June 19, 2015

JayVaughn Pinkston


Jayvaughn Pinkston improved considerably throughout his collegiate career without it being all that evident in his production. He arrived at Villanova with hype and talent, but not much idea of what to do with it. And after a fraught beginning, he left as a reliable, versatile senior who contributed in many ways.

As a senior, Pinkston dispensed with much of the face-up game that had rather burdened him until that point, Pinkston always played as though he wanted to be a face-up player, a shooter and a driver, but he was never especially good at these things, and his continued insistence on trying was helping neither himself nor his team. He was not nearly as good of a ball handler as he thought he was, and while he took the open threes he was given, hitting them at 26% is precisely why he was given them. But as a senior, Pinkston mostly stopped all this, re-engaged himself with the post, venturing outside only really to run pick-and-roll action.

This is not to say that Pinkston is the greatest option in the post - he lacks athleticism and hasn't the greatest range of moves, and is not a consistent halfcourt option for every trip inside. But with his strength, Pinkston is very hard to stop from getting position, and he creates the angles for feeds well. Finishing mostly with his right hand, Pinkston has a hook shot and good feet, barrels in and attacks contact. He can isolate down low or get open in the flow, and although his lack of explosion limits him a bit, the ton of fakes he uses down low can create a bit of separation from his defender. He draws doubles from the defense, and notwithstanding some lazy passes, he kicks the ball out of the post fairly well.

Elsewhere, Pinkston's lack of speed and explosion limit him on the glass, and he struggles to clear the defensive boards or rebound out of his area. This is not helped by a reluctance (or constantly forgetting) to box out. Yet his defensive awareness probably improved even more than his offensive one did. Without great leap or length, Pinkston made an impact defensively by getting position, using his strength on the interior, and taking quite a few charges for a man of his size. Pinkston's perimeter defense still needs work, as his footwork does not keep him in front of the play enough, but he provides quite a good amount of help defense without fouling, and rotates well. Pinkston's lack of size and speed is probably not an NBA combination, but the total package of skills will work somewhere.

Read full article