Why Ex-Kentucky players Nick Richards, PJ Washington call Louisville's Kenny Payne 'family'
CHARLOTTE — Ask anyone about Kenny Payne, and you’re likely to hear that he’s likable.
The Louisville men’s basketball coach is friendly. Affable. If you’ve talked to folks around college basketball and in the NBA, you’ve seldom heard a disparaging word about the Cardinals’ first-year coach.
Some days, though, his new players will have a few.
Nick Richards promises that.
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The Charlotte Hornets center — who played his college basketball at Kentucky when Payne was an assistant there to John Calipari — said this week that Payne’s Louisville players are going to love the guy.
Except for when they don’t.
“He’s gonna make you get better,” Richards said after a preseason game Monday against the Washington Wizards. “But there’s gonna be some days you’re gonna hate him. You just got to know that it’s all out of love with him.”
The hate, Richardson said, will stem from how hard Payne will push. He’s going to ask his players to run a little faster, to work a little harder. His expectations will be high.
But if you want to meet them, he’ll put in the time to get you there.
Richards wanted it. So he’d meet Payne after practice hours at UK’s Joe Craft Center. Richards would run. He’d shoot hook shots — “A lot of hooks,” he said — and he and Payne would talk. About basketball. About life. About any problem Richards was going through.
The 6-foot-11 Richards arrived Kentucky highly rated but raw. He averaged 5.1 points in 14.7 minutes as a freshman. By his junior year, he was playing 29.6 minutes and putting up 14 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
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“I’d say probably (Payne) was the first coach that actually sat down with me and took his time to develop my whole entire game,” Richards said. “I’d say we were in the gym every single night. I can talk to him about anything. That dude’s like family.”
PJ Washington, Richards’ teammate now on the Hornets and then at Kentucky, said the same thing, that he spent “a lot of long nights” in the gym with Payne at UK. Without Payne, Washington said, “I don’t even think I’d be on this level.”
“It means the world,” Washington said. “I mean, he’s just there. He sits there and takes the time with everybody he recruits.”
And the two ex-Cats expect that Payne — who will be in Charlotte Wednesday for his first ACC Tipoff — will remain that way as a head coach.
“I’m excited to see what he does with that (Louisville) program,” Washington said. “I know he’s been put in the right place.”
And most of the time, Payne will have a pair of fans in the current Hornets.
Most of the time.
Richards said he’ll have “no mixed feelings” when the Cardinals play the Wildcats. He’s pulling for his alma mater. Washington said he tries not to “get into all that” rivalry stuff when it comes to Payne.
“I still love Cal, still love KP,” Washington said. “When I was in school they were both on the Kentucky side. But I’m still Big Blue.”
Washington is a close friend of Zan Payne, Kenny’s son, who transferred from Kentucky to Louisville in the offseason. It’s “definitely crazy” to see his friend swap sides, Washington said, but Zan Payne is “still family.”
The fire between the two sides isn’t always so friendly.
Hornets guard Terry Rozier — who played for Rick Pitino at Louisville — opted not to talk about Payne this week. But Richards and Washington figure he’ll be a fan of the hire. And their fondness for Payne won’t change the annual wagering on the rivalry game.
“I think (Rozier) still owes me from a couple years ago,” Washington said, laughing.
Payne’s arrival doesn’t figure to soften that rivalry much.
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But it could liven it up, Richards said.
“It’s gonna be fun to watch,” he said. “I’m definitely gonna be tuned into that game. I’m happy for him. He’s been waiting for a long time for this opportunity. Doesn’t matter where it was, NBA, college, whatever, I know he’s gonna do well.”
And the current Cards are going to love playing for Payne, Richards said. Even if they sometimes hate it.
“He loves all his players,” Richards said. “He treats every single player like his son. So no matter what he does — yelling, screaming, whatever — it’s all out of love with him.”
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brett Dawson at mdawson@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @BDawsonWrites.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball: What Ex-Kentucky players say about Kenny Payne
