One of the reasons Stan Van Gundy prioritized Jodie Meeks in free agency was the way he played for Doug Collins in Philadelphia and the similarity of the fit he imagined for him with the Pistons.
Meeks acknowledges the similarities and takes it one step beyond. In Philly, Elton Brand and Spencer Hawes were his primary interior options. With the Pistons, he’ll have Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith to command attention.
“I loved playing for coach Collins. It was a great system for me – good spacing, similar to this, and we have a lot of good post players. So, vice versa, we’ll help them and they’ll help us as far as spacing goes.”
Give Van Gundy shooters and, his NBA coaching peers acknowledge, there’s none better at figuring out offensive spacing. He gave himself the shooting over the summer, signing Meeks and three other free agents – D.J. Augustin, Cartier Martin and Caron Butler – who combined to shoot 40 percent from distance last season.
Meeks is a career .376 shooting from the 3-point arc, including .401 last season when he attempted a career-best 5.2 per game and scored a career-high 15.7 points a game. He knows that was his calling card when he hit free agency, but he showed increasing signs of expanding his game given the opportunity Kobe Bryant’s injury-riddled season provided. And Van Gundy’s seen glimpses of it already in training camp practices.
“He made some plays out here today,” Van Gundy said between Wednesday’s morning and evening practices. “He had one good drive yesterday, had a couple of good passes coming off screens, making passes against stunts. He’s shown he can make some other plays.”
“In my first couple of years, I was known as a spot-up shooter but most of the time that’s what I was doing,” he said. “So I decided to do what was asked of me. Last year, I had more opportunity, played more minutes, so I got a chance to expand my game and hopefully this year I can continue to do that.”
Meeks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will carve up most or all of the 48 minutes available at shooting guard, but who starts will depend as much or more on the makeup of the remainder of the lineup as on their head-to-head camp competition. And because Meeks is more comfortable off the dribble and Caldwell-Pope has the versatility to guard all three perimeter spots, Van Gundy could use them in tandem.
“I think at that position now, with he and KCP, we’ve got two high-energy guys who can get out and run the floor and maybe get us some easy baskets,” Van Gundy said. “I like the energy that both of them bring.”
“He’s a good player,” Meeks said of his teammate, who like him grew up in Georgia. “I’m looking forward to being his teammate and trying to help him out as much as I can. He’s a younger player, but he’s got a lot of potential and hopefully we’ll be good together.”
Check back later today and we’ll have more after the morning practice session wraps up.