The Los Angeles Lakers have battled absence and injury since the NBA began the restart process. Now, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will get his chance to shine.
The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t quite the same team we saw when the NBA season was suspended. Avery Bradley has opted out of returning to action in the Orlando bubble, deciding to stay with his family. Rajon Rondo suffered a hand injury in a practice early in the bubble and will miss about two months before he can return.
While the Lakers signed Dion Waiters shortly before the season’s hiatus began, and they signed J.R. Smith during the NBA’s transaction window, their most important backcourt pieces have been on board all along. Alex Caruso is a steady defender who can provide a spark with shocking dunks now and then, it may finally be Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s time to shine in Hollywood (Orange County, Florida, to be more specific).
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Assuming no further injuries or chaos ensues, Caldwell-Pope will start in the backcourt for the Lakers when the real action finally begins in Orlando.
This has been a redemptive season for KCP. His first couple of years with the Lakers were forgettable and frustrating, even embarrassing at times. He may have shown flashes in those early days, but they couldn’t overwhelm the jokes about him having to commute back and forth between jail and Lakers practice and games, unable to leave the state to travel with the team for non-California road games.
Perhaps he’s more comfortable in his own skin now, maybe it’s just because he’s a few years older and more experienced, or playing with better players like LeBron James and Anthony Davis and for an excellent veteran coach like Frank Vogel have simply paid off for him.
Whatever the case, his production has skyrocketed in comparison to the rest of his career. He’s shooting 39.4 percent from 3-point range, 54.3 percent from 2-point range, has an effective field goal percentage of 56.5 percent and a true shooting percentage of 59.2 percent, all career-highs by wide margins.
He doesn’t get the ball much with a usage rate of just 14.8 percent, but he does most of his damage off the ball as a spot-up shooter.
KCP is in the 83rd percentile spotting up, scoring 1.156 points per possession, and those spot-ups represent 29.7 percent of his possessions.
With Rondo and Bradley both out of the picture for the Los Angeles Lakers, KCP will get the chance to flourish in the first unit with James and Davis. With James and Davis on the floor and Rondo and Bradley off it, the Lakers have a net rating of +10.4, outscoring their opponents by that margin per 100 possessions.
When James is off, leaving KCP and Davis on, the Lakers have a +6.4 net rating. When Davis is off, leaving KCP and James on, the Lakers have a +9.6 net rating.
The Los Angeles Lakers will be in a conundrum when it comes to their bench depth. Dion Waiters has barely played this season and J.R. Smith hasn’t played in almost two years, so if they’re needed in high-leverage playoff situations, it’s hard to know just what the expect. However, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is one piece of the puzzle the team can count upon to be completely reliable.
At the end of a redemption season, KCP has the opportunity to star on the big stage for the Lakers.
Stats courtesy of Synergy Sports and NBA Wowy