First Report of this class is an all-time off-ball guard with elite two-way potential and context that could turn him into the best guard prospect for years. Darryn Peterson. PRO: Easily the most intriguing skill of his is his perimeter shot making specifically off ball. 38% on 7 attempts a game is an elite number Step in a bit to the long 2 mid-range spot he's at 44.6%. He's shown he can get to his spots in a variety of way but most commonly was off-ball being favoured as a secondary playmaker by Kansas. He impressed with making separation using a variety of feints in combination with a quick release to create efficient looks on the perimeter. I think the most intriguing skill within his on ball creative abilities is how he manipulates his body within his shot form, this is also true for his finishing at the rim. Peterson is adept at altering mechanics within the air to get his shot over tight defensive coverage. That's been a key skill especially with how he's been guarded and against college defences who swarm him fairly commonly and have been able to due to Kansas's weak perimeter scoring group around Peterson. Peterson has also done a great job at leveraging this to his advantage in drawing fouls and getting to the line. Peterson does a great job at drawing contact with defenders on his back or pulling up over them, driving into players and getting into physical situations where he can benefit from his whistle. There is a lot of talk about how Petersons playmaking and passing game has been underwhelming but one of the most impressive skills of Petersons game is how turnover averse he's been when he's trusted with isolation possession and with the sheer volume of Blitzs Peterson has had to deal with in college and also the quality of defender across from him. His handle isn't the most adept and I will get to that but one thing that's been so impressive is how elite his at keeping his handle alive under a lot of pressure. A CTOV of 7.2 is an elite number showing just how little he turns the ball over for what he does for Kansas's offence. Then we get to Darryn's defensive abilities which I think is the least flawed and versatile of the pre-determined big 3 of this class. Simply Peterson doesn't make many mistakes defensively. Mostly used off the ball he rarely get's caught out there and can be key in creating vital contests as well as strong moments of defensive playmaking. He's active in the passing lanes and creates a lot of great transition opportunities and his contests produce a really high volume of blocks on the perimeter. a lot more than your typical strong perimeter defender. I think it can get lost how good he is on this end because of how often he is off ball for Kansas but he has great STK% and BLK% and rarely fouls with a 95th percentile STK:FOUL. He's a super efficient offensive playmaker compared to some of the crazy percentage guys like Graves or Mara who I love and will have high but their insane stock percentages come with very high foul rates and some of that can be down to how they are utilised on defence compared to Peterson but it shouldn't be lost how well Peterson produces stocks and also how these create high volume transition opportunities. CON: The biggest issue of the previous year to me has been the rim pressure. Quite simply for his usage you'd wand to see a higher number. 27th Percentile RIM% and a high volume disparity in mid range to rim volume ratio. I really have no issues with his efficiency once he's there. We will get to one reason this is likely why but another reason that does go under the radar is how he doesn't receive much of any help in getting to the rim. As a player that has been utilised as much as Peterson has been off-ball you'd expect he'd get more plays ran for him where he can get to the rim easier. I also think the fact that he wasn't utilised in that many PnR opportunities alongside Bidunga really made it hard for Peterson to make that impact. Felt like a lot of that has been poor strategy and coaching. He is 71st percentile in unassisted rim makes that feels like a decent enough number that would typically make rim pressure concerns an overreaction but in total there is stuff to be concerned about. Another large problem with Darryn's season has been the playmaking. `I mean any stat could really describe that. 21st percentile APG, 39th percentile AST%, 24th percentile Ast/To, 11th percentile Ast/Usg. Those numbers are far too low for any projection of primary on ball scorer at the next level. Now as I mentioned prior to this it's always felt like Kansas used him as a secondary ball handler anyway and that there isn't much to help him produce assists but I have had issues with some of the tape. with how much pressure he gets coming off actions he could definitely produce a higher volume of assists but to be honest Kansas probably wants him to be score first and thats been their goal of using him that way so much as an off ball player. While I am personally coming out of this year of Peterson with a lot more questions than I did entering about his playmaking abilities it would be hard to deny the fact that Kansas's system has affected how Peterson approached the game offensively and Petersons prior tape shows a much more intriguing passer where its worth having some hope he can take a primary ball handling role. the only other issue with Peterson and I think its the only one where there's really no rebuttal to it is the low rebounding positionally. Rebounding does matter a lot and as a pretty tall guard he should have better numbers. 26th and 27th percentile DRB% and ORB% are too low. It not be underestimated the real value of strong rebounders positionally in an NBA where winning the possession game is so important to win games. NARRATIVE:CRAMPS_OR_PRIORS: The issue: - Peterson admitted to "Traumatic" full body cramps pre season. This kept him in and out of games to begin the year before finally finding consistency in the new year. Peterson had minute restrictions and has been accused of subbing himself out of games. The question is how has this affected how he's played, being so perimeter orientated since coming to college there's been a noticeable lack of burst through the year compared to his prior film where he was more prone to making athletic plays and could get to the rim easier. How much is that an injury issue and how much is it the gap in competition from high school to college. Personally I think the lack of first step and burst has been a clear sign of injury affecting his game. However I really struggle to attribute all this to just injury. I do think Peterson will be able to get to the level of athleticism he was at but I do think this is gonna be an issue entering the NBA too. Im not too sure how much was struggling to utilise his athleticism and a lack of a more dynamic handle and how much purely that jump in first step. I think any mentality issues with Peterson are just dismissive of what he had to go through and his situation. The real answer is we will never know how much is what until its too late, you've got a decision to make on to believe priors or what we've seen lately. Personally, I lean priors. PROJECTION: I have no issues at all projecting him to be a perennial all-star guard without there being injury issues. Even if he's athletically hampered like he has been in college I would back him to reach those heights and thats a fairly unlikely outcome in my opinion. I think his off-ball to on-ball versatility on offence will allow him to operate similarly to a taller 2024 Kyrie Irving where you can ask him to take control of a game as an on ball scorer and tough shot maker but he can truly play alongside someone who needs the ball more and we saw how valuable Kyrie is to the success of that finals team. If you play to the strengths of Darryn you will see how consistently he pushes winning.