標籤: teague

With Kansas being eliminated in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament over the weekend, the focus has now turned to the NBA Draft for star freshman Darrin Peterson. Peterson is not expected to be a top-two pick in the upcoming draft, but former NBA player Jeff Teague believes Peterson’s hype is not what it seems.

During a recent episode of the ‘Club 52 Podcast,’ Jeff Teague voiced his opinion that Darrin Peterson is no better than Portland Trail Blazers rookie Caleb Love, an opinion that will definitely turn many heads.

“It’s no disrespect, and I think Darrin Peterson is a great player. I think he’s cool. But I think I could get another two-guard, it’s no disrespect, but Caleb Love can give me the same as Darrin Peterson,” Teague said. “That’s not the point, Darrin Peterson can get you 25 per game, but Caleb Love can give me 15-16.”

Teague further stated that he was not convinced there was a better NBA draft prospect than someone like Darrin Peterson, Benedict Mathurin. And before that, Teague also suggested he would draft Duke’s Cameron Boozer in place of Peterson.

Teague is right to say that Caleb Love has had an incredible rookie season with the Blazers after going undrafted and signing a two-way contract. Love has appeared in 45 games as a rookie, including one start, averaging a little over 22 minutes per game. He averaged 11.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists with splits of 39 percent shooting from the field, 32.1 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 73.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Love projects to reach his NBA ceiling as a strong scoring guard off a team’s bench, while draft experts view Peterson as a franchise cornerstone type of player. Only time will tell how Peterson performs in the NBA, though.

NBA时代之间的争论似乎不会很快结束。从球迷、媒体到球员本身，每个人都炮制出了为什么一个时代比另一个时代更好的理由。前 NBA 球员杰夫·蒂格是最近介入这场争论的声音之一，他引用丹佛掘金队球星尼古拉·约基奇作为波士顿凯尔特人队传奇人物拉里·伯德这样的人在今天的比赛中没有问题的主要原因。

在 Club 520 播客最近一集中，杰夫·蒂格表示，他相信，由于人们普遍认为尼古拉·约基奇和洛杉矶湖人队球星卢卡·东契奇的运动能力不强，拉里·伯德将像他效力凯尔特人队时一样具有统治力。

“有时我经常看老年人打球，我会想，‘他不擅长运动，他不是这样的。’”但当我看约基奇时，就好像他在四处走动，他只是让一切看起来如此简单，”蒂格说。 “如果拉里·伯德现在上场，卢卡和约基奇就只是走来走去。拉里·伯德场均得分会是 30、10 和 8。”

蒂格还进一步澄清了他的“走来走去”言论，他的意思是约基奇和东契奇并不真正依赖运动能力来表现出色，他们使用的是技巧。

无论如何，伯德已经被认为是有史以来最伟大的球员之一。在伤病开始影响他的职业生涯之前，他在 NBA 效力了 13 年，全部效力于凯尔特人队。他帮助凯尔特人队三夺 NBA 总冠军，赢得三项 MVP 奖项，成为 1979-80 年度最佳新秀，并在除一个赛季外的所有赛季中入选全明星。

他职业生涯场均得到24.3分、10.0个篮板、6.3次助攻和1.7次抢断，投篮命中率为49.6%，三分球命中率为37.6%，罚球命中率为88.6%。

It appears that the 2025-26 NBA Rookie of the Year battle is a race between the two horses of Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg and Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Nueppel.

But for former NBA guard Jeff Teague, it’s already been decided.

Watching Knuppel highlight highlights in the Hornets’ 131-99 win against the Chicago Bulls on the road on Tuesday, Teague said that “if he [Knueppel] Not Rookie of the Year, he was robbed. They [are] actually winning the game, that [is] Average 20 marks.”

In that game against the Bulls, Knueppel scored 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field with three 3-pointers, while hitting all four of his attempts from the free-throw line in 23 minutes of action.

Knueppel has certainly attracted more attention among rookies with his play recently, and especially with Flagg sidelined with a foot injury that has kept him from playing since the NBA All-Star break.

Cooper Flagg himself hasn’t been too shaky in his first season in the league, as the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft has been putting up big numbers for the Mavericks when healthy. However, his former Duke Blue Devils teammates are giving him a run for his money in the ROY race.

In fact, Knueppel, the fourth overall pick in 2025, leads all newcomers entering Wednesday with 2.4 VORP (value over replacement player), while Flagg is second with 1.4.

Knueppel also leads all first-year players in points and win shares. And for what it’s worth, he’s 1-0 against Flagg this season, as the Hornets beat Dallas on Jan. 29, in a game best remembered for an incredible duel between the two former Duke teammates, in which Knueppel scored 34 points and Cooper Flagg added 49.

Still, there’s plenty of basketball left to play this season to make this compelling Rookie of the Year race even more interesting.