Even as Darryn Peterson says he is set on being a listener, a learner and a leader as the Jazz’s shiny new draft pick and perhaps the team’s most talented player, there are questions about how realistic all those intentions are.

Can a 19-year-old — a fresh-faced, bushy-tailed, snot-nosed rookie — jump on a boat with Jaren Jackson and Lauri Markkanen and Keyonte George already aboard and proceed to captain it in a manner that will pilot the thing, without irritating all hands, to a safe harbor in the playoffs? A wise man once said, after all, “A boat divided against itself cannot float.”

Or something like that.

Not every youngster, no matter how talented, can command or even try to command the respect of veteran teammates, can become an undeniable force on the court and in the locker room, unifying and funneling men who might vary in age by 10 or 15 years in proper competition.

I mean, how often does a rookie like Magic Johnson or Tim Duncan come along, well suited to adjusting personally on the fly to being a professional and making individual teammates and his team as a whole better?

Magic arrived with the Lakers in 1979-80 and lived up to his nickname. Not only did the 20-year-old guide L.A. to a championship, he did so in remarkable fashion. When the man the team called “Cap’n” — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — was unable to play in Game 6 of the Finals that season due to an ankle injury, Johnson, normally a point guard, agreed to play center. He scored 42 points, hauled 15 boards, dished seven assists, enabling his team to clinch the title.

That had nothing to do with arrogance. It was the definition of leadership. Johnson was and remains the only rookie ever to win a Finals MVP award.

Moreover, during that first regular season, he averaged 18 points, nearly eight rebounds and just more than seven assists, and he started every game he played in — 77 of them.

If Peterson can approximate anything close to that, he’ll be a bona fide Jazz boss.

When Duncan joined the Spurs as the top pick in 1997-98, he jetted forward by averaging 21 points, 12 rebounds and just shy of three blocks. He was a legitimate defensive player of the year candidate. San Antonio improved that season from the previous one by a total of 36 extra wins. Hello, Big Fundamental.

Demonstrating that kind of presence, that kind of effectiveness and stewardship is extraordinary.

When Gordon Hayward was drafted by the Jazz with the ninth overall pick in 2010, he showed signs of decent play, but he struggled to ascend as a team leader, what with Deron Williams and other vets on that team. In fact, during one game early in Hayward’s initial season, Williams got angry at the rook, infamously and disgustedly chucking a ball at him straight in the middle of a game.

Asked later about stepping up in a leadership role, Hayward said it would take time for him to do so.

It’s a tricky deal as an NBA rookie, attempting to roll in and put a stamp on games without annoying others, figuring out when it’s appropriate to take over a game, when it’s best to facilitate others, when to be vocal and when to keep quiet.

Peterson is naturally more of the silent type. That can work, but at some point, at some level, a team leader needs to unabashedly step up and step out. It’s difficult, like climbing a wall leaning toward him. It’s made easier if he’s putting up selfless effort and helpful numbers in practice and in games in a way that’s hard to miss. Nobody wants a player, young or old, to be barking at teammates when he himself is something of a dog.

A more recent example of a rookie leader is Cooper Flagg, who came to the Mavericks before last season and went on to lead the team in scoring and rebounding, in assists and steals, although the Mavs only won 26 games. And Victor Wembanyama, drafted in 2023 by San Antonio and going on to become, well, Wembanyama. Enough said.

What will Peterson become in his first go-round with the Jazz? Nobody knows. An authentic frontman? Nobody’s sure. But the remarkably talented guard says he’s confident that he can be a primary scorer and playmaker at the offensive end and a stopper on defense. If he focuses on doing that, setting an example of diligence and consistency and teamwork, as well as making himself available to play and play hard, night in, night out, a leader’s mantle will descend upon him.

It’s John Wooden who is said to have said: “A player who makes a team great is better than a great player.”

It’s rare for any rookie to do that.

If Peterson is uncommon in that way, even if he stumbles at times, his rookie intentions will be realized, as Jazz veterans, one and all, gladly line up beside him.