The shooting guard battle
The other big positional battle in training camp is that of the starting shooting guard, between Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jodie Meeks. The minutes are closer between these two than between Johnson and Morris, but there are no injury concerns lingering over KCP and Meeks.
So far KCP is leading the minutes count with 26.8 per game, and Meeks trails slightly with 23.6.
Caldwell-Pope has started both games, and he lit it up in the opener against the Pacers. He scored 22 points on 7-9 shooting, including 6-7 from behind the three-point line, and let the team with a +15. Against the Nets, he took a step back and only scored 8 points on 3-9 shooting, and was one of the many Pistons with a negative +/- finishing with -8.
Meeks hasn’t blown anybody away yet, but he hasn’t been awful either. He is averaging 11 points per game, shooting 44.4% and 28.6% from three. The latter percentage isn’t indicative of what the Pistons can expect from him this season, considering he shoots 37.3% from three-point range in his career.
My expectation is that Meeks will shoot close to his career numbers from outside, but KCP should win the starting job barring a major surprise or injury.