- 2 days ago
Pete Sousa joins the show to give his scouting report on AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and other top NBA prospects as the draft approaches.
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00:00All right, Pete Sousa joins us now, ESPN College Basketball,
00:04play-by-play man, also host of the Pete Sousa Show.
00:07You can find him on Twitter at Petey with a Y, Sousa, S-O-U-S-A.
00:12Pete, nice to meet you.
00:13Good afternoon.
00:13How are you?
00:15Well, gentlemen, I'm doing great, and I know both you guys.
00:18Brian, as a Philly guy, I say thank you very much for your amazing service.
00:23And Steve, you're a gaucho, right?
00:26I am.
00:26A.J. Mitchell has been playing well.
00:28There you go.
00:29How about that?
00:30Yes, indeed.
00:32Yes.
00:33Good stuff, man.
00:34Harvard of the West paid my fees.
00:36I got my B's.
00:37A GPA of 3.0001.
00:39Got your B's.
00:40Yeah, one little B+.
00:41Just good enough.
00:43I think if I'd fallen below three, my parents would have pulled funding like the Live Tour.
00:48It would have been ugly.
00:49So I had to keep it above a three.
00:51Okay, let's talk.
00:52The parents' funding was much, much cleaner than those guys who lived.
00:55It was cleaner for you.
00:56Not as substantial, but it wasn't cheap.
00:58That's for sure.
00:59Okay, so let's talk to Bansta Peterson and how much of a gap there might be.
01:07Is DiBansta truly the consensus 1-1?
01:11And if so, why, Pete?
01:15Well, yes, I say yes.
01:17There's no question about it.
01:18I talked to a guy yesterday, called a lot of these games, a lot of Big 12.
01:22I got a call yesterday from a buddy of mine who I grew up with, but now he's in an
01:26NBA front
01:27office.
01:27And he called me and asked the same kind of question.
01:30And we were talking through it a little bit.
01:32And after I gave my opinion, this gentleman who was an NBA executive said, I think you
01:36would have to be on crack to take Darren Peterson over AJ DeBansta.
01:41So that's like from somebody who actually really lives it and breathes it.
01:45Now, from what I saw, boots on the ground.
01:49None of this is an indictment on Darren Peterson as a dude.
01:51It's an indictment on when he was playing in high school, there was a version of him
01:56that where you saw tremendous explosion.
01:59You saw him distribute the basketball very much so at an elite level.
02:04When he got to college, the injuries early, whether it was the creatine or whatever, you
02:10know, he did not play with the explosion.
02:13And also as a playmaker, like we had seen him earlier in his career in high school and
02:19in prep school.
02:20So a lot of people are hanging on to, okay, this has just been a blip.
02:24This situation in college at Kansas was he couldn't get his mind right.
02:29He wasn't healthy enough to play creatine played a part in it.
02:33But to me, this is again on Peterson before I get to AJ, it was extremely worrisome.
02:39Like I called the game where, and this was a game I was called for NBC, where he took himself
02:44out at the very beginning of the second half after scoring 21 in the first quarter.
02:50Um, or the first half, you could tell that was a mental thing.
02:53Like something was bothering him.
02:56And there's something between the years that I think is like, for lack of a better term,
03:00like a PTSD to his, you know, full body cramping or whatever the issue was with creatine.
03:06To me, that's an issue, right?
03:08Not only did he not play, but he has something going on mentally, uh, going into the season.
03:13And it makes me think about, you know, a Markel Fultz or a Ben Simmons.
03:17Like, I don't trust that on the other side.
03:19And what I saw from AJ to Bonsa opportunity call a couple of his games this year.
03:24First of all, he's a, he's always going to play.
03:26He's all business and people are, you know, the other night when we were watching the lottery
03:31and I can give some insight on this, like, Oh, he didn't smile when he found out Washington.
03:35And that's who the dude is.
03:37I, he, if you can find a picture of him with a huge smile, like you can find nine others
03:43of him with a scowl because that's who he is.
03:46Okay.
03:46And so that's not, that's not at all like a shot at him playing in DC.
03:50Why wouldn't you want to play in DC?
03:52It's a major market.
03:53It's an awesome city.
03:54So I think he would love to play there.
03:56And I think when you look at his meds, even yesterday, highest vertical at the draft combine,
04:01right?
04:02Like that is shows that not only does this guy have the grit as a competitor, right?
04:08And he led the country in scoring, but he also has the balance that NBA teams and NBA
04:14organizations look for.
04:15And that's what makes an amazing NBA player.
04:19I ask this question though.
04:20So I understand if you're the number one pick, you'd be happy to go anywhere, but the connection
04:26he has garnered with the BYU and Utah and the owner of the Utah Jazz.
