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Los Angeles Lakers: Could Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stay long-term?

By Quentin Haynes

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images /
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Could Kentavious Caldwell-Pope turn his one-year deal into a long-term stay with the Los Angeles Lakers?

Is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope the long-term answer for the Los Angeles Lakers at the shooting guard position?

If you thought Caldwell-Pope was moving at the beginning of the offseason, I’m here to call you a liar. With KCP being a restricted free agent, the Detroit Pistons had the right to match any contract offered to him and with a league-wide shortage of talented wing players, it seemed like a simple layup for Detroit to match a deal and keep the offseason rolling.

But Detroit thought otherwise. Adding Langston Galloway and trading for Avery Bradley pushed Caldwell-Pope out the door, leaving teams like Brooklyn and Los Angeles clamoring to add a young talent. In the end, Caldwell-Pope took Los Angeles’ offer of $18 million over one season, allowing him to spend his fifth professional season in the City of Angels.

With 82 games to prove himself, can Caldwell-Pope make Los Angeles his long-term home and remain a member of the Los Angeles Lakers for several seasons, rather than just the 2017-18 campaign? His abilities on the floor suggest he could be.

In a league where players with the slimmest chance of becoming “3-and-D” players ever actually get a chance, it remains mystifying why the Pistons let Caldwell-Pope walk, even with the prospect of overpaying him on their doorstep. Regardless, Detroit’s loss is Los Angeles’ gain. Neither Jordan Clarkson nor rookie Lonzo Ball project to provide positive defensive value this upcoming season.

That’s where Caldwell-Pope comes into shine.

In 2015-16, Caldwell-Pope took his game up a level as the rare “D and some 3” player, showing advanced defensive ability with a budding outside game. This past season, however, the wheels came off for KCP defensively. ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus stat had Caldwell-Pope as the 59th-best shooting guard on defense last season, finishing well into the negative category.

82games.com had Detroit as seven points better defensively with Caldwell-Pope off the floor. It was a rough season for Detroit defensively and KCP didn’t help matters with his poor defensive play.

This year won’t be better, as he’s going to one of the worst defensive teams in the league. There are bright spots – Ingram is a real-life Jack Skellington with arms just as long, Julius Randle has the ability to be a fine defender and Brook Lopez is an adequate rim protector – but the perimeter defense will largely fall on KCP to help energize that group and cover several mistakes.

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    • Offensively, Caldwell-Pope could be an underrated player for Los Angeles and Luke Walton’s system.

    Last season’s numbers were lackluster — 13.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game on 39.9 percent shooting – but there were some bright spots. After a down season, Caldwell-Pope knocked down 35 percent of his 437 threes, suggesting his 2015-16 season wasn’t a fluke. KCP also flashed even more of a catch-and-shoot game, knocking down 37 percent of his catch-and-shoot baskets, according to NBA.com.

    As a playmaker, Caldwell-Pope flashed another dimension of his game, finishing with 0.89 points per possessions as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, good for the 70th percentile. He’ll never be a lead playmaker, but Caldwell-Pope absorbing some possessions as a creator with shooters on the floor is an interesting wrinkle that could thrive in Luke Walton’s system.

    On paper, Caldwell-Pope is a 24-year-old shooting guard who can defend several positions. He had a poor defensive season but has a solid defensive reputation and a budding offensive game in vital areas — threes and creation. Could that be enough for the Los Angeles Lakers to keep him after this season?

    We’ll have to wait and see. Even after the addition of Carmelo Anthony, Paul George seems destined to test the free agency waters for the first time in his career. The Lakers could be playing for the biggest fish of them all (LeBron James), creating another wrinkle to an already important offseason. Simply put, Caldwell-Pope could be playing to attract another team to give him his first big contract.

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    But Caldwell-Pope has a chance to make it interesting. His combination of youth, size and talent could make him an interesting keep candidate for Los Angeles. After all, 24-year-old “3-and-D” players just don’t come around too often.

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