Detroit Pistons: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope excels to start the season
By Duncan Smith
Few players who have come and gone from the Detroit Pistons’ roster over the last few years have generated as much discussion and disagreement as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. On the NBA’s draft night in 2013, then-President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars selected KCP out of the University of Georgia with the eighth overall pick. On most draft nights, it would have been considered a widely acceptable pick, as Caldwell-Pope was projected to go in the top 10 regardless.
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This was not most draft nights.
Dumars made that pick with hometown hero Trey Burke of Michigan still available. It was a selection that perplexed many. After all, the Pistons needed a point guard, with apologies to Will Bynum, Peyton Siva and a Chauncey Billups who had just turned 37 years old. If a local guy (forget the fact that Burke is from Columbus, Ohio) is available at a position you desperately need help at, why not go with him?
I’m guilty of being disappointed at the time by this selection as well. Maybe not as much as some, but I wanted Burke in Detroit.
I’m not too proud to admit it, and I’m not too proud to admit that I was wrong, either.
What Trey Burke is, as sad as it makes me to say it, is somebody whose career ceiling is probably a journeyman backup point guard.
Maybe Trey Burke can revive his career, but right now he is a backup to something called a Raul Neto. The only thing that most people know about Neto is that even though Burke had a good preseason, he couldn’t start at the beginng of the season.
To highlight the floundering nature of Burke’s fortunes, when the Pistons and Jazz played on Wednesday at the Palace in the Pistons’ home opener, Burke played just 16 minutes and was held scoreless, attempting just two shots.
Conversely, KCP has been almost certainly the biggest surprise for the Pistons. He is tied for the team lead with Andre Drummond and Marcus Morris in minutes per game with 36.5, and he’s using these minutes wonderfully.
Pope, as head coach Stan Van Gundy sometimes calls him, is hitting 48% of the 12.5 shots per game he has taken, and is hitting 50% from three-point range. Almost half of his shots have been from long-range, six per game thus far, exemplifying his role as the key three-point gunner on the roster.
In addition, he’s averaging 4.5 rebounds over the two games, and he does have a pretty big block this season as well.
That’s right, in a game against the team of the guy who everybody wanted over him, Caldwell-Pope iced this game with a block on Utah’s Rodney Hood. Talk about an exclamation point.
At the moment, KCP leads the team in scoring with 18.5 points per game. It wouldn’t be a huge stretch to see him keep up that scoring pace if the shooting stays hot, thanks in part to a Jones fractuce suffered by reserve shooting guard Jodie Meeks against the Jazz on Wednesday. KCP isn’t hurting for minutes, but he’s going to get all the burn he can handle for the next three or four months in Meeks’ absence.
Historically, Pope shoots lights out at home and poorly on the road. He opened the season with 21 points on the road at Atlanta, shooting 7-14 from the floor and 4-7 from behind the arc. It’s possible that being from Georgia, this was like a home game to him, but if that’s not the case and it’s a sign of a trend that has been bucked, that’s very good news for him and the Pistons.
We’ll have to wait to see what his next road appearance looks like, because tonight the Pistons play the Chicago Bulls at home, and we’ll get to find out just what is next for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in this outstanding start to his season.
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