Caldwell-Pope is preparing for the new season in Orlando.
Kentavius Caldwell-Pope, who moved to the Orlando Magic ahead of this season, talked about his impressions of his team-mates who will work together anew on the 9th (Korea Standard Time).
Orlando, which entered the rebuild after sending out Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon, and Evan Ponier in a trade in 2021, advanced to the playoffs in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a 47-35 record last season, centered on one-two punches of Paolo Banquero and Franz Wagner.
Although he met fourth-seeded Cleveland and had a bitter taste of elimination in the first round, Orlando, which produced a close race to Game 7, completed the rebuild faster than expected, achieving its first return to the playoff stage in four years since 2020.
There were two weaknesses that Orlando exposed last season. One was inexperience, a chronic weakness of a squad with many young players, and the other was poor outside offense, which only ranked last in the league (11.0) in the average number of 3-pointers made per game.
This summer, Orlando focused solely on making up for its two weaknesses in the FA market. The resource of its choice was Caldwell-Pope, who Orlando signed a three-year, $66 million contract with.
Caldwell-Pope, who averaged 10.1 points and a 40.6% three-point shooting success rate in 76 games last season, is a veteran wingman who has won finals with the Lakers in 2020 and Denver in 2023 and is the perfect puzzle piece to scratch Orlando's itchy two corners at the same time.
Since his debut in the 2013-2014 season, Caldwell-Pope, who is already preparing for the fifth season with his team, was surprised by his teammates who would work with him anew. It was his attitude toward defense. "There has never been a team I've been a part of that I've been a part of that team that likes defense so much," he said.
Orlando, whose main weapon is a tall lineup in which Wagner and Vanquero build a wing line, performed well based on its solid defense that ranked third in the team's defensive rating last season. 안전놀이터
If Caldwell-Pope, who is experienced and has a good understanding of tactics, can quickly melt into the team, Orlando will be a game-churning dark horse for the Eastern Conference this season.