St. John's Joel Soriano and Daniss Jenkins formed a bond on and off the court

NEWARK — Rick Pitino’s first steps as the new St. John’s coach were actually some pretty big leaps. Center Joel Soriano and point guard Daniss Jenkins — the two players he’d developed the closest bonds with — helped him make them.

Dead set on assembling a team he believed could play a system he wanted and have a chance to win quickly, the Hall of Fame coach remade the roster. The first step was convincing Soriano to stay and be the team captain. Soon after, Jenkins, his floor general at Iona the previous season, decided to transfer. When the roster renovation was over, Pitino had 14 players from 10 different colleges and high schools to mold into a unit.

The close friendship that Soriano and Jenkins formed ended up being the foundation for bringing the team together. They had activities — like a bowling outing — to unite the group.

“Since he got here, we just got to know each other more,” Soriano said recently. “We hung out and got food together. He knows my family and I know his — so I feel like I’ve known him for years. This is my blood brother [and] there is nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”

Drissa Traore, the other St. John’s holdover from the 2022-23 team, believes the connection between the team’s two leaders has translated to how cohesive and effective the Red Storm are on the court.

“If you see Joel and DJ, you can tell they have a connection because we’re just all together all the time,” Traore said. “And that’s what you want on the court with your big man and your point guard, to have a special connection. That makes everything [better] for everyone.”

Soriano and Jenkins have been the central players for the Storm thus far this season and to see them together on the court, one can see they are sharing leadership responsibilities. But in Jenkins' first days with the team, the connection wasn’t natural.

“At the beginning they were a little bit like this,” Pitino said, holding his two fists together. “Daniss always wanted Joel to play harder and do more. It was almost like Shaq and Kobe a little bit. Kobe always wanted Shaq to play harder and do more and Shaq said ‘I’ll bring it into the game.’ Kobe wanted him to bring it into practice as well. It’s that type of relationship. Now they’re best friends.”

When Pitino’s words were referenced last week, Soriano quipped, “A very poor man’s Shaq and Kobe.”

“I’m like an annoying little brother. I’m always saying something to make him annoyed and sometimes it’s the truth, but I know it will make him feel some type of way,” Jenkins said. “I really think Joel embraced that because he knows I’m always going to bring the best out of him and I think that’s what really pushed our relationship to what it is today. We always try to bring the best out of each other.”

Jenkins believes that as point guard, he needs to almost be an extension of Pitino. With Pitino’s encouragement, the soft-around-the-edges Soriano of last season worked to become physically chiseled with just 8% body fat. Jenkins offers more in-game encouragement.

“I’m supposed to make everyone around me better,” Jenkins said. “When I started playing with him, I was like, ‘OK, he has a lot more to give.’ I’m just trying to make him the best Joel Soriano he can be as well as the rest of my teammates.”

Having two of the dominant personalities on the team become so close has been contagious. It can be seem as the Storm players come in and out of games or during huddles or as they walk off the court after a game.

Pitino said “any connection like that is good for . . . a basketball team.”

“The way we feel about each other," Soriano said, "I feel like we have been together for four years and it’s only been a couple of months."

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.