Stan Van Gundy Talks KCP’s Future

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is expected to see a massive raise on his current salary, which is worth slightly under $3.68MM, once he becomes a restricted free agent this offseason. The Pistons have the right to match any offer sheet that the shooting guard signs this summer. Coach/executive Stan Van Gundy acknowledged that, noting that it will be up to the team to figure out if it wants to keep KCP around at a higher price tag, as Rod Beard of The Detroit News passes along via Twitter.

“We only don’t have [KCP] next year if we decide we don’t want him next year. There’s no team out there that can decide they’re going to have KCP next year–it’s on us,” Van Gundy said. “It will be our decision this summer whether he’s in Detroit next year. Other people can want him but they need us to acquiesce if they’re going to have him.”

The Nets are expected to be “major players” during KCP’s free agency. GM Sean Marks has thrice gone after opposing teams’ restricted free agents, offering lucrative deals, only to see each offer sheet matched by players’ original team. Miami matched Tyler Johnson‘s $50MM offer sheet. Portland decided to pay Allen Crabbe $75MM and the Rockets opted to match Donatas Motiejunas$37MM deal before letting the power forward become a free agent.

At times this season, Caldwell-Pope has proven to be better than any of the aforementioned players, though inconsistencies have plagued him. He’s averaging 14.0 points per game, but he’s had 24 games this season where he’s scored under 10 points and 18 where he scored at least 20. He found some touch from 3-point range this season, shooting a career high 36.8% from behind the arc.

The 24-year-old owns a pedestrian 13.5 player efficiency rating and he has a TPA (Total Points Added—a metric derived by NBAMath to determine a player’s value on the court) of 58.84, which ranks first on the Pistons, but just 60th in the league.

The Pistons have struggled lately, winning just three out of their previous 10 games, leaving some to wonder if the team is tuning out Van Gundy. Despite the stretch of bad games, Detroit enters the day just one game behind the Heat for the eighth seed in the conference, though Chicago is sandwiched between the two teams. Van Gundy said making the playoffs remains the goal, but added he’s more concerned with the way the team is playing, as Beard relays in a separate tweet.

“I just want to see a lot better energy and spirit than what we’ve had the last half-dozen games. If that happens, the result takes care of itself,” Van Gundy said.

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