04:31If that guy wants, likes him and wants him in Utah, that could be well worth it for the
04:38Washington Wizards, right?
04:40Absolutely.
04:41Because the Jazz have a ton of assets and that they have almost been building up to a
04:46moment like this.
04:48Whether it's like a Lori marketing or, or, or, or a Keontae George or Jaron Jackson Jr.
04:53They have a work, a work chest right now of assets that they could use to get AJ to bonds
04:59at, at, at number one, right?
05:01To, to flip those picks.
05:02That's a situation where then it's up to the Wizards because to your point, Brian, like
05:07I think that the Wizards can get a lot better by making this trade, you know, like Steve,
05:12you asked me about who was better one or two, but I think if you can make a trade where
05:16you can bring a bunch of assets, like proven commodity, that's the one thing about, you
05:20know, the last sure thing that I can, well, we got women, Yama, that was a sure thing.
05:25And then I think you'd have to go all the way back to LeBron as a sure thing.
05:29And maybe I'm missing somebody in between, but you get my point.
05:32These guys aren't that.
05:33I mean, they're going to be very good players.
05:35The top, I think the easiest job is the team picking fourth after the Grizz, right?
05:40Because you still are going to have somebody fall in your lap who is an amazing player.
05:45Like these four guys are, are, are elite, but you don't know them as proven commodities
05:50in the NBA as you do for maybe the guys you could get from the jazz, right?
05:55And then also you got your pick men.
05:57Do you want Caleb Wilson?
05:59Do you want Cam Boozer?
06:00Do you want Darren Peterson?
06:01And it's a whole nother choice, which is a pretty, a good, a good problem to have.
06:05All right.
06:06I got multiple things I want to punch your ticket on, but let me put the creatine with
06:11Peterson over to the side.
06:13Cause for those that don't know this story, I want to just lay it out for people, but let
06:16me get back to the whole, what would it take to climb off of the one, one?
06:21I asked this question to our guy, Ben Strober in the bullpen about, would you take my guy?
06:27I know.
06:27I said, Ben, would you take Utah's naked first next year?
06:32No protections for a climb down from one to two.
06:37And he was like, eh, he wasn't real enthused.
06:40And he said, well, maybe you could throw an ace Bailey.
06:42And I'm like, well, they already want to tug of war with ace Bailey.
06:44Who didn't want to go to Utah and pouted about it.
06:46And he had a pretty good rookie season and he would fit nicely with the Bansta.
06:50So I don't think they're going to give up him.
06:52I don't know if the wizards need bodies.
06:54I'd rather have picks.
06:56What do you think about a naked single number one next year to move down off?
07:02No, that's my initial reaction.
07:06No, because, uh, first of all, we don't know how, you know, the jazz will be right.
07:11Right.
07:11And then also the draft is so rich this year that I, I, I, I, I don't think you want
07:17to
07:17come off.
07:18All right.
07:18So the price is higher than that.
07:20Okay.
07:20So now, now put more on the, put more meat on the scale to make it palatable.
07:25What would the jazz need to add?
07:28I think they need to add, you know, one of those really good young players.
07:31Like, you know, you mentioned, well, we're not willing to part with ace Bailey.
07:34Well, I think you have to part with them.
07:36Okay.
07:36You know, I, I think, I think you got to make some tough decisions and I think you've got
07:40to make it appetizing for the wizards who are clearly, because the thing about it is
07:46if, if the jazz won AJ to Bansa, they want him bad.
07:50And here's what I mean by that.
07:51Like having called a bunch of games at BYU, Danny ages at every single game, right?
07:56Like, and, and to me, that's like, you almost become just a prisoner of the moment, right?
08:01You're a BYU guy.
08:03You watch this guy every time he's playing at home in Provo, you just fall deeper and
08:08deeper in love with them.
08:09And also his dad, AJ to Bansa's dad is awesome.
08:12You know, his dad was a cop in Boston at Boston university for 20 years.
08:16And then in the surrounding parts of Massachusetts or Boston after that.
08:21And his dad is the kind of guy, like you see him at a game and his dad knows that
08:25I'm
08:25an announcer calling his son's game.
08:26He'll shake my hand.
08:27Not because he's trying to get some kind of in road, because that's the right thing to
08:32do when you're standing with somebody.
08:33Um, and so I think that Danny loves that too, right?
08:37That his family is out there, you know, his mom's already out there.
08:40So if they could keep them there, I think he understands this is like a proven commodity
08:45in this market where we all know, and we saw it with Ace last year, uh, guys get skittish
08:52about playing in Utah.
08:53It's been happening since the jazz have had a, uh, an organization there.
08:57But my thing is the owner, he likes him.
09:01How much do you like him?
