Willie Cauley-Stein had an altogether successful rookie season. Despite not playing a ton of minutes, he produced when given the opportunity. At the moment, he is the Kings’ best young piece to build a future around.
And he’s only getting better. Apparently, Cauley-Stein is working with a Kings legend, Peja Stojakovic, to improve his shooting ability.
Following from James Ham of CSN California:
“Peja’s kind of mentoring me right now,” the 7-footer told CSN California. “Especially in the summer time, I did a lot of work. Our goal everyday was to make 700 shots. So by the end of the week, we were making thousands of shots.”
…
“We started from the basic things, understanding what it takes to be a good shooter,” Stojakovic told CSN California on The Kings Insider Podcast. “We still talk about that and when he misses a shot, he walks by me and says, ‘legs’. It’s all about strength in your legs, it’s all about the rhythm and it’s all about repetition that eventually make you a better shooter.”
One of WCS’s best skills is diving to the rim in pick-and-rolls so he should be a little wary of falling in love with shooting. That said, being able to shoot, even from the midrange, will open up so much for him and the Kings as a whole. It will also make him a much better frontcourt partner for DeMarcus Cousins. That’s not to mention the improvements that will be made to his 64.8% free throw percentage.
Willie Cauley-Stein still has a long way to go in his development. It looks like he’s trying to take some major strides, already.
