George Washington University Athletics
Basketball's Danilo (J.R.) Pinnock Drafted by Dallas Mavericks in NBA Draft, Then Dealt to Los Angeles Lakers
6/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
June 28, 2006
NEW YORK, NY -- George Washington junior Danilo (J.R.) Pinnock (McDonough, GA) was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft held at New York's Madison Square Garden Wednesday night. He becomes GW's first NBA draftee since Yinka Dare was selected with the 14th pick in the 1994 Draft by the New Jersey Nets. Soon after the draft ended, the Mavericks traded the rights to Pinnock to the Los Angeles Lakers for a future second-round pick.
An early-entry candidate, Pinnock opted to forego his senior year to turn pro and the 6-5 guard heard his name called in the second round with the 58th pick overall by the 2006 NBA runner-up Mavericks.
Pinnock was one of only two players drafted from the Atlantic 10 Conference along with Temple's Mardy Collins who went 29th to the New York Knicks. Pinnock also was the only collegiate player drafted from the Washington metropolitan area.
A slashing guard, Pinnock led the Colonials in scoring this season with a 14.5 points-per-game average and averaged 5.3 rebounds per game. Pinnock also led the team in steals with 72 (2.5 spg) and was second in assists with 92 (3.1 apg). He scored his 1,000th career point in the UMass game on Feb. 15 at Smith Center giving GW three 1,000-point scorers in the same lineup. He was named to the NABC All-District 4 second team on Feb. 18 and to the A-10 All-Conference first team on Mar. 6.
Pinnock finished his three-year GW career with 1,121 career points which ranks 29th on GW's all-time scoring list. He also had 164 career steals and 191 career assists.
GW (27-3, 16-0 A-10) is coming off the best campaign in the 92-season history of the program. GW concluded the regular season with a 26-1 mark that included a school-record 18-game winning streak. The Colonials won all 16 Atlantic 10 Conference games en route to the regular-season title and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed. The Colonials defeated No. 9-seed UNC Wilmington in the first round Mar. 16 before falling to overall No. 1 seed Duke in the second round on Mar. 18, in Greensboro, NC, as part of the Atlanta Regional.
