Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is expected to see a massive raise on his current salary, which is worth slightly under $3.68MM, once he becomes a restricted free agent this offseason. The Pistons have the right to match any offer sheet that the shooting guard signs this summer. Coach/executive Stan Van Gundy acknowledged that, noting that it will be up to the team to figure out if it wants to keep KCP around at a higher price tag, as Rod Beard of The Detroit News passes along via Twitter.
“We only don’t have [KCP] next year if we decide we don’t want him next year. There’s no team out there that can decide they’re going to have KCP next year–it’s on us,” Van Gundy said. “It will be our decision this summer whether he’s in Detroit next year. Other people can want him but they need us to acquiesce if they’re going to have him.”
The Nets are expected to be “major players” during KCP’s free agency. GM Sean Marks has thrice gone after opposing teams’ restricted free agents, offering lucrative deals, only to see each offer sheet matched by players’ original team. Miami matched Tyler Johnson‘s $50MM offer sheet. Portland decided to pay Allen Crabbe $75MM and the Rockets opted to match Donatas Motiejunas‘ $37MM deal before letting the power forward become a free agent.
At times this season, Caldwell-Pope has proven to be better than any of the aforementioned players, though inconsistencies have plagued him. He’s averaging 14.0 points per game, but he’s had 24 games this season where he’s scored under 10 points and 18 where he scored at least 20. He found some touch from 3-point range this season, shooting a career high 36.8% from behind the arc.
The 24-year-old owns a pedestrian 13.5 player efficiency rating and he has a TPA (Total Points Added—a metric derived by NBAMath to determine a player’s value on the court) of 58.84, which ranks first on the Pistons, but just 60th in the league.
The Pistons have struggled lately, winning just three out of their previous 10 games, leaving some to wonder if the team is tuning out Van Gundy. Despite the stretch of bad games, Detroit enters the day just one game behind the Heat for the eighth seed in the conference, though Chicago is sandwiched between the two teams. Van Gundy said making the playoffs remains the goal, but added he’s more concerned with the way the team is playing, as Beard relays in a separate tweet.
“I just want to see a lot better energy and spirit than what we’ve had the last half-dozen games. If that happens, the result takes care of itself,” Van Gundy said.
Ill take him on my Knicks, Phil he’s perfect for the triangle.
He needs to get out of Detroit, the SVG pattern is working again, where he loses his team and bad things start to happen.
Drummond is not the player we thought he would be, and Reggie will never be the guard we need due to Asthma & Stamina issues.
Beyond that there’s nothing else, the future is bleak unless major moves are made.
Stan is horrible, he never developed Howard into anything more then an elite rebounder and defensive big. Same will happen with Drummond.
The same SVG-Howard duo that got the Magic to the Finals? Howard was never going to be more than an elite rebounder and defensive big. He had basically no post game outside of the the spin and dunk. Is it up to SVG to teach Howard how to learn some post up moves? Same with Drummond. He can be a great defender but he doesn’t put the effort and also has little to no post game. While its up to the coach to put his players in the best position to succeed, the players have to do some developing on their own. Howard at least put effort into playing on both ends of the court, the same can’t be said for Drummond.
Is it up to the coach to teach the player how to be better? Yes.
Is it also SVG’s fault that Drummond and Howard couldn’t hit their free throws then? Sure the coach can teach players proper technique and encourage them to continue working on their games during the offseason, but it’s also up to the players to actually go out and learn/refine their skills and to actually put the effort to be better. To relate it to my point about Howard/Drummond not being able to hit their free throws…SVG could tell them what they might be doing wrong and try to teach them proper technique, but if they don’t put the practice and effort into improving, that’s the player’s fault.
I thought we were talking about post moves? FTs? Yea I could careless about FTs, almost every big man ever is terrible at FTs. Fewer than you think have been good at that. Currently, 9 guys or less than 1/3rd of the league’s starting centers hit 70% or greater. Drummond may be the worst in NBA history, but the convo was about developing post skills.
Part of making them better would be free throws. But in regards to developing post skills, its still up to the player to develop on their own. I’m sure SVG has seen enough basketball to offer some tips, but he’s also shorter than 6’…maybe this is just me, but I’d find it hard to relate to or take post up tips from a guy who is over a foot shorter than me (so Drummond to SVG).
Amen brother. Last night was a perfect example. Drummond had a great first half, on offense at least, and then didn’t show up for the second half. They gave him too much money and now he thinks he is an elite player. You gotta work at it Dre. On defense he doesn’t have a clue…so many times he is way out of position…
Develop ? These are grown a** men. With all that money Drummond got he should hire a basketball trainer and work on his game all summer, and if he gets those types of skills, then it’s van gundys job to let Drummond use those skills in a In-game setting, but obviously Drummond hasn’t worked on anything and he has just relied on his physical tools so far in his career. A NBA coachs job is to coach. it’s up to the players if they want get extra work after practice or in the off season.
Exactly. Drummond has gotten by on his size and athleticism for probaby most of his career. Now that teams are adjusting to it and figuring out ways to lessen his impact, it’s up to him to find new ways to be effective. It’s obvious, however, that’s he’s not interested in putting the effort necessary to improve.
Key words here is “with all that money”. What incentive does he have? He’s got his money, he doesn’t have to work that hard, and it shows up in the boxscore and in the Pistons below five hundred record. As for SVG, I like him a lot. I would love to play for someone that passionate about the game of basketball. Only trouble is I’m about as tall as SVG is…LOL
I just saw this post after I had posted mine lol I agree with 100%.
Are you guys looking for a game manager? Or an actual coach? Big difference.
What are you talking about ??