Before the college season started, Darryn Peterson was considered by most draft experts as the consensus #1 pick. His high school tape is as good as any guard prospect we’ve seen with his combination of physical tools, skill level, and production. When you watch Peterson’s high school film, you can see why. It’s as good as it gets.
But things got a little murky when he went to Kansas with a season that was filled with question marks stemming from injury and what appeared to be times when he wanted
to be checked out of games. There were some legitimate questions that stemmed from his season, and you can bet that teams will be looking over his medicals from the draft combine very closely.
Those question marks appear to have knocked Peterson from the #1 spot on most draft boards to #2, but that might be a mistake. If you look at Peterson’s numbers from his single season at Kansas and ignore all the storylines, you have what looks like an elite scorer. Peterson scored 20.2 points per game while shooting 38.2% from three and 43.8% from the field (48.7% on twos). Those are just his raw shooting numbers. He also averaged 4.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.4 steals. The 1.6 assists per game compared to the 1.6 turnovers is probably the biggest question mark when you consider his pure numbers. That said, the context matters. Peterson was always on the floor with multiple guards and was asked to score the ball, and that’s what he did. His shooting, regardless of double teams and defensive focus, was elite. His elite shooting was maybe a bit unexpected, but phenomenal. He went from having some question marks with his shooting to being one of the best college shooters ever.
When you stack him up against a player like Kevin Durant, you’re looking at a potential lethal shooter.
It’s this level of production that is hiding right in front of us because of the question marks at Kansas. Peterson’s explanation for the questions about effort and injury is legitimate. It’s well documented that he had to go to the hospital for a full-body cramp that had his whole body locking up on him. It sounds terrifying.
For the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards, picking Peterson is a bet that he stays healthy and that the injury issues at Kansas were caused by too much creatine. When you look at the numbers, that’s a bet worth taking. Peterson had an incredible scoring season at Kansas, and that was WITH playing through injury. What happens if Peterson gets healthy and it gives him an improved athletic edge? Also, for a player who was able to improve his shooting so dramatically, this suggests he’ll improve in other areas as well. Namely, passing. Peterson had periods in high school with good assist numbers when he was asked to play point. He also showed that he could make all the passes while at Kansas, he just wasn’t asked to do it often.
All signs point to Darryn Peterson not only being a franchise player but also becoming one of the league’s best. If Peterson puts to bed all the question marks that arose in college, Utah has a chance to draft a player that will change the franchise forever and could potentially bring them something they’ve never had before, a championship banner.
