Dereck Lively Update - Better Than Advertised?

The former Duke big man had a great rookie season and the encore could be scintillating as well.

Former Duke Blue Devil Dereck Lively wasn’t exactly an unknown heading into the 2023 NBA Draft, but he wasn’t seen as a home run pick either.

After his workouts impressed though he began to move up the draft and was ultimately taken by the Dallas Mavericks with the #12 pick.

We started to hear rumblings about how well he was doing quite early and during the season the buzz was proven correct. Lively shot 74.7 percent for the season and made the All-Rookie team.

They haven’t really fully seen what a superb shot blocker he is, though he averaged 1.4 per game, and they also haven’t really seen his three point shooting - he only took two during the regular season and missed both - but he did hit one during the postseason.

He’s capable of a lot more blocks and while he didn't take a lot of threes while he was at Duke, he is fully capable doing it. One of the best things about him as a Blue Devil was that his focus was on winning. If Jon Scheyer had asked him to take threes, he would have, but that wasn’t how he could best help.

Dallas learned that about Lively last season: the guy is a winner. Watching how he develops this year is going to be a blast for Mavericks fans. For other fan bases?

Not so much.