Kentucky Basketball Recruiting: Sales Pitches for Top 2016 Targets

Under John Calipari, Kentucky basketball constantly signs top recruiting classes year after year. Big Blue Nation has become so spoiled with recruiting classes, the class of 2015 feels like a letdown because it's only ranked No. 2 or 3 in the nation, depending on what site you look at. 

There's plenty of talent in the class of 2016, and Kentucky is obviously associated with most of them. With scholarship offers out there, it's now up to Calipari and his staff to pitch for the targets to officially commit to the Wildcats.

Since each player is different, each sales pitch needs to be unique to that player. Calipari and Co. just can't walk in and hold up the 400 (give or take) Kentucky players who have been drafted since Cal took over in Lexington. It has to be specific to that player's game. 

The following are the sales pitches Kentucky basketball should use for its top 2016 targets. 

Malik Monk, SG

Sales Pitch: Flourish in the Dribble-Drive Offense

Malik Monk is made to play in Calipari's dribble-drive offense. He's a 6'3" uber-athletic shooting guard who can also shoot it from anywhere in the gym. Think about if Tyler Ulis stays for his junior year and plays in the backcourt alongside Monk.

Monk made headlines by scoring 59 points last year in a game where he went 10-of-16 from beyond the arc. When you think about shooting guards under Calipari, look at what Devin Booker and Doron Lamb did during their time in Lexington. Monk might be a better player and shooter than both of them, and Booker is about to be a lottery pick in the 2015 NBA draft.

Within the dribble-drive offense, Monk will be able to take advantage of two things. The first is his man helping on drives, allowing him to move around the wing and get open from deep. With a talented point guard like Ulis—assuming he stays—it should lead to plenty of open looks.

The second is using his athleticism to get to the rim by playing one-on-one. The premise of the dribble-drive offense is to break down your defender, something Monk can do with ease. 

Just show highlights of the dribble-drive offense, and Monk should commit to UK with ease. 

Harry Giles, PF

Sales Pitch: Be the Offensive Star for a Top Team/Follow Past Power Forwards

Protecting the rim seems to be the only thing Harry Giles can't do, which is OK at Kentucky. For the most part, the Wildcats always have at least one guy rim protecting, which can be done with Giles playing the power forward position.

What Giles can do is attack the rim and beat other power forwards off the dribble. Why not pitch the idea of other power forwards who have come through Lexington? Since Calipari has become head coach, the power forward list looks something like this: Patrick Patterson, Karl-Anthony Towns, DeMarcus Cousins, Terrence Jones, Julius Randle, Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein. 

Giles can be a better version of Jones, who was the 18th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. Giles thrives when he has space to create and finish with thunderous dunks, which is familiar to Jones.

Giles can take a rebound and dribble the ball himself to the frontcourt, or run the floor and finish alley-oops—something Kentucky is quite good at doing. 

Kobi Simmons, PG

Sales Pitch: The Development of Eric Bledsoe

Seriously, all Calipari has to do is smile and talk about his point guard success at Kentucky and even back at Memphis. It's fairly simple when it comes to recruiting point guards to Kentucky, and with the reclassification of Derryck Thornton, Kobi Simmons is the best point guard in the class of 2016.

The easiest sales pitch to Simmons, however, is the play of Eric Bledsoe when he was at Kentucky. Bledsoe was a point guard in high school but played off the ball with John Wall, which only made him more valuable in the NBA. That's exactly how Simmons is now.

He can play either position, allowing Calipari to keep Ulis around another year or recruit another point guard to pair in the backcourt.

Simmons is a taller point guard at 6'5", and that seems to be the type of guy Calipari recruits—with Ulis as the outsider in that group.