What is going on with Darryn Peterson ?

[Newhouser]

Simmons was 6'10" PG with vision and could play defense. 2x All Defense. 1x Third Team All NBA.

Everyone can get a bucket in the NBA. Not everyone can be considered Magic on O and Rodman on D. However, the worry was that his competitiveness was never there (this was in his NBA scouting) AND, not with his shooting, but that he couldn't take advantage when he got a small guy on him to get to the bucket.

Peterson is just another wing. But without the competitiveness. And agree about Kawhi. That dude is a 2x FMVP, at his peak was arguably the best wing defender of all time and was vying for MVP level titles.

Peterson has a lot of talent. But that's it.

He was competitive enough when he cooked Dybsanta. And not everyone can get a bucket in the NBA - see Simmons as exhibit A.

I think he gaming the system - guess we will see soon enough.

 

[Scooch]

He’ll go very high in the draft because most NBA front offices are fear-based. No GM wants to be the guy who takes Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. So they always value potential talent more than mental make up.

There’s very few Danny Ainge’s out there who will trade out of the conventional wisdom #1 Markelle Fulz pick to get Jayson Tatum.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The thing with Peterson is I am not sure what his strengths are besides scoring. Not a great defender and he has more turnovers than assists. Those guys usually don’t turn into superstars.

 

[satsuma]

Somewhere along the way, a sportswriter -- or maybe Darryn Peterson's agent? -- posed an irresistible question: "But what if he's Kobe?" Despite all outward appearances that he isn't Kobe Bryant -- especially Peterson's lack of a sociopathic need to compete -- that meme has taken hold of the NBA. The GMs are reluctant to pass up the second coming of Kobe, and will be quick to rationalize anything that would make another player fall out of the #1 spot.

No GM wants to be the guy who takes Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan.

That example is illustrative but imperfect, because there was a GM who took Hakeem Olajuwon over Michael Jordan, and he got a lot less grief. I'm not saying that AJ Dybantsa or Cameron Boozer is the Olajuwon here, or anything near that, but I think there are valid reasons to pick either over Peterson.

It is interesting that some of the negative things that were speculated in the preseason about Dybantsa -- he won't buy into the team, he'll take nights off, he'll shut it down to prepare for the draft -- ended up applying to Peterson instead. I think Dybantsa has turned out to be the compromise between Peterson's star power and Boozer's workmanlike presence.

I think the draft goes Dybantsa-Peterson-Boozer, with an open question as to whether the second team made a mistake picking Peterson over Boozer. I think the response to that question would be to give Peterson the same amount of time Cade Cunningham got.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Based on what I've seen and the way Self has talked about it without coming out and saying it, Peterson has been told to take himself out if he feels anything amiss physically or if he's done well enough to give scouts a good look. When he leaves games, he doesn't hit the bike or get attention from trainers, which makes it all the more strange and gets the take machine stirring.

He missed a Big Monday game against then-undefeated Zona - the biggest game of Kansas' season to date in front of a hyped home crowd - with flu-like symptoms (or so we were told). He wasn't on the pre-game injury report. Didn't even try to play.

I suppose there's a chance he ramps back up and is a full go when the stakes are at their highest, but that's a weird mix of hope and cynicism. At this point I don't get why he doesn't just drop out and train like Jalen Johnson did a few years ago; At least then the team won't have to waste energy on guessing games.

 

[shandeezy7]

Even if his injury issues are "legit," shouldn't that be a red flag as well? A 19-year-old kid with chronic cramping issues that he can't seem to solve? And they only play two, sometimes three games a week in college. Just wait until he gets to the pros and plays 5 games in 8 nights. How's his cramping issue going to hold up then?

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Even if his injury issues are "legit," shouldn't that be a red flag as well? A 19-year-old kid with chronic cramping issues that he can't seem to solve? And they only play two, sometimes three games a week in college. Just wait until he gets to the pros and plays 5 games in 8 nights. How's his cramping issue going to hold up then?

A friend half-jokingly pointed out that Kansas' trainers and med school are the real victims in all of this.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

He can’t be in the NBA. So his choice is G-league, overseas, or college. The fault lies with the NBA/Union.

But before NIL this kind of guy would have played in such a pro league. They are better off there if they don’t want to play for a school and feel no desire to represent an institution. Now there is incentive.

There is also this angle. Don’t you want players who want to play so bad that they put it above all else? There were NBA players that had clauses in their contracts that stipulated they were allowed to play pick up ball. Absolute hoop heads. If you are so measured and calculated at 19 that you are in protective mode, you are advertising to everyone where your priorities lie.

If he’s doing this now, you don’t think he’s going to be extra guarded protecting himself for that second contract? The difference in dough between the 1st and 2nd contract is much much larger than the gap between his NIL and first nba deal