Charles Jenkins is the perfect candidate to provide meaningful evaluation through his Summer League performance. Last season he played fairly regularly as a rookie, averaging 17.5 minutes per game (22nd among rookies) in 51 games (23rd among rookies). His place on the depth chart is in flux after the Warriors traded for Jarrett Jack. Finally, he needed to show some development to indicate what kind of future he could have in the league.
Summer League provided a five-game trial for Jenkins to show the coaching staff what he could do if given the keys to a team, albeit against inferior competition. On the surface, his numbers looked pretty good. His 14.2 points per game was good for 36th in the Las Vegas and his 51.2 FG percentage would have been good for third among qualified guards in the NBA last season.
Despite those positives, Jenkins did not show a lot of development in other areas of his game. He is a strong midrange shooter, but has not shown an ability to shoot the NBA 3-pointer. In his senior year at Hofstra, he shot 42 percent from long range, but shot just 15 percent in his rookie year and missed his only two attempts in Summer League.
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He also did not show any strong development in his passing game either. He averaged more assists in 17.5 mpg as a rookie than he did in 27.8 mpg in Summer League. That's not very encouraging since as a rookie, some advanced stats pointed to Jenkins being able to develop into a strong passer. According to Hoopdata.com, his assist rate was 15th in the league at 46.05 (nearly 20 points above the 28.06 league average for qualified guards). Yet his assist rate in Summer League dropped to 20.20.
He also developed something of a turnover problem. He coughed up the ball 2.8 times per game, matching his assist average. His assist-to-turnover rate as a rookie was strong at 2.79 A:T (12th among qualified guards) and his turnover rate was just slightly above league average for qualified guards at 16.52. In the 5 Summer League games, he took a step backward in both categories. His assist to turnover dropped to 1.00 and his turnover rate jumped up to 20.20.
Five games is five games. As of right now though, Jenkins looks like a good midrange shooter without great range or court vision destined to be a third-string point guard. That's not so bad for only the fifth player out of Hofstra to make it to the NBA, one who is about to become just the second to play multiple seasons in the league (the first being Speedy Claxton). Jenkins' dependable middle distance shot should help keep him on the roster and if he can keep a lid on his turnovers, he's valuable player from an efficiency standpoint coming off the bench.
Assist rate is calculated by (Assists100)(FGA(FTA.44)TO). It indicates an efficiency by calculating the rate of assists against possessions used.
