Theo Pinson went from collecting butt splinters and notching DNPs to playing legit backup PG minutes the second Kyrie Irving got hurt. Injuries suck, but when they happen to stars, it creates chances for little-utilized players to come in and show their stuff, which is always good in my book.
Pinson, though, doesn’t seem to have that much to show. Even after this game, which was his best scoring night by raw points as well as by efficiency, he’s shooting under 30 percent from the field. That’s Cam Reddish territory, and while Reddish is getting eviscerated for being a horrible scorer, Pinson has evaded most criticism (except from Nets fans). Probably because Pinson isn’t a rookie, isn’t supposed to be good, and has no scoring pedigree (he averaged a whopping 10 points in his senior season at North Carolina).
Using DownToBuck’s proprietary performance ranking system (which is actually just sorting performances by the amount of shots made instead of points), Pinson had the best game of his career tonight. At least, he tied it. He had a 19-burger last year that I remember being pretty hype. This one? Not very hype. But he made some shots, which is more than we usually get out of him.