Evolution: Jalen Pickett’s rise from unheralded recruit to undisputed face of Siena

 

With head coach Carmen Maciariello, Jalen Pickett (left) is halfway to forging legacy among Siena’s all-time greats. (Photo by Jaden Daly/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

It began as an afterthought for Jim Boeheim, the legendary head men’s basketball coach at Syracuse University.

Two years later, a recommendation by the Hall of Fame mentor to a fellow coach in the central New York region has turned into more than just valuable advice, perhaps a tip that struck gold in the Capital Region.

That was how Carmen Maciariello first met Jalen Pickett.

“I still remember Jim Boeheim had a nice relationship at the time with Gwen Pickett, Jalen’s mom,” Maciariello — then an assistant coach at George Washington before returning to the Siena program he played for and served as an assistant coach — said of the courtship of Pickett, who hails from Rochester. “He would always be there because Buddy Boeheim (Jim’s son) played on the same team, the City Rocks, and Jim would sit with me. He said, ‘Hey, you gotta make sure you look out for Jalen if he needs a junior college, his mom’s a great lady.’ And so I just developed a relationship with Jalen over that time.”

“Small world. I told Jamion Christian about him, I’m at GW, and the next thing you know, I’m helping coach him. Now I’m coaching him, and he’s bought in. I’m doing him a disservice if I don’t teach him and coach him, and instill life lessons into him.”

And so it has gone for Pickett, initially recruited as a wing out of prep school but thrust into the point guard position after a preseason injury to Khalil Richard, who has taken the proverbial ball and run numerous marathons with it since. In addition to his credentials on the court, which include being only the second sophomore in the 40-year history of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to be named its Player of the Year, perhaps the most impressive trait the precocious talent has demonstrated is his willingness to learn, to improve, to incorporate every possible nuance into his perennially developing game.

“I think he’s stepped up in that leadership role by being more vocal on the court,” said Maciariello. “As a freshman, you want to just go out and play, and it’s still kind of new to you. As a sophomore, I think he still had to understand there are so many ways to play basketball. He had a great year in Jamion’s system, and then coming into our system where we led the league in scoring and had a chance to play faster, I think he understands what it takes to be a special player and how much more he’s going to have to do.”

“We had a great talk with C.J. McCollum this summer, and it was great to hear the guys ask him questions,” he continued, citing a Zoom call Siena had with the former Lehigh star now on a similar trajectory with the Portland Trail Blazers. “Jalen was asking him how he budgeted his time and how often he worked out, what C.J.’s biggest jump was in having to understand it wasn’t just about getting extra shots up after practice, it was about early morning routines, late night free throws, so many different things. I think he picked up some great knowledge from that conversation.”

Pickett has already proven he is more than capable of being the reputable hand at a young age. An avid wrestling fan, Pickett’s ability to grasp the subtleties of the game and the business draw parallels to WWE superstar Randy Orton, a third-generation talent who became the company’s youngest-ever heavyweight champion at age 24 and has not looked back on the way to becoming one of the biggest names in the rich history of the squared circle. And when asked if there was any reason why Pickett could not do the same for Siena, his coach doubled down on the maturation and examples already exhibited as proof.

“For me, it’s not about wins and losses,” Maciariello declared. “It’s about building this program to where we want it to be, year in and year out, and he’s just a student of the game. He loves talking game plans, Xs and Os, he loves getting on the white board, and that’s a credit to him being a high IQ point guard. That’s what we love about him.”

“He’s just grown as a young man should. He understands he’s looked up to by all the young guys on the team, and he and Manny (Camper) are the guys that are going to be the ones to give everyone those shoulders to lean on when they need to.”

In life, everything happens for a reason, just the natural process of evolution.