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Player Dereck Lively

He's so awesome right now. He's become the guy on this year's team where you just feel like you're watching a pro, which is stunning, considering. I always thought the constantly-repeated-by-Bilas Mark narrative of "he was so raw and not ready as a freshman, but look at his development!" was kind of silly, given that Mark unexpectedly earned a starting spot in game one and overall looked pretty good in his limited minutes. Lively really is night and day, though.

He seems like he's really coachable. Other than the obvious demeanor and motor stuff, he just plays like someone who's been coached well now. My favorite thing he does is go into a swarm of bodies jumping at a rebound and emerge, holding the ball 11 feet in the air with his arms straight, as he takes one or two enormous strides into a pivot, at which point he can easily outlet because each step of his giraffe legs covers like 10 feet. That and the addition of the quick-pass to the corner off of a roll, the improvement in staying vertical and timing his jumps, the lack of any bad shots basically ever, and how quickly and reliably he turns to kick out to shooters after getting offensive rebounds all stand out as signs of a very coachable and disciplined player who will probably wind up as a pretty nice pro asset.
 
I think Lively's better defensively than Mark. He may be our best ever defensive freshman, actually. Mark did have a much lower foul rate, but he also sold out for the block too often. And obviously, Mark was a better offensive player.

Of course, this isn't really a fair comparison since Scheyer's defensive schemes are better than K's.
 
I thought there was no way we would replace Mark’s defense but I agree Lively is better. Mark couldn’t handle pick and rolls the way Lively can (maybe that’s Scheyer’s coaching to your point). Also Amile is just the best, deserves a ton of credit here.
 
Shamit Dua is a Pelicans writer/podcaster. He's obsessed with big men for some reason. He probably wants New Orleans to draft him.
 
If he plays another game at this level and Duke shuts down UT, he's going to be in the lottery. When the entire NBA is focused on 3's and layups, being able to shut down the layups is huge.
 
That was a great video. Also, his mother must be 6'3" at least.
 
I've been most impressed with his timing on blocks. He's got incredible defensive instincts. You don't see him jumping around searching for blocks or biting on every single shot fake. He only seems to go for blocks when he actually feels like he's going to block it rather than jumping around like a guy on a pogo stick hoping to fluke into a block. I said it last night that for a perimeter oriented team in the NBA, he's basically the perfect center. He finishes dunks when he gets the chance but doesn't force shots and seems content to grab rebounds and play amazing defense.
 
How high would Walker Kessler go if he were in this draft and you knew his rookie season would play out the same?

Lively's not as good a blocker or DREB% (based on college numbers), but I think his defense must be as good considering on how well he positions himself and rarely over-extends/chases, and I think Lively's elite perimeter defense would make him a rare rim protecting big who you can't play off the floor in the playoffs.
 
Kessler got played off the floor in the NCAA Tournament. I don't see that happening to Lively.
 
I would consider him too 10 talent in the draft at this point, and depending on how he does the rest of the tournament I might go top 5.
 
LastHearth said:
If he plays another game at this level and Duke shuts down UT, he's going to be in the lottery. When the entire NBA is focused on 3's and layups, being able to shut down the layups is huge.
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Plus, I think there's plenty of reason to believe that Lively will eventually develop a jumper. At the very least, scouts have to see something to work with there.
 
Also, it's not so much that he can shut down layups. It's that he can do that WHILE GUARDING SPACE. Lots of tall people can stand at the rim and block layups. It's his ability to also handle getting switched onto guards and pick-and-pops from shooting big men, etc.
 
I absolutely think there’s a lot of untapped potential with his jumper and offense in general. Maybe it’s just me, but he does seem to lack touch close to the basket if it’s not a dunk, but I’m not sure how much that will matter at the next level if he can become a respectable corner jump shooter, which I think he will be in time.
 
I think bulking up a bit could help his non-dunk finishing as well. Although as I've said before, I agree its not a huge concern given the role he'll likely play in the league. Developing a jump shot would be nice but there's a Nic Claxton/Rob Williams archetype in the league today that he can slide into without having to massively improve at anything.
 
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