Transfer Portal Deep Dive: Presbyterian Josh Pickett
Giving my personal thoughts on Presbyterian guard Josh Pickett
As the Transfer Portal, SearchSZN, and all of the other offseason festivities comes to an end. It’s time to start looking forward, WHILE also looking back as we dive into some of the new players for ALL 9 Big South teams.
For analysis: I will pick 3 games, 1 game that stood out as a GOOD game, 1 game that stood out as a BAD game, and 1 games that was average.
(If I can’t find 3 games, I will then go to portal film/shot charts and analytics)
Josh Pickett Background:
Josh Pickett is coming off a solid freshman season at Denver, despite turmoil within the program, Pickett showed a lot of promise, even after Coach Wilburn was placed on leave.
Pickett across 32 games, 15 of which being starts, Pickett averaged 5.4 PPG, 2.2 RPG and 0.5 APG, this included a 16 point game vs Omaha and a 14 point game vs St Thomas.
Coach Wilburn said on Pickett before the season.
“Josh Pickett will give us a physical presence from the day he steps on campus. He will add tremendously to our team's toughness and physicality. I think he will be extremely versatile on both sides of the floor. He'll have the ability to guard up to four positions on the defensive end and give us a very strong perimeter rebounder. Offensively, he is a very good three-point shooter, can attack off the bounce and can post up or back down smaller players. Josh is an elite-level person and will represent DU with the highest level of integrity and character in pursuit of excellence on and off the court."
Josh Pickett Game Notes/Review:
Josh Pickett “Good” Game: 11/14/2024 vs CCU
Stats: 15 points (5-6 from the field, 5-5 FT’s), 6 rebounds
Notes:
Lethal Free Throw shooter.
Very good face defender, very physical but not OVERLY physical.
Skies up for rebounds, relative for his position and size.
Very good finisher around the rim, has a good vertical aspect to his game.
Helped hold one of the best D2 transfers players to 13 points.
Josh Pickett “Average” Game: 1/04/25 at South Dakota
Stats: 8 points (2-3 from the field, 1-2 from 3)
Notes:
Very active defender, seems to just be anywhere and everywhere on any given defensive set.
Very strong, able to play through contact without losing much of what makes him good down low.
Very good shooter, not afarid to shoot the ball from behind the arc.
Josh Pickett “Bad” Game: 11/12/2024 vs CSU
Stats: 4 points (1-3 from the field, 2-2 FT’s), 4 rebounds
Notes:
Very gritty player, loves to be in the paint doing the “dirty” work.
Very aware of both his man, and where the ball is. If he can make a risk free swipe/back tap, he will. Same for closing off the paint, or closing off a lane.
Josh Pickett Analytics/Shot Charts Review:
Good Shooting Analytics:
True Shooting Percentage: 59.8% (70th percentile)
3PT Percentage: 34.6% (69th percentile)
Free Throw Percentage: 81.4% (91st percentile)
3 Point Attempt Rate: 54.2% (85th percentile)
Good Other Analytics:
Free Throw Attempt Rate: 61.5% (88th percentile)
Turnovers Per 40 Mins: 1.5 (79th percentile)
Bad Shooting Analytics:
Field Goal Attempts Per 40 Mins: 7 (17th percentile)
2PT Percentage: 50% (30th percentile)
Bad Other Analytics:
Assist Percentage: 4% (15th percentile)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: 4.7% (15th percentile)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: 8.3% (3rd percentile)
Block Percentage: 0.2% (2nd percentile)
Personal Foul Efficiency (Ratio of Steals and Blocks to Fouls): 0.2x (4th percentile)
Shot Chart Comparison:
Notes and Comments:
I picked 3 players just because Christmas really has a similar diet on higher volume which I could see Pickett receiving at Presbyterian (compared to his shot diet at Denver)
Pettaway was his closest comp at Presbyterian from last years roster with similar(ish) volume.
One glaring thing from the shot chart (excluding the lack of mid ranges) is that Pickett never really took corner 3’s having only 5.2% of his shots coming from the corner, compared to the D1 average of 9.1%.
Josh Pickett Final Thoughts:
I really don’t know where to begin with Pickett, he has the talent and past production in his Freshman year to have a BREAKOUT sophomore year at Presbyterian, but he will NEED to earn his spot against the two star freshmen from last season in Iverson King and Triston Wilson, along with Khalon Hudson.
I do see Pickett getting more playing time than he did at Denver, and with PC’s amazing development of guards (which I think Pickett will be a SG/SF), I lean towards thinking Pickett will have a pretty good breakout, nothing like an all conference level but around 9 PPG, 4 RPG and 1.5 APG would be a good middle ground.