Has anyone done enough homework on Dereck Lively? Is his defense going to translate as quickly as Evan Mobley at the NBA level?
I’d love to know what Schmitz thinks of him and if Lively would be the best pick at #23.
Lively would be a great long-term piece backing up Nurk for cheap. He’d get enough minutes to develop since Nurk doesn’t play 30+ minutes. Nurk/Lively/Eubanks is no worse than Nurk/Eubanks, with potential to be a lot better. I think Eubanks is a good third string C.
Sorry for the long winded answer but have been watching a ton of Lively and wanted to get all my thoughts out there on him.
Mobley he's not, but really love his defensive projection. He doesn't have the movement skills of Mobley, but he still moves really well his size and I think he's a better pure rim protector with better strength and physicality. Mobley has settled into more of that roaming, helpside PF that switches a good bit. Lively is more of your traditional drop/anchor 5 man.
Has the length and strength to play fairly deep in drop, but also think he's a good enough mover with good twitch and activity to play closer to the level of the screen. Pretty advanced already navigating those cat and mouse situations. Good using his hands to be disruptive and break up the rhythm of the ball handler and moves and jumps pretty well out of a backpedal.
He's getting a lot of Gafford comps but Lively is already in another stratosphere in terms of pnr technique. Gafford is too often hunched over with his hands at his side and poor at playing 2. Next to no hand activity, roller routinely gets too far behind him and late to react to it to break up the lob. Lively, at least in my viewings is already at an above average NBA level at these things.
Widely reported as one of the best and loudest communicators on Dukes team. Brian Geisinger who has a great Charlotte Hornet podcast (Buzz Beat) is also a credentialed ACC journalist and has seen that firsthand multiple times(ACC media sits courtside at Cameron). Also seems to have good comradery with his teammates both on the floor and in huddles. It shows up on film too. Impressive quality when you consider his role offensively. Was happy to do the dirty work and pick up the scraps he got on offense. I guess it was something the Duke staff had to coach out of Mark Williams, but not the case at all with Lively.
Really good screener already with is rare for young bigs. Not afraid to lay the wood and has a lot vet craft already too as you'll see him get a little wider that legal with his feet with a little shoulder lean before getting into his roll. Good awareness and quickness flipping/ changing angles on the screen. Will back up and play in the pocket if a team is trying keep pnr's on the side.
Very limited offensively outside of obvious catch and finishes. Gather+finish sequence looks a little rough at times. Doesn't seem to have the surest hands. Doesn't outright drop a lot of passes, but seems to struggle getting a clean catch and can be a little slow getting his body and feet organized to go up and finish. Miniscule usage. His teammates didn't seem to trust him enough to pass him the ball unless he was wide open.
Passing looks good for his role. Especially if he develops into a guy that can finish off a dribble or two and draw a bit more respect from the defense. Right now, if say he catches a pass on a short roll where he's 10-15 feet from the rim, it's nearly an auto pass decision for him. Made a lot of clean and quick decisions, especially later in the year, but you'd like to see him be able to make a move a finish as he matures so those passing windows get bigger and lead to more wide open shots.
But overall, I really like his value if you can get him outside of the lottery. His outcomes are too narrow for me as a limited on offense strict 5 to have him much higher than that. As it goes for all interior 5's at this point, if you aren't starting quality...it gets tough quick to even be in an NBA rotation, at least on NBA teams serious about winning.
But I like his chances to get there and think he's physically ready and good enough at the things he'll be expected to do to bring value early.
