Jodie Meeks' Injury Opens Door for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's Arrival
The Detroit Pistons are fortunate to have two starting-caliber options at the shooting guard position. One of them won't see action for the next couple of months.
According to the team's website, "Jodie Meeks will be out of the lineup for approximately eight weeks due to a stress reaction of the lower back."
The announcement notes that the 27-year-old—who "was originally diagnosed with back spasms on October 9"—was diagnosed after a later CAT scan on Oct. 13.
The five-year veteran got off to a strong start with 13 points in Detroit's preseason opener against the Chicago Bulls, and he's coming off a career season with the Los Angeles Lakers in which he averaged 15.7 points in 33.2 minutes per contest.
The Pistons signed him to a lucrative three-year deal in a bid to add outside shooting. Meeks made a career-high 40.1 percent of his three-point attempts last season, establishing himself as one of the short-handed Lakers' most prominent scoring threats.
He'll get off to a slow start with his new club, but it's not all bad news for Detroit.
Second-year guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has shown flashes in summer league play and dropped a combined 50 points through his first three preseason games. Taken by Detroit with the No. 8 overall pick in 2013, Caldwell-Pope started 41 games last season and was making a strong case to start a few more even before injury struck Meeks.
The 21-year-old suffered a strained left knee in a preseason loss to the Washington Wizards but isn't expected to miss significant time.
Coming off a rookie campaign in which he only averaged 5.9 points in 19.8 minutes per contest, the Georgia product is due for a stronger sophomore effort. He's a gifted shooter and should further adjust to NBA range with another offseason of polish.
Meeks is a more experienced option and may vie for significant playing time and perhaps a starting job when he returns.
Until then, Caldwell-Pope will have something to say about that.
After making just 31.9 percent of his three-point attempts as a rookie, there's still work to be done. Absent marked improvement, it will be tempting to let Meeks at least audition for a more prominent role down the road.
From head coach Stan Van Gundy's perspective, he has two options who fill a need.
"At that position we have two high-energy guys who can get out and run the floor, maybe get us some easy baskets," he told reporters this month, per The Detroit News' Vincent Goodwill Jr. "I like the energy both of them bring."
But ultimately, decisions will have to be made.
"We know we've got to compete for the starting spot," Caldwell-Pope told MLive.com's David Mayo at the beginning of October. "It's really just between me and him. But we'll work hard on the court, and off the court, we'll be cool. It's only competition on the court, not off the court."
Meeks could be coming into his prime, so there's no guarantee Caldwell-Pope wins this position battle on account of an early head start. After an injury that may prove just a minor setback, Meeks will look to build upon a breakout all-around performance in Los Angeles.
"The first couple of years I was known as a spot-up shooter," Meeks explained earlier this month to the Detroit Free Press' Vince Ellis. "...I decided to do what was asked of me. Last year I had more of an opportunity, played more minutes. Playing more minutes I got a chance to expand my game, and hopefully I will continue to do that."
If Van Gundy wants to start games with a more veteran option discovering his offensive potential, he'll start—and likely finish—games with Meeks in the lineup.
The case for Caldwell-Pope is a trickier one, and much depends on what he proves over the next couple months.
Despite just 29 wins last season and a playoff drought dating back to 2009, the Pistons aren't in any traditional kind of rebuilding mode. The organization is looking to turn the corner in short order, leaving little time to develop prospective talent.
Caldwell-Pope has to be ready—ready to do more of whatever happened during his final game of the season in April, a meeting with the Oklahoma City Thunder in which he made five three-pointers en route to a career-high 30-point performance.
"Since the last game of the season, I just took that as motivation and started working hard for the summer," Caldwell-Pope told ESPN.com reporter Michael Wallace in July during his impressive summer league stint. "I just feel more comfortable. I just want to continue to stay aggressive."
"I feel I can just relax and play, not just think too much," he added. "I feed off my defense. It gets me going. If my defense is going well, then my offense is going to come. [Van Gundy] just told me to stay aggressive and just play my game. I've been doing that, and it's just been coming."
There's no arguing with the short-term results. Something clicked for Caldwell-Pope.
He averaged a tournament-high 24 points per game through five contests at Orlando Summer League. It wasn't an especially efficient shooting display, but it allowed the still-developing scorer to showcase what he could do when given the minutes to develop a rhythm.
At worst, Caldwell-Pope should develop into a competent three-and-D-style starter.
But there's real star potential here, and upside breeds expectations.
Even for Caldwell-Pope himself.
"I just feel like this is my breakout year," he recently told the media, per Mayo.
Numbers aside, a commitment to defense may be key to securing that breakout.
"I think, number one, you always look at players first to their strengths. Where can a guy be great?" Van Gundy said of Caldwell-Pope's game, via Mayo. "And I think he can be an elite defender in this league at the 2-guard spot, and so we'll look for that every night. I think he's a high-energy guy who can get up and down the floor and attack the basket in transition. I think those two things have got to be his foundation."
So whether these next two months are replete with transcendent shooting performances, the real test of Caldwell-Pope's emergence may be his impact as a two-way player, his willingness to do little, unheralded things that often translate into wins.
Some breakout seasons are quieter than others.
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