09:03Cause I think the wizards can come out this thing with the hall because of that likability
09:08because of the fact that he likes playing in Utah, what you said, most guys don't like
09:13to play up there.
09:14So he likes it.
09:16And the owner loves him.
09:17The wiz could come out, I think on top, you know, in theory, because depending on how bad
09:23they want them.
09:24The one thing he stated that I stick with, he's not coming out with the mindset of a, uh,
09:30a LeBron or, uh, uh, Wilma Yama.
09:35Okay.
09:36Well, yeah.
09:39No, go ahead, Steve.
09:40I was going to say, I'm, I'm now Pete venturing to websites.
09:44I've never been to before.
09:46Like, don't tell me that, you know, like literally, uh, this website that has future draft picks
09:52on it because I'm on the jazz is future draft picks, right?
09:57So they got their own next year.
09:58They also have one via the Lakers.
10:00It is protected though.
10:02One through four, they got nothing.
10:05I'm sorry.
10:06They got a Cleveland swap right first in 28.
10:11So they've got an interesting mix in the future.
10:14Like, I'm just assuming they won't give up on ace Bailey because that defeats the purpose
10:19of their tank to get Bailey.
10:22Now you got the bands to, so you're getting rid of half of that combo.
10:26I don't see it.
10:26So what of a future pick would you need then for the wizards to go?
10:30Okay.
10:31We'll do that deal.
10:33Well, I think it also is.
10:35I don't want to move off of the, the, the guys, the young players on the jazz's roster.
10:40Give me another guy you'd want.
10:42Who's the quote.
10:43Okay.
10:43Keontae, Keontae George.
10:45Okay.
10:45Who finished the season.
10:47It really feels like, like this is not a guy as, as Utah tanked.
10:51He actually really came on and you, you, you got Jaron Jackson jr.
10:56Late in the year, that guy can ball.
10:58Yeah.
10:59And I think, and, and not to be forgotten is, and I agree, like you've got to get a future
11:05draft pick, but you, you can't forget, you know, about the fact that you, we get this
11:10opportunity now to get another great player.
11:14Like you're deciding now between Darren Peterson and Cam Boozer and Caleb Wilson or whoever
11:20else might come into the fold, or maybe you want to, you know, I trade that pick who knows.
11:24Right.
11:24But you really have, it's not like, and that's why I said, Steve, I wouldn't trade it for
11:30a naked Utah pick next year because it's not this draft is so good.
11:36This draft is so good that you're in a great spot at two in this draft.
11:41All right.
11:41Let's talk creatine.
11:42According to Peterson in a recent interview, he said that high doses of creatine were a
11:49major factor in his persistent cramping issues this past year at Kansas.
11:54Not everyone is buying it though.
11:56According to one league insider, he said, none of this is ever going to explain why you sat
12:02on the bench in the second half of games, looking like you had no interest in trying
12:06to get back in the game.
12:07We've all seen what cramping looks like in basketball.
12:11And that usually when players cramp, they're with trainers doing things to try to get rid
12:16of it.
12:17We didn't see that out of Peterson.
12:19Is that a fair assessment?
12:22100%.
12:22And I can even go deeper on the creatine and, and Brian, I'm sure knows way more about
12:28this than I do, but you know, I went to the university of Richmond football player.
12:31I, I, I had a heart problem, so I never played, but they kept me on scholarship.
12:35So I was around the team all four years and we were idiots like cows guys are, and everybody's
12:40loading up on creatine.
12:42And we're going out to training camp in Virginia, you know, in the middle of August and everybody's
12:47cramping up.
12:48Right.
12:48And you have to know by now in 2026, but if you're going to take a lot of creatine, you
12:53got to hydrate a ton.
12:55That's just what it is.
12:56I was talking, I was talking to a buddy of mine who's a big time trainer now in Miami,
13:00a guy, this guy, Mark Magna, who was on that Richmond football team.
13:03And so I can't buy that as an excuse.
13:06Like you, you've got to be smarter than that.
13:08The only thing I can go back to, and this worries me too, guys, is the mental aspect.
13:14Like, okay, maybe the cramping happened once.
13:16And this is totally possible where he felt like, oh my gosh, I'm paralyzed.
13:21You know, the fear that shoots through somebody's body, um, is wild when something like that
13:26occurs and maybe he can't shake it.
13:28And if that's the case, I still don't love it because again, we're in an area where we're
13:33now where, and, and this is like kind of a reach, but not really like when I was a real
13:38little kid growing up, you know, cocaine was an issue for guys coming into the league, right?
13:42Like William Bedford playing for the Detroit Pistons out of Memphis state, we just disappeared.
13:47Chris Washburn, same thing.
13:49Of course, the land bias tragedy that nobody knows better than you guys in that area.
