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July’s first week changed Pistons picture at shooting guard

(Editor’s note: Pistons.com today continues a five-part series examining the roster by position as the Pistons prepare for training camp by taking a look at their shooting guards. Coming Wednesday: small forwards.)

Stan Van Gundy went into free agency with one shooting guard on his roster – one whom his knowledge of and confidence in was, uh, limited. All he really knew about Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the handful of videotaped games he’d managed to get to around all the staff hirings and draft and free agency prep work his job had required in the first month since shaking hands with Tom Gores to run the Pistons.

And that handful of games told the uneven story of Caldwell-Pope’s rookie year.

A week later, the outlook had taken a dramatic 180. Within the first 24 hours of free agency, Van Gundy found two elite shooters, Jodie Meeks and Cartier Martin, to address the team’s most pressing need after they finished 29th – ahead of only woebegone Philadelphia – in 3-point accuracy last season.

“That’s a position that got a lot stronger for us over the summer, both internally and without,” Pistons general manager Jeff Bower said. “We were really encouraged with the play of KCP in Summer League and the work he put in to create those results. Jodie brings a level of experience and shot-making to the group and a work ethic that is something other players will look at, as well as his experience. And Cartier has always had a limited role, but a very efficient player who has shown an offensive ability to score the ball as well as compete on a nightly basis when given an opportunity.”

POSITION: Shooting Guard

Depth chart: Jodie Meeks/Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cartier Martin

Options: Kyle Singler, Spencer Dinwiddie

Flexibility: Meeks got some experience playing point guard for the Lakers last season and has come a long way as a ballhandler since breaking into the NBA out of Kentucky five years ago. Caldwell-Pope, also an improved ballhandler, has the length and athleticism to defend all three perimeter positions and is a prime candidate to play small forward to match up with small-ball lineups. Martin has played primarily small forward but the depth chart probably pushes him to shooting guard with the Pistons.

The skinny: Stan Van Gundy made Meeks his top priority in free agency because he checked off all the boxes on his list of musts, starting with shooting range. Caldwell-Pope put together a strong Summer League performance and returns a much more confident second-year player. Martin, much like Meeks, brings proven 3-point range to the position.

Van Gundy won over Meeks by selling him on an expansive role that would allow him to build off of his career-best 2013-14 season with the Lakers. Meeks, elevated to the starting lineup by Kobe Bryant’s injury-plagued season, averaged 15.7 points and shot 40 percent from the 3-point line in 33 minutes a game. Even playing more minutes, Meeks’ per-36 minute scoring average was a career high.

“They laid a lot on my plate as to how they saw me fitting into their system,” Meeks said. “I felt like it was a good fit for me. He said he had watched a lot of film of me from my whole career, but especially last year. I got a chance to expand my game and play some point guard, handle the ball, obviously shoot – that’s what I do – but I got a chance to slow a little bit of everything in my game.”

With Meeks and Martin already in the fold, Van Gundy then got an eyeful of Caldwell-Pope in Orlando’s Summer League that week. The 6-foot-5 Caldwell-Pope averaged 24 points and seven rebounds a game, but what struck Van Gundy most was the intensity he brought to practices and games throughout their 11 days in Orlando.

“He’s an all-out guy all the time – practices, games. That’s what opened my eyes,” Van Gundy said. “The other thing I saw is a real competitive side to him that I wasn’t really aware was there, but you saw a real resolve and toughness that I came out excited just by his approach and his mental makeup in the way he goes about things.”

Part of that resolve was the product of the surge of confidence Caldwell-Pope took into Summer League following a 30-point explosion in the regular-season finale at Oklahoma City when he got his first start in more than two months and seized the moment. His Summer League success further motivated Caldwell-Pope to pour even more into his summer workout regimen and he returned to Auburn Hills a month before camp opened in peak condition and eager to get going.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “After Summer League, I took a week off – I wanted to get my legs back under me – and just got right back in the gym.”

Just as Van Gundy quickly noticed Caldwell-Pope’s intensity, he remembered the Meeks he coached against early in his career with Philadelphia. The combination of the two – and the prospect of them going head-to-head for minutes in training camp – entices Van Gundy.

“We’ve talked about needing to play harder and I think we’ve got two guys who play at an extremely high energy level, two of the best running wing guys in the league,” Van Gundy said. “High energy, athletic guys who compete and who can shoot the ball. I certainly think there are possibilities that the two of them can play together on the wings. It really gives us some options there to play with.”

“I would like to play multiple positions,” Caldwell-Pope said. “I did it in college and I wouldn’t mind doing it here. I just have to get stronger and keep getting better.”

That possibility might also open the door to a role for Martin, who made an impression on Van Gundy early in his battle to stick in the NBA with his all-out play while a Washington Wizard during a blowout loss to Van Gundy’s Orlando Magic. As the staff pored over videotape leading to free agency, many independently came up with Martin as an ideal candidate to add shooting depth on the wings.

“You hear great character things on him from everybody and he can really shoot the ball,” Van Gundy said. “He’s a guy who’s had to fight his way into the league several times and we were willing to offer him some stability. You’ve got six guys watching film and all of a sudden three or four guys are saying, ‘Hey, Cartier Martin is a guy that fits what we want and we should be talking about.’ ”