Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has thrived with Reggie Jackson on the floor

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s numbers have dipped since Reggie Jackson’s return, but maybe Jackson’s reintegration into the starting lineup isn’t to blame after all.

The topic of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s value to the Detroit Pistons has been one of significant contention since the season began.

One camp insists that all KCP brings to the table is solid perimeter defense and below average shooting. Another camp proclaims that he has quickly developed into an efficient scorer and facilitator, boosting his value to an all-time high even when his defense has stagnated to some degree.

The former camp has pointed to this transitional period after Reggie Jackson‘s return as proof that Caldwell-Pope has been rated too highly all along, and that he is regressing to the mean. After all, in the ten games since Jackson came back to the lineup, he’s only scoring 11.9 points per game on 38.8 percent shooting.

It stands to reason that the malfunctioning offense under Jackson’s leadership might be responsible for this dip. While his total production is certainly down, it’s not specifically a result of playing with Jackson. In fact, KCP is posting outstanding efficiency numbers while playing with Jackson, while over the last 10 games he’s shot poorly overall.

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In fact, with Jackson on the floor, he’s been extremely productive, with a 62.5 percent true shooting rate and he’s scoring 1.25 points per shot.

On the flip side, when KCP does have the ball in his hands more with Ish Smith on the floor, his efficiency goes down significantly.

This chart (courtesy of our friends at NBAWowy) indicates a few things. First off, KCP has the second-highest usage of all Pistons when Smith is on the floor, which is probably suboptimal considering Tobias Harris‘ superior scoring ability. Secondly, he is often a ball handler and occasional distributor when Smith is on the floor, and the Pistons’ often stagnant offense may be causing him to take shots that are not in good spots for him.

If anything, it indicates a better-than-expected awareness on Jackson’s part of distribution and an ability to get his teammates shots from good spots.

Feeding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope the ball in spots where he can be effective seems to be a strong suit for Jackson in a time where there are questions about his ball-movement willingness and abilities.

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While it would be a pleasing development for KCP’s usage to go up, it’s neither a number that can or should arbitrarily increase. It’s on KCP to find spots where he can be more effective, because his point guard will find him when he’s there.