5. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope- SG
Some may be surprised to see Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this high on the list. Contrary to popular belief, he is good at basketball. At the start of last season, he was terrible. It’s true. But that was when he was trying to become acclimated to a new team while simultaneously serving a complicated jail sentence that allowed him to leave only to play games inside the state of California and then return to his detention center.
It is not very realistic to expect a player to get into a comfortable groove on the court when he can’t even sleep in his own bed. To no surprise, he played significantly better post-jail. Despite his turbulent start, Caldwell-Pope had the best season of his career last year.
He put up career highs in 3-point percentage (38 percent), rebounds (5.2), field goal percentage (42.6 percent), effective field goal percentage (52.6 percent), offensive rating (105), and player impact estimate (9.2). In many ways, he became a better player last season.
And the thing is, he will be even better next year. Caldwell-Pope will be one of the players who benefit most from the arrival of LeBron James. In 2017, he was a far better 3-point shooter than he was from elsewhere on the floor. He ranked in the 69th percentile for 3-point percentage and just the 45th percentile for 2-point percentage, per Cleaning The Glass.
With the arrival of LeBron, KCP will find himself shooting more threes and fewer twos as his workload shrinks and his offensive role is relegated to that of a spot-up shooter. For some players, this can hurt them. In KCP’s case, it is perfect for him.
He was assisted on 87 percent of his made 3-point shots last season (64th percentile.) He shot 40.3 percent on catch and shoot threes while shooting just 30.9 percent on pull-up threes, per NBA.com. This means he is most effective as a catch and shoot 3-point shooter but did not do it enough last season to maximize his potential.
Playing alongside James will net him a higher amount, and higher quality, of spot-up threes– something he was effective at without the aid of the best player in the world– as well as forces him to take less midrange and pull-up shots, making him more efficient.
He should easily surpass the 40 percent 3-point percentage mark next season, proving to be one of the better 3-and-D shooting guards in the league.