Player Dereck Lively

[childress22]

It is going to be heartbreaking to see a team with the two best rebounding big men in the class, a freakishly athletic rebounding four and the best rebounding wing to suck at rebounding next year. It will take Lively 5-6 games to notch 25 caroms at Duke.

Lively's a pretty elite rebounder (against HS comp) but is any of the rest of the stuff true? Is Mark Mitchell "freakishly athletic?" I can't even imagine who the best-rebounding wing would be.

 

[rome8180]

Whitehead

 

[deeyoukayeee]

Mitchell looks like a fucking animal when I've seen him play. IMO, a great small-ball five.

I'll admit, I might have lapsed into hyperbole to make a point. Won't happen again.

 

[childress22]

I'm just going to assume that a roster where the entire frontcourt is skinny freshmen and maybe an average-build freshman in Filipowski will get beaten on the glass more often than not, and that at least one of our guys will get broken in two by a senior Sydney Curry when we play Louisville. Then there's at least no disappointment.

 

[bdotling]

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

He sounds smarter and more mature than I am right now at age 58. In retrospect, there’s no way Duke should’ve lost this recruit. I look forward to his Tweets about modeling his game after Evan Mobley and how Anthony Davis hurts his team by refusing to play center.

 

[rhfarmer]

TIL that SMTTEM is older than I.

 

[deepdarkblue]

I think he's rounding up to the next highest 58th.

 

[Slap the Floor]

I watched the first half of the McDonald's All-American Game Scrimmage on YouTube. I made YouTube clips of things I saw from Lively, Whitehead and Mitchell. Lively is extremely impressive. Lively is very fluid as an athlete at this stage, and he's already comfortable guarding guards on the perimeter and successfully engaging in multiple ball screen defenses. He sort of floats around the court, in a good way. He is extremely disruptive with his ability to challenge shots inside but to switch onto smaller players and stay in front of them with ease and contest their shots with his length. Offensively, he's going to grab a lot of offensive rebounds and dunks. He seems low usage. This is great. He also has a lot of potential as a FT shooter and pick & pop 3pt shooter. I like the form on his jumper and think it can translate similarly to Carter/Bagley/Carey.

Here is a clip I made of a Lively FT. It's very smooth and clearly a lot of time has been spent focusing on trying to develop it.

âï¸ Lively Free Throw

6 seconds · Clipped by MrCoolguy234 · Original video "McDonald's All American Boys Scrimmage: East vs West | 2022.3.27 | HS Game" by The Draftmatic

www.youtube.com

Here is a clip of Lively playing impressive perimeter D throughout an entire possession. The offense runs an early ball screen in transition, and Lively seamlessly switches it and stays throughout the entire possession, completely comfortable and competent guarding out there. He even stunts twice to help on a drives towards the end of clip, and his disruption played a big role in forcing a turnover.

âï¸ Lively perimeter D

27 seconds · Clipped by MrCoolguy234 · Original video "McDonald's All American Boys Scrimmage: East vs West | 2022.3.27 | HS Game" by The Draftmatic

www.youtube.com

This clip is Lively working on the perimeter. To my surprise, he's very comfortable on the perimeter. He had good footwork on the catch and was ready to shoot without hesitation. He didn't get onto the perimeter out of a pick & pop, he set an off-ball screen and just flowed right into this catch & shoot

âï¸ Lively PO

12 seconds · Clipped by MrCoolguy234 · Original video "McDonald's All American Boys Scrimmage: East vs West | 2022.3.27 | HS Game" by The Draftmatic

www.youtube.com

This clip Lively executes successful drop coverage. In this clip, which is a theme for him throughout the first half, he communicates very well in ball-screen coverage. On the drive after the ball screen, he rotates well and is vertical in forcing a contested shot around the rim.

âï¸ Lively BS D

17 seconds · Clipped by MrCoolguy234 · Original video "McDonald's All American Boys Scrimmage: East vs West | 2022.3.27 | HS Game" by The Draftmatic

www.youtube.com

Here is another clip of Lively executing successful ball screen defense, except this time it's a switch that is very smooth. His footwork and positioning is good. He's not too deep and buried in the paint causing a late show. He slides right off the back of the screener and his length from that position disrupts ideas of a shot. He impressively lowers his center of gravity to improve his lateral quickness and ability to guard the drive, and he just completely suffocates this drive into the paint.

âï¸ Lively BS switch

13 seconds · Clipped by MrCoolguy234 · Original video "McDonald's All American Boys Scrimmage: East vs West | 2022.3.27 | HS Game" by The Draftmatic

www.youtube.com

 

[rhfarmer]

Too bad K won't be around to break all of his good habits.

 

[SeanMayTriedToEatMe]

This thread was surprisingly buried.

 

[aiw]

 

[rome8180]

Impressed with some of his passing.

 

[rome8180]

He gets a brutal whistle though. Young can hammer the shit out of guys and not get a foul call.

 

[Pantone287]

Yeah Young got away with a real blatant one in the second half on the right block. Was pretty funny.

Lively needs to keep his fucking 8 foot long arms up, though. He brings them down basically every single time he contests a shot, which is inexcusable for someone that long. We've been spoiled by the last few years of Mark and (yes) Bolden, who were excellent at staying vertical. Carter as well.

 

[savedukebball]

Unplayable?

 

[rome8180]

Not even close to unplayable. You saw today exactly what he can be.

Still think he needs to complain a little bit more on some of these insanely soft foul calls. He just takes them in stride.

 

[rome8180]

I truly hate college reffing, btw. The things they focus on make no sense. And even within those areas of focus, there's zero consistency.

 

[rome8180]

Real positive strides for this guy over the last three games, in my opinion. Should he have been the #1 recruit? No, but at this point that's water under the bridge. I'm just looking for signs of growth and I've been seeing them lately. We don't win today without him.

 

[Pantone287]

I would absolutely love to get another year of him.

I think most of his issues stem from having his weight too far forward on defense. It means any contact on a drive or a shot is going to look like a foul - he's never just legally absorbing incidental contact. Should be fixable with coaching.