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Another tough one. We needed Lively against this team and he produced. Grant Williams was great late. I will go with Jaden Hardy though. He helped us climb the mountain and that poster on Nick Richards cemented it

Nice to have more than 1-2 options. That's already an improvement compared to last season. Hardy's scoring run changed the momentum. Williams shooting closed it out. Lively once again stuffed the boxscore and had two big late game plays (block + putback).
As crazy as it sounds I am already expecting this kind of performance from Lively. Williams looked just as slow as the rest of the guys in the first half. That leaves Hardy.

Well...I had 3 possibilities for my Dirkie. Williams, Kyrie, and Lively. I'm going with Lively...mostly on the strength of the rebounds. But there is a lot of room for improvement for Lively once he learns how to box out, protect the ball, body position, etc. I think Lively is going to be good...

Jayden Hardy is an honorable mention...

I'm with Kyrie.
The game changed when he took over.
And he didn't took over with scoring.
That's impressive.

I was happiest about Kyrie’s ability to affect the game despite continuing to struggle with his shot. I’ll be happier when he goes off on somebody. But I know it’s coming.

I was also tickled with the two new guys who scored 18 and 15, respectively, on 9 shots each. Unreal. I want to vote Nico GM of the year after every game this season.

I was most surprised by the huge impact Hardy had at the end of the 3rd and early 4th quarter. Difference maker. Dirkie worthy.

https://twitter.com/All_Things_Mavs/stat...5572535681
Hardy poster

(11-05-2023, 10:16 PM)ballsrchr Wrote: [ -> ]I'm going with Lively...mostly on the strength of the rebounds.  But there is a lot of room for improvement for Lively once he learns how to box out, protect the ball, body position, etc.  I think Lively is going to be good...

What I like about Lively is he gets to touch the ball in a contested rebound play. The downside is -- he doesn't actually get possession of the ball. Probably should have boxed out more, should have a tight grip on the ball, but if the ball bounces within his vicinity, there's a really good chance he'd get it. A sharp contrast to DP who's forte is boxing out, gets into position, but still couldn't get a rebound in his area. DP did well this game though. Lively needs to learn from DP basically on how to make himself available. DP gets to spaces to score easy.

I voted for Irving, but it’s going to get harder and harder not to just give all of these to Lively pretty soon.

There were people in this community who said that he was not going to play meaningful minutes for three seasons. Three seasons.

Not only is he playing every single game, but my dude is CLOSING games. Close games. And, he’s pretty frequently one of the reasons they are winning those close games. A Mavericks rookie is doing that.

Oh, what a time to be alive.

Voted Lively - he was outmuscled a bit by Mark Williams, thats why its important for him to become stronger, which will happen naturally once his body matures and his frame fills out
and yeah, give Grant Williams the Jerry West clutch award already

(11-05-2023, 10:46 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: [ -> ]Not only is he playing every single game, but my dude is CLOSING games. 

I think a big part of it is that his maturity and composure is off the charts for a 19 year old. Dude's a pro and does not make too many mental mistakes. 

Brandon Miller's 5 second violation comes to mind.

The game was won when Kyrie led the 3rd quarter comeback with some nifty passing and scoring. But several guys were deserving tonight. No argument from me about whoever takes the vote.

(11-05-2023, 10:39 PM)Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo Wrote: [ -> ]What I like about Lively is he gets to touch the ball in a contested rebound play. The downside is -- he doesn't actually get possession of the ball. Probably should have boxed out more, should have a tight grip on the ball, but if the ball bounces within his vicinity, there's a really good chance he'd get it. A sharp contrast to DP who's forte is boxing out, gets into position, but still couldn't get a rebound in his area. DP did well this game though. Lively needs to learn from DP basically on how to make himself available. DP gets to spaces to score easy.

I actually didn't vote for Lively because he missed so many rebound opportunities in this one, which is crazy considering he still pulled down 14 boards. But he should have had 20+ here

Hardy swung the momentum for us. We were having a really bad night from 3 and he really got us going by attacking the rim. Got a bunch of free throws and of course that dunk

Kyrie since he came here is 50 for 50 4th quarter free throws. Dirk used to shoot 95% in the 4th and that proved very nice around here. Actually I am impressed with Kyrie’s overall 4th quarter game. I’m rewarding him with my vote tonight with multiple legitimate candidates.

We may need a new voting option: 3 or more truly worthy candidates tonight just to see how many of those this team can get.

https://twitter.com/KT_3410/status/1721374876382921000

Lively's incredible block in the 4th.

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https://twitter.com/MavsHighlights/statu...4978309381

followed by a thunderous oop

https://twitter.com/dallasmavs/status/17...1527603290

Grant doing Grantman things

(11-05-2023, 10:46 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: [ -> ]I voted for Irving, but it’s going to get harder and harder not to just give all of these to Lively pretty soon.

There were people in this community who said that he was not going to play meaningful minutes for three seasons. Three seasons.

Not only is he playing every single game, but my dude is CLOSING games. Close games. And, he’s pretty frequently one of the reasons they are winning those close games. A Mavericks rookie is doing that.

Oh, what a time to be alive.

He’s dealt with a lot of personal adversity at a young age. Some people just fold into victimhood in that situation. He seems to have thrived.

I wonder what Derrick Lively's draft stock would have looked like if he went to the G League Ignite instead of Duke. Somewhere he could show off how his skill set fits into the league instead of being stuck in a college system with a high usage post player next to him.

(11-06-2023, 09:52 AM)StrandedOnBeauboisHill Wrote: [ -> ]I wonder what Derrick Lively's draft stock would have looked like if he went to the G League Ignite instead of Duke.  Somewhere he could show off how his skill set fits into the league instead of being stuck in a college system with a high usage post player next to him.

Its interesting the similarities between Lively and Hardy.  Both were top recruits out of high school and then spent a year in a situation that depressed their value.  If Hardy had gone to Duke and Lively had gone to G league they probably both would have been drafted higher and we wouldn't have either.

(11-06-2023, 09:52 AM)StrandedOnBeauboisHill Wrote: [ -> ]I wonder what Derrick Lively's draft stock would have looked like if he went to the G League Ignite instead of Duke.  Somewhere he could show off how his skill set fits into the league instead of being stuck in a college system with a high usage post player next to him.

Hard to say if he would have been able to show his stuff on the Ignite properly or not, Scoot is still pretty raw as a playmaker and wouldn't have helped spread the floor for him. He definitely would have gone higher if he went to a P & R school instead of Duke, though