Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
The Georgia Bulldogs were not the best team in the SEC in the 2012-13 college basketball season, but their leading scorer Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was second to none in the conference in his sophomore season. As a result, he will be entering the 2013 NBA Draft.
Caldwell-Pope had a great freshman season and was able to average 13.2 points per game. However, in his second year in college, he brought that average up to 18.5 points per game. He also averaged 7.1 rebounds per game, which is huge for a guard. With that number, Caldwell-Pope is arguably the best rebounding guard in the draft.
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He made 84 threes on the season, shot 43.3 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from behind the arc. He also shot 79.9 percent from the charity stripe.
With that said, there would have been no reason for Caldwell-Pope to return for his junior season, when thinking about his future. NBA teams want him now and for obvious reasons. Caldwell-Pope is a scoring machine and he could very easily be the next best shooting guard at the next level.
It also helps that he is 6’5”, which is a pretty decent size for a shooting guard.
Throw in his two steals per game and you have a complete player.
I don’t see why Caldwell-Pope isn’t going higher in many NBA mock drafts, but who knows how high he will go until he is actually drafted.
Caldwell-Pope was not only one of the best players in the SEC, but one of the best in college basketball and he has the talents to thrive at the next level for any team in the NBA.
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