Siena’s Pickett paves way for overlooked
Kevan Sheppard won’t say “I told you so,” but he could.
Two years ago, when the Albany (New York) City Rocks 17U assistant coach tried to encourage college programs to give Jalen Pickett a chance, he didn’t find many takers.
Now, Sheppard has plenty who are reaching out for his opinion.
“There are coaches at major programs that will take a kid sight unseen because of Jalen,” Sheppard said. “There were a lot of coaches that I told about Jalen. Last summer, they realized they messed up. Now they are calling me to ask, ‘Who you got?’ ”
With a playing style that requires time to appreciate, Pickett flew under the radar of major-college programs. Sheppard understands why many college coaches overlooked him. The busy AAU season dictates that coaches try to see as many players as possible while moving between different courts at various tournaments.
“There are guys that a Division I college coach can sit down and watch for 15 minutes and that player can make an immediate impression,” Sheppard said. “Jalen is a guy you probably need to watch for three, four or five whole games to figure out that his best attribute is that he wins.
“He was really a team-first guy to the point where coming out of high school that hurt him. He was always doing what was best for the team. When it comes to AAU and travel, that’s not necessarily what’s going to get a coach to say, ‘Yeah, I need this guy.’ ”
It also didn’t help that in the summer of 2017 Pickett played on a City Rocks team that included Buddy Boeheim (Syracuse), Nahziah Carter (Washington), Joseph Girard III (Syracuse), Isaiah Stewart (Washington) and Mika Adams-Woods (Cincinnati).
Pickett played the role of facilitator, getting scorers the ball
JOHN MINCHILLO/AP in spots where they could convert. But when Carter enrolled early at Washington to take summer classes, the squad needed offensive production. Pickett delivered.
“When Nahz left the team to go to college, we lost 16 to 17 points a game,” Sheppard said. “Jalen being the guy that would do whatever the team needs to win, made up for those points.”
Pickett went on to become a unanimous selection for Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rookie of the year and first-team all-conference honors at Siena last year. He’s the first MAAC performer to receive those dual honors since NBA veteran Lionel Simmons achieved that feat with LaSalle in the late 1980s.
As a sophomore, Pickett leads the Saints scoring 15.4 points per game. At press time, he was handing out 5.3 assists while making 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
Pickett helped Siena improve from eight wins the previous season to a 17-16 record in 201819. He started at point guard and scored 15.8 points per game. His 6.7 assists ranked ninth in the nation and third among all firstyear players. The 6-4 guard led Siena in steals (2.0) and blocks (0.9). His assist-to-turnover (2.76) finished in the top 25 of Division I.
He received an invitation to the inaugural NBA G-League Elite camp after that first college season. He was offered two-way deals from a pair of teams to play in the NBA Summer League. He chose to return to school.
“Last year was great, but we didn’t achieve what we ultimately wanted to,” Pickett said. “This year I had to come in with a new mindset to try and learn and adjust and see where it goes this year.”
The NBA draft process experience took Pickett from a relative unknown to being listed on
HoopsHype’s 2020 aggregate mock draft as a second-round pick. NBAScoutingLive.com also included him as a possible second-round pick.
NBA scouts are more common at Siena’s games. Timberwolves general manager Scott Layden was on hand for a December game.
“Jalen’s a special kid,” Siena head coach Carmen Maciariello said. “He’s not the typical sophomore, not the typical college basketball player. He’s got a super-high IQ. He’s just a very good basketball mind. He can grasp what we’re trying to do.”
A difference this season is that Pickett is the focus of every opponent’s scouting report.
“Coming in as a freshman, not a lot of people knew about me,” he said. “Coming into this year, hearing the different coaches yell different things out to their team when I got the ball or to hear the different adjustments from the players on the court about what they’re doing ... I definitely notice it.”
Yet it is still difficult to encapsulate his efforts in short clips of video footage.
“I enjoy watching him play other than when it’s against us,” said Canisius head coach Reggie Witherspoon, who likened Pickett’s style of play to that of former NBA player and current analyst Mark Jackson. “You can stop him from scoring, and he could really still be the most dominant player on the floor.”
Canisius beat Siena twice during the 2018-19 season. Pickett led Siena in the first meeting with 21 points. Less than a month later, he had 14 points and 11 assists while committing two turnovers.
“He can affect the game without necessarily scoring,” Witherspoon added. “He obviously can score. But you can’t just stop him from scoring and think you’ve stopped him. That’s very rare.”
John McCauley, his coach at Aquinas Institute in Rochester, New York, had Pickett in a lineup that included Jamir Jones (Notre Dame football) and Earnest Edwards (second-team Football Championship Subdivision All-American football player at Maine). Pickett earned tournament MVP honors when the Li’l Irish downed a team led by Kevin Huerter (now with the NBA’s Hawks) in the semifinals.
Aquinas eventually went on to claim the 2016 Class AA New York state championship, the program’s first such title.
“From an offensive standpoint, he sees the floor and knows how to use pass fakes to open up passing lanes,” said McCauley, who is also an assistant with the City Rocks program. “From a defensive standpoint, he’s just as smart. He’s always processing what you can do if he’s guarding the ball, or if he’s off the ball. It’s a credit to his defensive IQ and his defensive awareness.
“I’m not surprised at all that his game transferred to the college level, and I won’t be surprised when it travels to the next level.”