Is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope a DUD?

Jackattaq · Post #1 » by **Jackattaq** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:09 pm

All we heard about this guy was what a great shooter he is, what a good offensive player he was in college. For a guy that's supposed to be a great shooter, I think I have a shot to beat him at H-O-R-S-E. He's a putrid shooter. I thought Michael Carter-Williams was the guy with a broke jumper, but at least he's had some absolutely beastly games. KCP has flat-out STUNK IT UP on the offensive end of the floor.

Not to make this seem like a rookie bashing because I absolutely love what KCP brings to the defensive side of the court. He's an in-your-face defender. He works hard out there, BUT, STOP SHOOTING KID, YOU GOT NO SHOT. He's a decent rebounder for a guard in traffic and he runs the floor well, BUT AGAIN, even after catching an outlet pass, HE CAN'T FINISH FASTBREAKS. He's NOT BEEN good finishing plays. I was all for this pick when he got drafted, and still like the pick BUT IF YOU CAN'T SCORE, DON'T TRY TO SCORE. He's currently like Ben Wallace was offensively, when given shots they are like "wasted possessions" for the Pistons. He's been that bad shooting the ball. He's shooting 34% from the field and 24% from the 3 point line. He's been a chucker to the Will Bynum level. He took the 3rd most shots on the team last night and wow, we lost, He's been inefficient at best.

I don't want to keep hearing that "he has to take those shots", HE'S NOT MAKING THEM, why not just hand the ball to the other team, it's nearly as good as a TURNOVER for the team, except they get long rebounds and run out on the Pistons and don't have to play against a defense that's setup (not that a set up Pistons D offers any resistance).

What is wrong with this kid? Is it mental? Is he slow?

detroitKG · Post #2 » by **detroitKG** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:17 pm

Bradley Beal..Enough said. Went through the exact same situation last year. He's turned out alright..Some guys take time to find their shot in the NBA. I'm not going to call him a bust after only a handful of real NBA games.

Laimbeer · Post #3 » by **Laimbeer** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:22 pm

Too early. But if the kid doesn't eventually show a shot he's a bit player at best. Not much use for shooting guards who can't shoot, and he doesn't have great handles.

Mr. Krabs · Post #4 » by **Mr. Krabs** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:23 pm

He has never been a spot up shooter.

Jackattaq · Post #5 » by **Jackattaq** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:47 pm

detroitKG wrote:Bradley Beal..Enough said. Went through the exact same situation last year. He's turned out alright..Some guys take time to find their shot in the NBA. I'm not going to call him a bust after only a handful of real NBA games.

How long do you allow KCP to keep shooting when he's taking this many shots and missing the majority of them? Do you, as a coach, say: They are good shots, keep shooting? When he's missing 10 shots out of 14 taken, he's hurting your offense. Can you allow the team to suffer with him taking that amount of shots? What is the appropriate amount of shots for a guy shooting 34% ? Do you want him taking 3rd most on the team? I haven't checked but I'd guess he's near the top of guys on the team in FGA per minute played.

DBC10 · Post #6 » by **DBC10** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 2:44 pm

Mr. Krabs wrote:He has never been a spot up shooter.

This, some people have to shoot from dribble, and this guy is one of them. I don't like how Cheeks is using him as a glorified 3 and D guy right now. Same thing happened with many other players that weren't spot up shooters.

I don't think his shot is anything to worry about since KCP has both Billups and Cheeks developing him.

I means it's not like he's MKG with an awful lack of fundamentals and brokenness. The guy was known as a sharpshooter in college while MKG was not. I think KCP will be fine and will actually end up as one of the better ones. Worst comes to worst, he unleashes his inner Tony Allen and has a long defensive career.

But I do agree he does need to limit his shooting a bit and Cheeks needs to make him have the ball in his hands a bit more besides throwing it away after spotting up. 1 or 2 dribble pull ups are his shots.

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hoophabit · Post #7 » by **hoophabit** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 2:50 pm

detroitKG wrote:Bradley Beal..Enough said. Went through the exact same situation last year. He's turned out alright..Some guys take time to find their shot in the NBA. I'm not going to call him a bust after only a handful of real NBA games.

Well said sir. I would add that KCP is hardly the most pressing issue facing the Pistons. He's a rookie and looks like one. Other more seasoned hands are behind the disappointing start.

wire28 · Post #8 » by **wire28** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:22 pm

i have to start making a list of all those who think player development ends in the first 10-15 games of their season

ImHeisenberg · Post #9 » by **ImHeisenberg** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:57 pm

Just way too early to make a call on KCP. There have been a lot of rookie guards who struggled early, or even through their first season, and came back the next year and stepped up.

The early returns haven't been promising, but it's too early.

ImHeisenberg · Post #10 » by **ImHeisenberg** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:58 pm

detroitKG wrote:Bradley Beal..Enough said. Went through the exact same situation last year. He's turned out alright..Some guys take time to find their shot in the NBA. I'm not going to call him a bust after only a handful of real NBA games.

Well said. Beal's 3-point shot wasn't falling for most of last season, except for a few nice stretches towards the end of the season. People called him a bust. So far this season, he's average something like 22 PPG.

