There are only two players left from the roster Stan Van Gundy inherited. And one of them is barely recognizable from his spring 2014 edition.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s growth has been one part physical, two parts emotional and three parts mental over the course of his three seasons since arriving as a raw 2013 lottery pick off of his sophomore season at Georgia. Van Gundy wasn’t sure what he had in him when he took over as Pistons coach and president of basketball operations in May 2014, but Caldwell-Pope has earned the confidence of his coach and has become one of the NBA’s fastest rising young wing players.
Van Gundy smiles as he considers the maturity of the only other player besides Andre Drummond that remains from the team he took over.
“Professionally and personally, in the time I’ve been here,” said Van Gundy, who attended Caldwell-Pope’s wedding early this off-season. “He’s now married with a kid. He’s embraced that. He seems to have really just settled down. He’s got real stability in his life. He goes about things very, very professionally. He’s a guy you can count on for great energy and effort every night. He’s mentally stable. He doesn’t have a lot of ups and downs. He’s in a good spot. Now it’s just about improving basketball.”
That’s the next progression for Caldwell-Pope. He’s taken major strides since coming to the Pistons without much more than high-end athleticism and the tools to build a deadly 3-point stroke.
He’s become an elite on-ball defender, frequently checking opposition point guards – with the benefit of allowing Reggie Jackson to draw the easier defensive assignment and conserve his energy for offense. Caldwell-Pope has become more than a 3-point shooter, showing the ability to make defenders overplaying his shot pay by putting the ball on the floor to attack the rim. His speed and motor make him a major weapon in transition offense.
Now it’s just about refining mechanics and applying the lessons of experience to become a more consistent player – and, in particular, a more consistent shooter. With modest increases in shooting accuracy, Van Gundy sees Caldwell-Pope blossoming into a markedly better player.
“There’s not all this other stuff where he’s learning to be a pro and learning how to prepare – he’s got that all down,” Van Gundy said. “He’s just got to be more consistent now and more efficient, particularly with his shooting. He should shoot a higher percentage than what he did a year ago based on his skill level and talent level. It becomes an issue of really good fundamentals in terms of getting balanced up on shots of all different types and better shot selection so he’s more efficient.
“He’s right around 40 percent overall now (.420 field-goal percentage last season) and low 30s from three (.309). I think he’s capable of mid 40s and mid 30s from three. And if he’s more like 45 percent, 35 or 36 percent from three, then he’s a whole different player with his energy, his athleticism, his defensive ability. That’s what it’s about – being more efficient for him on the offensive end.”
With every other member of their core except backup center Aron Baynes – who can and is expected to opt out of his contract next July – locked up for multiple years, retaining Caldwell-Pope, who could become a restricted free agent next summer, is the next major bit of business on Van Gundy’s to-do list.
General manager Jeff Bower and Caldwell-Pope’s representatives opened discussions in early August, Van Gundy said, and they have until the end of October to negotiate a contract extension that would keep Caldwell-Pope off the market next summer.
“The only thing right now is that we certainly have a strong interest in keeping him around,” Van Gundy said. “But we’ve got a lot of guys making money, too, and so there’s a lot to think about, a lot to talk about. We’ve got a lot of time – until the end of October – and whether you come to an extension, it’s not a do-or-die moment. If you don’t get it, a lot of guys go to restricted free agency. There’s all kinds of options, so we’re not panicked.”
The Pistons preferred to push Andre Drummond’s contract talks to July 2016 rather than give him an extension before the 2015-16 season because it allowed them to preserve the cap space they ultimately used to bolster their bench with the signings of free agents Jon Leuer, Ish Smith and Boban Marjanovic. But the equation is different with Caldwell-Pope since the Pistons will be above the salary cap on July 1, 2017.
“It’s a little different situation than with Andre because with Andre we conserved space by not extending him,” Van Gundy said. “The space is gone, anyway, so it’s a little more open for discussion. So we’ll see what happens.”
If the sides agree to wait and Caldwell-Pope takes the next step in his maturation to become a more consistent shooter and all-around player, the Pistons know it will take a major payday to retain him. That’s an issue Van Gundy will happily confront when the time arrives.