BYU star AJ Dybantsa packs an advanced offensive game with a high level of maturity and few flaws to dissect.<\/p>\n
Kansas standout Darryn Peterson may potentially become the better player, but his one college season was littered with concerns and even fewer explanations.<\/p>\n
Dybantsa and Peterson will likely be the first two names called — though Duke’s Cameron Boozer could sneak in — when the two-day NBA draft begins Tuesday night in New York.<\/p>\n
Barring a trade, the Washington Wizards will introduce the No. 1 overall pick, followed by the Utah Jazz, Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls.<\/p>\n
This marks the third time Washington has owned the top pick. The Wizards selected Kwame Brown in 2001 and John Wall in 2010.<\/p>\n
Washington would prefer to make a Wall-like pick (a five-time All-Star) this time around.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-9 Dybantsa led the nation in scoring at 25.5 points per game in his one college campaign and seems destined to come right in and make a huge impact.<\/p>\n
Dybantsa visited with both the Wizards and Jazz and said he didn’t work out for either team. Utah already knows him well due to Dybantsa playing right down I-15 in Provo.<\/p>\n
“They take me to the facility, take me to dinner, talk,” Dybantsa told reporters of his visits. “I don’t gotta work out. They know what I can do.”<\/p>\n
Peterson’s chances to go No. 1 overall may have taken a hit with Washington’s decision to retain veteran point guard Trae Young on a four-year deal.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-5 Peterson expressed that he wants to join Danny Manning (1988) and Andrew Wiggins (2014) as Kansas players to go first overall.<\/p>\n
He visited with the Wizards but declined to visit the Jazz or any other team.<\/p>\n
Peterson averaged 20.2 points last season but missed 11 of the Jayhawks’ 35 games and left early in others due to apparent injuries, including cramping.<\/p>\n
That leaves his durability and reliability under scrutiny since NBA seasons are more than twice as long as college campaigns.<\/p>\n
“I did everything I could to be out there, and when I could, I was out there,” Peterson told NBA TV. “I just want to learn from it. I faced adversity for probably the first time I’d say on the court ever in my life. It’s something I know I can handle.”<\/p>\n
Both the Wizards and Jazz have reportedly done deep dives on Boozer, a forward who averaged 22.5 points and 10.2 rebounds last season for the Blue Devils.<\/p>\n
One note to consider is that Boozer’s dad, Carlos, was a former star for Utah and now works in the team’s front office. The focus of his duties is evaluating NBA draft prospects.<\/p>\n
So could Utah be looking at Cameron Boozer as a possible No. 2 pick if the Wizards take Dybantsa? Regardless, it could be interesting if Utah ends up having to choose between Peterson and Boozer.<\/p>\n
Still, Carlos Boozer said the family will watch and see how things shake out.<\/p>\n
“Cam is so excited,” Carlos Boozer told NBA.com. “He’s not nervous at all. He’s worked his butt off for this moment and this is a dream he’s had since he was four years old, and it will be realized on Tuesday as he starts his NBA journey.”<\/p>\n
North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson (19.8 points, 9.4 rebounds per game) is expected to go fourth overall before the draft briefly turns into a guard-fest.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Clippers own the fifth pick and can choose from Keaton Wagler (Illinois), Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas), Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville), Kingston Flemings (Houston) and Brayden Burries (Arizona).<\/p>\n
Among the candidates to be chosen among the top 15 are three national champion Michigan frontcourt players: Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr. Tennessee’s Nate Ament and Washington’s Hannes Steinbach are also part of that mix.<\/p>\n
Karim Lopez of Mexico is the top international prospect. The forward for the New Zealand Breakers is projected to be selected in the middle of the first round.<\/p>\n
The Bulls (two firsts, two seconds) and San Antonio Spurs (one first, three seconds) have a league-high four draft picks. The Indiana Pacers and Portland Trail Blazers have no picks in the 60-player draft.<\/p>\n
The NBA champion New York Knicks are slated for one first-round pick (No. 24) and two second-round selections (No. 31, No. 55).<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BYU star AJ Dybantsa packs an advanced offensive game with a high level of maturity and few flaws…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,2695,7,17047,2766,329,17641,5962,177,6,190,678,207,3817,427,468],"class_list":["post-768140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-76ers","tag-76ers","tag-aj-dybantsa","tag-basketball","tag-cameron-boozer","tag-carlos-boozer","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-darryn-peterson","tag-kwame-brown","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-nba-tv","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia76ers","tag-utah-jazz","tag-washington-wizards"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116797452044916894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}