USC Basketball's Drew Peterson tells how much weight he gained and why

USC Basketball Guard Drew Peterson is apparently going to officially erase the 'G' before his name. It is actually going to begin to say 'G/F' all of the time, instead of just occasionally. According to Shotgun Spratling of USC's 247Sports publication, Peterson said that he will be playing both guard and both forward positions this year:

It makes sense as to why he also told Shotgun Spratling that he gained nine to 10 pounds in the offseason. The reason he gained that weight, is very clearly so that he can play in and master his new role as more of a position-less player at either of the guard spots, or either of the forward spots.

At 6-9, his height has never been a problem. What he could use physically, however, is some more muscle to his frame. Gaining more weight gives him that chance to really be able to develop a post-game, and improve in his scoring game when closer to the basket. Every NBA front office knows he can shoot. He connected on 46.7% of his field goals last year, and 41.2% of his threes.

If he could gain size, though, he's even a bigger mismatch at his position. He's also now more versatile of an offensive player with these extra nine to 10 pounds. He has the type of body today's NBA wants--a body that caters to a position-less scorer who also has the size to develop into a defensive player who can guard most positions on the floor.

Of course, USC Basketball's two-guard focus was going to have an impact on how Drew Peterson approached his offseason.

If Drew Peterson really wanted to maximize his ability in an on-ball role, as well as a scorer off the ball for USC Basketball, he'd need to add more down-low physicality to his game. He'd still be a First-Team All-PAC 12 selection as a traditional combo guard, as he proved last year, but he now can contend for PAC-12 Player of the Year.

Peterson already grabbed 6.2 rebounds last year. It's only going to get better now that he's bigger, and his offense of course is going to be much more multi-dimensional than it already was. And look--that's massive.

As great as Peterson was last year, there were nine games where Peterson shot lower than 40% from the field. Adding more avenues to scoring in his game prevents these off nights with his jumper from taking their toll on the team. He'll now have other ways to score and take higher percentage looks around the rim.

Peterson clearly wants to play in the league, and he clearly also knows not only what's best for him but what's best for the team. To see him put it into action and gain the weight that he did just goes to show that he understands how important he and his versatility will be for the Trojans this year.