Derek Willis got married last weekend and once he finishes his honeymoon, he’ll be off to Germany to play for BG Göttingen, a team in Germany’s top basketball league where another former uK player, Darius Miller, played for two years before coming back to the NBA where he now plays with New Orleans.
Willis played last year for Detroit’s team in the G League and while it said it was a learning experience from a business standpoint, he vowed he would not return to the G League again.
“The money is a lot better overseas. I should get a lot better contract overseas,” Willis said before his wedding. “Now I wish I had done that coming out of UK really. I just want to find a place to go, get a chance to play and show what I can do.”
He almost missed this chance because the team originally wanted him to report on Saturday, his wedding day. He said no and also said no to reporting just a few days later because he wanted to go on a honeymoon with Keely Potts — remember he proposed to her before UK’s Senior Day game.
“We got engaged, but basketball never slowed down,” Potts said. “There was March Madness, the (senior autograph) signing tour, graduation, draft prep, summer league in July, Team USA in August and then we moved to Detroit after that. We never really took time to enjoy our engagement.”
But they are getting to do that this week and then Willis can start his overseas career because the German team relented and gave him more time to report so he would sign.
Willis spent time back in Lexington this summer working out once he finished playing in the NBA summer league. He called Kentucky coach John Calipari to make sure he could use the UK facilities and got a surprise — Calipari and his wife invited Willis and his fiancee to stay with them during his workout time in Lexington.
“He said, ‘You can just stay with us.’ I guess he thought I was also looking for a place to stay and he put that right out there for me. So I got to stay with him and work out and train twice a day. It was great,” Willis said.
Willis averaged 11.8 points. 6.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game for Grand Rapids in the G League last season and shot 47 percent from the field in 43 games.
Being away from Kentucky and living in Michigan was not easy for Willis or his fiancee last season.
“It didn’t take us long to realize we had taken our home state for granted,” Potts said. “We couldn’t wait to grow up and start and our lives, but the cold was very hard to handle. Neither one of us liked the cold at all. The team would be gone for days at a time. They traveled by bus. They would leave a few days before a game and come back a day later. I was by myself a lot more and didn’t have school to keep me occupied. It was a tough year for both of us.”
Potts said the invitation to stay at Calipari’s home was “unexpected” but very nice. They had a chance to talk with both Ellen and John Calipari at times and Potts said the dogs and cat were “awesome” to be around, too.
“I have always liked coach Cal but I had never really talked to Ellen before,” Potts said. “We talked about the basketball lifestyle a little bit. I got a chance to understand her perspective on a lot of things. She is very talkative, very welcoming. It takes a lot to be a coach’s wife and she is great.
“It really meant a lot to both of us that they did this. They were really, really sweet and could not have been nicer to us. It was nice to see them both outside of basketball for a change.”