13:53And then you had the mental health now, which I have seen as a Philadelphia guy, take
13:58out two of my top picks, Ben Simmons and Markel Fultz.
14:02And we see it now.
14:04It's a very real thing.
14:05And I'm curious to know, and maybe like what you guys think about it, that is a real thing.
14:10Like, is that something that I don't know that you can just flip a switch and say, okay,
14:14now I'm ready to play in the NBA.
14:16I'm ready to be gritty again.
14:17Like, I don't know that that's something you can just turn off and on.
14:21I don't know if you could just flip a switch, but I can tell you when you, the creatine thing,
14:27the cramping and the major muscle pulls, all that stuff is factual.
14:32But when you cramp up like a full body cramp, scariest thing in the damn world.
14:37Really?
14:37What's that like?
14:38Yeah.
14:39I was in track running.
14:40I ran.
14:41I had to run.
14:42We had somebody get hurt.
14:43I had to run the third leg of a mile relay.
14:46And when I finished, I could feel stuff coming from my ankle on up.
14:50When I cramped up, I thought I was dying.
14:52Really?
14:52I'm talking about I had to lay in.
14:54Did you just fall to the ground?
14:55I went to the ground.
14:56They had me basically covered with ice all over the place.
14:59Damn.
15:00But then I have caught cramps in the ab area.
15:04When that locks up, dog, you are basically trying to, it scares the living hell out of you.
15:09You see God.
15:10Now, I see, I understand, like a lot of these guys that get these top-notch players, they let the
15:17guy do what he's been doing.
15:19In the NBA, they're not going to let him do what he's been doing.
15:22They're going to send specialists to figure it out.
15:25What you're doing ain't working.
15:27So maybe stop doing what you're doing.
15:28If he gets, I just think if he gets the proper medical help, he's fine.
15:33Because medically, you will be messed up mentally.
15:35So, Gary Parish on the Chris Vernon show said, Arizona's undefeated, ranked number one in the country.
15:41You're not on the injury report.
15:42Your coach thinks you're playing.
15:43And an hour before tip-off, you tell them, nah, you can't.
15:46Cramping.
15:47Creatine's got nothing to do with that.
15:49Flu-like symptoms.
15:49That made you think, that people think that you don't want to play against the number one team in the
15:53country.
15:54I mean, boom.
15:55People are going to think what they want, though.
15:56But see, that's a guy speaking at that, and they ain't play the game.
15:58Okay, okay.
15:59But seriously, though.
16:00I mean, I don't hear that.
16:01Petey, though, like, that take from Parish is not, I don't think that's entirely wrong at all.
16:08That's the perception that was put out.
16:11And I remember that.
16:12I called a BYU game right before or after that.
16:16And that still is a situation that is quite mysterious, right?
16:21Because he went through shoot-around.
16:23He wasn't feeling great.
16:24And then he, I think he left shoot-around.
16:27And I think that that was, if there was one time this year where there was sort of, like, a
16:33clash between Bill Self and the Darren Peterson camp, I think that was it.
16:37Yes.
16:37And I would hope that that's kind of an outlier because the kid's got amazing character.
16:41Like, and that's another thing, too.
16:42You heard guys at Kansas talk about how much they liked him.
16:46And that was real.
16:47Like, I saw a couple shoot-arounds where, like, you know, you guys know that you're kind of a fly
16:51on the wall as a broadcaster of the game.
16:53You're really the only people that are allowed in there outside of people in the basketball program.
16:57And they, everybody seems to get along great.
17:00Like, he did not have any issue with teammates that I saw.
17:04And, you know, blind goes through the year, right?
17:06You have, like, a fight in the locker room or whatever.
17:08Stuff gets contentious.
17:09But that's sports.
17:10Like, I don't think there was a deep resentment that any teammates had against him this year,
17:14which almost is favorable for Peterson, if you think about it, with all that stuff going on.
17:18Yeah, that's what I've heard of.
17:20But I think that's the one thing that kind of separates him.
17:22If he doesn't have that game, I think the looking at who's the best completely changes.
17:29But that one thing can affect him.
17:31But MJ was the third pick.
17:35And he's the best we've seen.
17:36I know.
17:37He could be the same thing.
17:38I know.
17:38Retired.
17:39Yeah, I agree on that, too.
17:40I was almost, I've got to do my research, but I want to look back at past drafts.
17:44Like, we get so, and obviously we are now because the Wiz have the number one pick,
17:48but we get so locked in on who's going number one.
17:50That's not, there's a lot of Michael Oliva candies walking around out there, unfortunately.
17:54Oh, yes.
17:55All right, Pete, as always, a pleasure.
17:57Thank you, my friend.
17:58And we will hopefully talk again soon.
18:01Hey, thanks for having me, guys.
18:02Hi, Pete.
18:03Appreciate you.
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