The Utah Jazz wanted a player that was ready to come to Salt Lake City and start winning right away, and they are feeling really confident they got the right guy.
“The celebrations stops tonight,” Darryn Peterson said, less than an hour after being selected No. 2 overall by the Jazz. “I got drafted today, but tomorrow, I’m now an NBA player.”
Peterson is itching to get on the court for Summer League and said that his goals for his rookie season are to play all 82 games, make a deep playoff run, and prove that he was worthy of No. 1 consideration. En route to achieving those goals, what can Jazz fans expect on the court?
There’s a lot of starting lineup, closing lineup and rotational stuff that we aren’t going to know for sure until we see how things unfold with Will Hardy and this roster. But there are some context clues that we can use to understand some of the Jazz’s vision.
On Tuesday night, following the draft, Peterson said that he was excited about a lot of the players on the Jazz roster, including the oversized frontcourt of Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Walker Kessler. But he noted, in particular, playing alongside Keyonte George and how dynamic the two of them could be together.
“Fitting in with the team, I think me and Keyonte are going to be one of the best backcourts in the NBA,” he said. “Then we’ve got those three bigs that I think are going to dominate.”
That certainly makes it sound like there have been conversations about Peterson and George playing together and working as a combo guard tandem.
Additionally, Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge said that who is playing point guard is less important (as far as a label is concerned) on offense, because there are so many different ways offense is initiated, and proves itself more on the defensive end.
With Peterson expected to make an impact on that side of the floor, he is likely to be given some very tough assignments right out of the gate as a point-of-attack defender, which is something the Jazz have been desperately needing throughout the rebuild.
“He’s going to run a lot of pick-and-roll, he’s going to come off screens, he’s going to come off handoffs, just like a lot of our other players in our offense,” Ainge said. “He can do everything, and we’ll just see how it expands and how it fits within the group, and the best way to use him early. Maybe three years from now there’s even more ways, but we’re really excited to throw him in all these situations.”
Purely based on what we know about Peterson from his high school days and his lone season at Kansas, the Jazz are getting a player that can score from anywhere and has incredible feel and touch.
“He’s going to run a lot of pick-and-roll, he’s going to come off screens, he’s going to come off handoffs, just like a lot of our other players in our offense. He can do everything, and we’ll just see how it expands and how it fits within the group, and the best way to use him early.”
— Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge on Darryn Peterson
He is explosive and has great speed and handle, which gives him an elite first step as a ball handler and an iso scorer. He’s a great shooter off the dribble and in spot-up situations, which fits well with the movement that Hardy’s offense employs.
Measuring 6-foot-4.5 without shoes with a 6-foot-9.75 wingspan, he gives the Jazz great positional size as a guard on both sides of the ball, and there aren’t a lot of things that you can point to as full-fledged weaknesses in his game.
Peterson was a top prospect for good reason. His game is well rounded; he doesn’t force shots or play sped up. He’s smart, focused, competitive and capable of doing just about anything with the ball in his hands. That doesn’t mean he isn’t good off-ball. He works great in space and moves fast and knows where to be on the court to create advantages.
The Jazz are getting a player that, despite being just 19, seems to be ready for the complexity of the NBA. He will, of course, face the same physical hills that all young players and rookies face. But there is a lot of belief that he is going to make an impact very early.
“He’s just a really talented player,” Ainge said. “The thing that we like most about him is he feels — for a 19-year-old — very complete. He can drive left, he can drive right, he can shoot off the catch, he can shoot off the dribble, he can guard, he can play pick-and-roll, he can play off the ball. It feels like he can help all of our other talented players in a lot of different ways.”
