Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has been through shooting slumps before. It has been a part of his career as it is for every shooter. But there has probably been nothing in his career that has been like this.
When the Orlando Magic signed him, they believed they were getting the kind of shooter who could help fix their shooting woes. He had shot better than 40 percent in three of the last four seasons from three.
How could he start the season so poorly, shooting 22.4 percent from three to start the season? It baffled everyone especially since Caldwell-Pope was getting the quality looks you would expect any strong shooter to make.
Caldwell-Pope was looking for answers too. He was looking for a solution to this problem, especially as the rest of the team followed him in struggling to shoot. The Magic had the worst 3-point field goal percentage in the league.
But the team kept giving him the solution. Keep shooting. That was the repeated advice. Everyone had confidence in who he is and why he was here. The breakthrough was around the corner.
That moment finally came Wednesday. Caldwell-Pope scored a season-high 24 points, making 6 of 10 3-pointers in the Magic’s 133-119 win over the Chicago Bulls. This is the Caldwell-Pope the Magic had signed and expected. They finally got to see the power of his 3-point shooting.
There was a lot of joy and a lot of relief to see him finally have this breakthrough.
“They just tell me to keep shooting,” Caldwell-Pope said. “There really is not much said. Just telling me to keep shooting. Just get out of my own head and play free. Tonight, I played without worrying about making shots. Tonight was an all-time high for me. Tonight felt great to be able to see the ball go through and have fun with my teammates and my brothers out there.”
Caldwell-Pope made critical threes throughout the night, including back-to-back threes late in the second quarter that helped extend the lead back to 19 and keep the Bulls from closing within single digits after the Magic raced ahead to start the game.
As a team, Caldwell-Pope’s hot shooting opened the door for everyone else. Orlando made 15 3-pointers and sho5 38.5 percent from three. The Magic had everything working offensively against the defensively challenged Bulls, making six of those threes in the first quarter.
It was a relief for the Magic, who have struggled so much from three this year. To see Caldwell-Pope deliver like this was a positive sign.
At the end, they kept the faith in their shooting and the process of their work as they always have. They knew they would pull through.
“Just keeping that confidence,” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “We talked about it with this group of guys. They are getting the right shots. Their ability to stay confident in that is great. He was in the gym working yesterday. Just continuously working knowing at some point they are going to fall. Just trusting the process of your work.”
Caldwell-Pope finally had his breakthrough game. Now he hopes that this is the start of him being who the Magic always knew he could be.
