Two seasons ago, Jamine Peterson was dominating the Big East at Providence, averaging 19.6 points per game and 10.2 rebounds. But after being dismissed from the team for violating team rules, he found a new beginning with the New Mexico Thunderbirds of the NBA Development League. I caught up with the former college star to talk about the D-League, the NBA Draft, Marshon Brooks and dunking on Shaq.
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Dime: How was it playing with the New Mexico Thunderbirds last season?
Jamine Peterson: It was a good experience. I had a lot of guys on my team that played in the league, and I had three good NBA vets coaching me…Darvin Ham, Jeff McInnis and Sean Rooks.
Dime: How was the competition in the D-League compared to the Big East?
JP: Well, you was competing every day with your competition, you got a lot guys that, you know, got called up this year to the league. But it was like you play every day. You know in college, you play maybe, twice every week or something like that.
Dime: How was the adjustment from being a big-time Big East basketball player to a D-Leaguer?
JP: Basically, you know, I had to make a lot of adjustments. There’s definitely a difference between playing college basketball and professional basketball. It’s tougher, but at the same time it helps your maturity and your lifestyle.
Dime: What NBA teams have you worked out for so far and what kind of feedback are you getting?
JP: I worked out for the Nets, Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics and Sacramento, twice. And I’ve been getting pretty good feedback, you know, showing them what I’m capable of doing. Basically they just tell me what’s good, what I need to work on. Just basically keep on playing, working on my game.
Dime: Chad Ford of ESPN has you going 55th overall to the Celtics. How would you feel about playing for Doc Rivers in Boston?
JP: It would be real good to play in Boston. I like their style of play, their system, and I don’t mind playing for Doc Rivers. He was basically saying to me, ‘good job.’ I spoke to Danny Ainge too. You know, they show you a lot of love.
Dime: Your agent sent me a statistical analysis of you and a bunch of other similar players to you in this year’s draft. It concluded that you’re the third best small forward in this year’s class, even though most people put you at around No. 13. Is your agent’s take accurate?
JP: I would agree. I felt…uh…I felt kinda a little bit disrespected but, that’s really something that you can’t do nothing about it except let your game speak for itself.
Dime: You’re projected to go in the 2nd round. Where do you think you should be drafted?
JP: I think I’m talented enough, and I think I should be a late 1st round, early 2nd round pick.
Dime: What are you buying first with your NBA money?
JP: Um, basically my family’s first. Just making sure that family comes first before anything. I haven’t really thought about anything else. At least, not yet.
Dime: Can you take Marshon Brooks in a game of one-on-one?
JP: Yeah, I’ll beat him in one-on-one. We played a lot, every day for a while. Basically we’d both do good but we’d compete.
Dime: So who would win more?
JP: I did (laughs).
Dime: You’re obviously known for being a ferocious dunker and an explosive finisher. If there were anybody in the NBA you could dunk on, who would it be?
JP: Um, I’ve always wanted to try to dunk on Shaq. But he’s retired. And he’d probably foul me. But, I always want to dunk on a big guy, you know, like a Yao Ming. I don’t care who down there, it doesn’t matter to me.
Dime: Have you spoken to any NBA players about your future career? What have they been saying to you?
JP: Yeah, Sharone Wright, Corey Maggette. Basically they said just compete, give your best every day in practice. Be the last one to leave, first one in the gym.
Dime: What do you like to do off the court?
JP: I like to play video games, I like to play handball. I’m not a big fan of 2K11, but I like Madden. When we on the road [with the Thunderbirds], we always playing against each other, and we always competing with video games. It’ll be Black Ops, hockey, any type of video game.
What do you think? Is Peterson a steal in this draft?
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