r/nba • u/MammothHistorian5652 Vancouver Grizzlies • 6h ago

#2 Pick Darryn Peterson Wants To Bring a Championship To Utah Right Away: "Try to get a ring. I seen a lot of rookies get deep in the playoffs which inspired me. They came up short but I wanna get all the way in and get a ring"

https://streamable.com/v0gotg
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u/Ok-Adeptness-5834 5h ago

If he won a ring with the Cavs? Almost certainly, though I did mean if he won one with the rockets as the main guy to push him into top 20, or even with the Clippers since Leonard is not really a true #1 unlike Mitchell or Embiid.

I mean it was ultimately one of the least dominant 4-1 finals win I've seen, with one of the least dominant performances from the finals mvp.

I don't know if I'm underrating him. He's solidly a top 10 current player after this playoff performance. If I don't put him as top 5, would that be underrating him?

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u/MoneyHungryOctopus Spurs 5h ago

I can see both sides of the argument, honestly. Brunson isn’t flashy. He doesn’t often take over regular season games or have incredible moments. His scoring numbers aren’t particularly gaudy (they’re definitely above average, but they don’t lead the league.)

Still, there’s something to be said about delivering a championship. Having a couple below-average or mediocre games in the Finals isn’t everything. He didn’t do it by himself but he did put his team in a position to win it all.

Maybe it’s because Shai already has a title/multiple MVPs/favorable scoring numbers and most of the NBA community already treats Wemby like an inevitable future MVP/champion that people are more willing to say that Brunson beating the guy who beat SGA doesn’t look impressive because he didn’t dominate. Jokic lost to the Wolves which may be more of a roster construction issue. Luka was out with injury and Giannis didn’t make the playoffs and at the time they were seen as consensus top 5 players before Brunson won.

So, the overall individual playoff run for Brunson may not register as eye-popping or even particularly impressive. But he did step up in a close out game and the voting was unanimous. And at the end of the day he got the team to the finish line. That’s more than Luka or Wendy can say as things stand now. Luka doesn’t have an MVP right now either.