Most people who watch Darryn Peterson play basketball are in awe because it seems like he has always been and is still better than so many of the players he’s surrounded by on the court.
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That has certainly been the case the past few days at the Huntsman Center in the Salt Lake City Summer League. In his first appearance in a Utah Jazz jersey Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks he scored 28 points, and he followed that up Monday with a 25-point, 12 assist outing against the Memphis Grizzlies.
It might be hyperbole to start predicting the future for Peterson and saying he’s destined for greatness, but there’s good reason behind so many people believing that’s what’s possible for him.
And while Peterson doesn’t want to get ahead of himself and he feels like he has a long way to go, greatness is what he hopes for.
“What is greatness to me? I think it’s just kind of being one-of-one. There’s not a ton of people, I would say, that achieve greatness,” he said.
“That’s definitely something I want to try to achieve. I’m far away from it now so early in my career in summer league, but it’s something I want to try to achieve by the end of my career.”
After Saturday’s game against the Hawks, Peterson grimaced while looking at a box score, pointing out that he had too many turnovers.
His eight turnovers in that game would have been understandable to literally anyone not named Darryn Peterson. It was the first competitive game he had played in since Kansas was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on March 22.
It was also his first time playing in front of a Jazz fanbase he wants to make proud, and it was the first game played with a summer squad that had only a handful of practices together.
But Peterson wanted to quickly rectify what he saw as a problem, so on Monday he dished out 12 assists while Memphis’ defense blitzed, double teamed and smothered him — and he only committed two turnovers.
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“Like most guys who want to be great…they expect to do well. Darryn expects to do well,” Jazz assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski said.
“And, how can I be better is the question that he asked himself. That’s a very mature question for a young player to ask, especially (after) his first game in front of Jazz fans, his first game in a Jazz uniform.”
Greatness is a lofty term when it comes to NBA basketball, and a rookie who wants to be great often has a long and hard climb in front of him if that’s what he wants to achieve, but so many of the people who have seen Peterson play feel like that climb might not be as arduous for him as it might have been for others.
There are things Peterson does that seem easy for him that don’t normally seem easy for other 19-year-olds fresh off a lone collegiate season.
When I asked Wojciechowski what he thought about the way Peterson handled the increased defensive attention on Monday, he kind of laughed and smirked, turning into a human shrug emoji while glancing at the box score and saying, “I think he handled it pretty well.”
The fact that Peterson makes quick decisions, isn’t bothered by increased ball pressure and reads the floor at a speed that allows him to decrease his own foot speed are qualities that are unique for NBA rookies.
Wojciechowski started his coaching career in 1999 as an assistant at Duke. After 15 years there, he was the head coach at Marquette for seven years, so he’s seen a number of college-aged basketball players through his nearly 30 years of coaching and he recognizes the difference between Peterson’s abilities compared to others.
“Having coached that age of kid for over two decades, it’s rare,” he said. “But…you don’t need me to talk about his play. His play speaks for itself. I tell you what, he’s a really hungry learner… he wants to be great, and I think he’s got what it takes.”
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