Kyrama · Post #11 » by **Kyrama** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:58 pm

wire28 wrote:i have to start making a list of all those who think player development ends in the first 10-15 games of their season

It doesn't end, but I was expecting to see some flashes of brilliance beyond a handful of plays. I'll acknowledge he's been good defensively, but for a guy we drafted for shooting he's absolutely awful at it.

joseph mamah · Post #12 » by **joseph mamah** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:00 pm

sometimes it takes guys time to find their groove, his first year of college wasn't anything to write home about either but he came back in his second season and was his conferences player of the year. I believe his offense will come around and his defense alone at this point shows he belongs in the league.

Jackattaq · Post #13 » by **Jackattaq** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:04 pm

wire28 wrote:i have to start making a list of all those who think player development ends in the first 10-15 games of their season

No one ever said he was done developing, just curious at what point do you tell a guy that's (allegedly) a good shooter, to stop shooting when his misses are affecting team success. He's taking a lot of shots, and MISSING and often times MISSING BADLY. He needs to have a conscience out there. He can't just keep jacking up shots at the detriment of the team.

joseph mamah · Post #14 » by **joseph mamah** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:16 pm

at this point id rather watch KCP shoot and miss open shots with the hope that he can get himself out of the funk eventually, than watch the bonehead brothers jack up dumb shot after dumb shot with no hope that they'll ever get it. I agree that if we had more reliable guys taking shots for us, id probably want KCP to tone it down a little bit though.

DBC10 · Post #15 » by **DBC10** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:19 pm

Jackattaq wrote:
wire28 wrote:i have to start making a list of all those who think player development ends in the first 10-15 games of their season

No one ever said he was done developing, just curious at what point do you tell a guy that's (allegedly) a good shooter, to stop shooting when his misses are affecting team success. He's taking a lot of shots, and MISSING and often times MISSING BADLY. He needs to have a conscience out there. He can't just keep jacking up shots at the detriment of the team.

Honestly, I think this post is better reserved for our newest big name acquisitions.

They're the ones jacking up needless 3's/inefficient 2's and living and dying by them. KCP is a problem too, but those two easily trumps him as the major problems on the offensive end.

Smith: Averaging 14 FGA with 40% and 5.2 3PA with 29%
Jennings: Averaging 16 FGA with 37% and 4.9 3PA with 31.6%
I'm not going to cite KCP's numbers since they're paltry in comparison to these chuckers.

OneBadMutha · Post #16 » by **OneBadMutha** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 4:49 pm

No. The guy is an excellent defender. Good athlete. He could shoot in college. Likely will at the very least be a respectable shooter in the NBA. Right now he plays on a team with absolutely no flow or purpose on the offensive end. It makes the adaption process more difficult.

Funny...this is the same type of treatment Afflalo received here. Media and fans were saying things like "if he had any game, we'd have seen it by now" when he was salary dumped. He goes to a team with a point guard and where the offensive system flowed and suddenly he's a very solid starter in the NBA.

NBA overrates inefficient chuckers and underrates guys who play defense and want to play coherent team basketball. KCP will flourish somewhere.

joseph mamah · Post #17 » by **joseph mamah** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 5:09 pm

OneBadMutha wrote: NBA overrates inefficient chuckers and underrates guys who play defense and want to play coherent team basketball.

this

ComboGuardCity · Post #18 » by **ComboGuardCity** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 5:46 pm

He has been steadily improving and you'd only see that if you watched the games.

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Jackattaq · Post #19 » by **Jackattaq** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 6:10 pm

ComboGuardCity wrote:He has been steadily improving and you'd only see that if you watched the games.

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I'd venture to say that many people that post here, also have at some time in their lives played some form of basketball, whether it be a rec league or HS or some college. If you've ever played ball, you know that when your shots aren't falling, you have to find other ways to score. You can't just keep firing away. It's detrimental to the team. The only question I have about KCP is: will he learn how to adapt to situations where his shot isn't falling? So far through about the 9 games he's played, he hasn't. He's continued to chuck at extremely low shooting percentages. He hasn't adapted to not hitting shots. He needs to get it figured out, how to get the ball through the hoop. He's been just terrible shooting and he doesn't seem to recognize that by his playing style, he's still jacking shots, even had a terrible looking air ball last night.

I'm holding out hope that he will figure it out, but shooting the 3rd most shots last night isn't good for a guy that can barely hit 35% of the shots he's taking. UGH.

sc8581 · Post #20 » by **sc8581** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 6:29 pm

Jackattaq wrote:
ComboGuardCity wrote:He has been steadily improving and you'd only see that if you watched the games.

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I'd venture to say that many people that post here, also have at some time in their lives played some form of basketball, whether it be a rec league or HS or some college. If you've ever played ball, you know that when your shots aren't falling, you have to find other ways to score. You can't just keep firing away. It's detrimental to the team. The only question I have about KCP is: will he learn how to adapt to situations where his shot isn't falling? So far through about the 9 games he's played, he hasn't. He's continued to chuck at extremely low shooting percentages. He hasn't adapted to not hitting shots. He needs to get it figured out, how to get the ball through the hoop. He's been just terrible shooting and he doesn't seem to recognize that by his playing style, he's still jacking shots, even had a terrible looking air ball last night.

I'm holding out hope that he will figure it out, but shooting the 3rd most shots last night isn't good for a guy that can barely hit 35% of the shots he's taking. UGH.

Huge fan of KCP and I can't wait until he starts to reach his potential but at this point I agree with you about him shooting too much. That being said though I still think Cheeks has told KCP, Smith and Jennings to keep shooting to try and open up the floor.