Detroit Pistons: 3 reasons Jose Calderon is a good move

2. Calderon has a high basketball IQ

You don’t hang around the NBA for more than a decade at the point guard position without being a smart player. Speed and quickness will fade. Strength and vertical leap will decrease. But if you can make good decisions, be in the right places at the right times, and think a step or two ahead of the game, you can keep a job as a floor general.

Calderon has succeeded all over the world thanks in part to his impressive basketball IQ.

He has won three Olympic medals (two silver, one bronze) and a FIBA World Cup gold medal with Spain’s national team. He won a Spanish King’s Cup with the Tau Ceramica squad in 2004. He’s been a contributor on five NBA playoff teams, and was a part-time starter on the 2018 Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers.

LeBron James is lauded as perhaps the highest-IQ player on the planet, and he and Calderon connected on a few gems in Cleveland thanks to their high-level thinking on the court.

The Pistons have some talent in the backcourt, but Detroit could use some better decision-making at the point guard position. Starter Reggie Jackson can score and backup Ish Smith can pass, but the two of them can also get reckless at times.

Barring injuries, Calderon probably won’t play a lot for the Pistons (although Jackson has been injury-prone the last couple of years). When he does get on the court, he can efficiently run an offense and make defenses pay for leaving him open.

When he’s not getting playing time, perhaps Calderon can pass along some lessons and knowledge to his younger counterparts.