Los Angeles Lakers: Should JaVale McGee, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope be re-signed

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

KCP is similar to JaVale McGee in that he’s a very talented player who gives less effort than he should.

KCP on the year averaged 4.7 contested shots (per 36 minutes to make things fair, considering he came off the bench) per game. That’s by far the lowest mark on the Lakers.

Here are the other Laker perimeter players contested shots per 36 minutes

• Rajon Rondo: 5.4
• Reggie Bullock: 7.4
• Lonzo Ball: 8.1
• Brandon Ingram: 8.7
• Alex Caruso: 8.9
• Josh Hart: 11.9

KCP played lazy defense the entire season. He contested fewer than five shots per game because he either let the man he was covering blow by him for a layup or he was more than four feet away from the jump shooter he was supposed to be covering.

KCP also averaged 1.9 deflections per 36 minutes, which was less than Isaac Bonga, Caruso, Ball, Jemerrio Jones, Rondo, Michael Beasley, Hart, and Scott Machado.

KCP has a 6’7” reach, which is well above average for a shooting guard in the NBA, but he never exerted himself on defense, so he didn’t jump passing lanes and get his hands on the ball. If he had committed to the less glamorous side of the ball, he could have been a disruptive force on D, just like Lonzo Ball, but unfortunately, he never tried.

If you need more proof that Caldwell-Pope was a lazy and uninspired defender, he ranked 18th on the Lakers in Defensive Rating for the season at 109.4.

On offense, KCP averaged 11.4 PPG, 3 RPG, and 1 APG, while shooting 34.7% from deep for the season.

Caldwell-Pope wasn’t particularly good in any facet on offense. He shot the ball poorly, he’s one of the worst distributors in the league, and he rarely broke down his defender one-on-one to get to the hoop.

Over the Lakers last ten games, KCP’s situation was analogous to McGee’s. He was also auditioning for his next contract, so he too used all of his energy to elevate his stats.

During the last 10 games of the season, KCP averaged 21.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.4 APG, and he had a 36.1 3P%. Just like JaVale McGee, though, he also had one of the worst net ratings on the Lakers at -1.7 +/- during that span, which was largely due to his lack of energy on defense.

KCP doesn’t play with life on defense and he’s never done the little things that really help a team win. The Lakers should under no circumstances bring Caldwell-Pope back next season.