's revolutionizing the game," Cauley-Stein said to Herbert. "That's game-changing."

While becoming one of the most dominant defensive players in all of college basketball last season, Cauley-Stein also showcased his ever-improving offensive touch and elite athleticism on the big stage for Kentucky. One of his most notable plays came during the NCAA Tournament this past March where he received a pass in transition and rose up for a monster dunk over Cincinnati's Quadri Moore.

After a play like that, most players at any level of basketball would naturally feel inclined to maybe beat their chest or stare down their fallen opponent. Cauley-Stein, however, did none of the above and rather calmly strolled over to his ecstatic teammates who met him with high-fives and pats on the head.

After Kentucky defeated Cincinnati, Cauley-Stein was back in the hotel room later that night with his teammate Lanter, who recalled to Herbert an interesting reaction that Willie had regarding his highlight dunk.

"He went from ESPN to ESPN2 to CBS, flipping through all the channels that are covering the tournament, and every time he hit next channel his highlight was on," Lanter told Herbert. "Five different channels, it showed that same dunk. The next channel, it was showing it; the next channel, it was showing it; the next channel, it was showing it."

Lanter also said to Herbert, however, that Willie had no interest in watching any of the highlights and was much more concerned about finding what channel Family Guy was on.

This serves as just one example of Cauley-Stein's unique personality, but also his mindset of not putting too much thought into the past and constantly trying to improve. Now that he's on an NBA roster, he can focus on just that.

"I've only been working on only basketball for going on four years," Cauley-Stein said to Herbert. "Like, I did baseball, football or track -- I never really worked on a sport every day for years like most kids that hoop. Now it's kind of like, I'm kind of a project, like now you can kind of mold me into whatever you want. Which is, that's the cool thing about it. That's why I say the sky's the limit."

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The Sky's the Limit for Willie Cauley-Stein

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SACRAMENTO, CA - The Sacramento Kings have signed Chad Iske as associate head coach and John Welch, Anthony Carter, and Nancy Lieberman as assistant coaches, according to Kings Vice President of Basketball and Franchise Operations Vlade Divac. Iske, Welch, Carter and Lieberman join Corliss Williamson and Vance Walberg on George Karl’s staff.

Iske joins the Kings after the past two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. He spent the previous 14 seasons with the Denver Nuggets, including the last six as an assistant coach under Karl. While with the Nuggets, Iske oversaw the scouting of upcoming opponents and assisted Karl with game plan preparation.

Welch brings years of knowledge to the Kings after two seasons with the Brooklyn Nets. Welch came to Brooklyn in 2013 in the same capacity, following eight seasons as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets under Karl. Before joining the Nuggets, Welch spent two seasons as an assistant coach/workout coach for the Memphis Grizzlies. 

See Also: Kings Sign Quincy Acy, Seth Curry and Duje Dukan

Prior to his arrival in Memphis, he spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Fresno State, serving under Head Coach Jerry Tarkanian. Welch joined Fresno State in 1995 and helped the Bulldogs to two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, six consecutive 20-win seasons and seven straight postseason appearances.

Carter joins the Kings after spending the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons as an assistant coach with the Austin Toros, the NBA D-League affiliate of the San Antonio Spurs.

In 14 NBA seasons, Carter suited up for the Miami Heat (1999-00 - 2000-03), San Antonio Spurs (2003-04), Minnesota Timberwolves (2004-05 - 2005-06), Denver Nuggets (2006-07 - 2010-11), New York Knicks (2010-11) and the Toronto Raptors (2011-12). In 623 career games, the Hawaii alum averaged 4.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 19.6 minutes per game. Carter suited up in 39 playoff games, averaging 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 18.0 minutes per contest.

A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1996), Lieberman most recently coached the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League, an affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, in 2009 and coached the team to a playoff appearance during the 2010-11 season. Lieberman was then named the team’s assistant general manager in 2011-12. 

Prior to coaching, Lieberman won an Olympic Silver Medal (1976), won back-to-back AIAW National Championships in college with Old Dominion (1979, 1980) and was named an All-American at Old Dominion (1978, 1979, 1980). 

John Welch

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