TRADE: Mavs trade 10+Bertans to OKC for Dereck Lively II

[SleepingHero]

Pretty impactful 4 pt game

https://youtu.be/U1XvCldUqAw

I actually watched this game because I was/am such a non-believer in Lively, I want to give him a fair shot. 

First, wow. Lively's defensive impact was immense. In fact Oral Roberts literally didn't score the first 8 minutes with Lively on the court, and Lively was the main cause 6 out of 13 total possessions. He picked up guards, moved his feet, rebounded, was active all over the court. He made only 2 missteps on defense by my count and both of which amounted to just an open guy for half a second that Oral Roberts couldn't really take advantage of. 

Oral Roberts scored as soon as Lively went to the bench, and they scored directly off of a mistake caused by Lively's sub. Why did the coach remove Lively? Was he gassed? Those were the questions that ran through my mind because it made zero sense to remove the guy who in 8 minutes had 2 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks. 

Lively came in 3 mins later after Roberts put up 8 points and he continued his dominance. He had a possession where he blitzes the PnR and then somehow sprinted back below the basket to then block a layup attempt. After 14 mins in the game, he had 2 points, 8 rebounds 1 assist, and 3 blocks (but I've counted 4 at this point). After another couple of minutes of stifling defense, he got subbed out again! Why??? His replacement plays I kid you not 1 minute and 30 seconds before he makes a catastrophic defensive mistake which leads to an open bucket and guess what? Lively comes back in. 

The half then comes to a close and Lively has 4 points, 8 rebounds, 5 blocks and an assist in ~15 minutes of play. He was only scored on by my count twice, both of which were long threes where he contested super well. My mouth is agape at this defensive performance at this point.

2nd half is just more of the same. His defensive impact was so apparent all the commentators were praising him and actively pointing how the difference when he went off the court. Speaking of, as soon as he got subbed out for 6 minutes, Oral Roberts goes on an 11-0 run and gain momentum. Lively comes back in and order was restored. 

The good:

• His defense. It's almost understated how good it was. If this game was representative of what he did the entire year, this guy is prime Gobert ceiling type of defense. 
  
• He is very mobile. Highlights don't really do it justice. He can move his feet. He knows where to be. He's active as all hell
  
• He can box out very well when he tries. 
  
• His rim protection was just O.M.G.
  

The bad:

• Notice how in all of the "good" bullet points, its about his defense? Yeah because he actually has no offensive game. Zero. He never looked to score. I'd describe it almost Josh Green rookie year level of aversion at looking to score. It also didn't help that Duke ran practically zero plays for him. He was planted in the dunkers spot if he wasn't being used as a screener and he just waited for a pass off a drive. 58/78 of his shot attempts of the year were dunks. It was apparent thats how Duke used him.
  
• His screens left a little to be desired. He wasn't a bad screen setter, but he didn't make as much contact as I'd like to have hoped. 
  
• Did I mention he has no touch around the basket? 
  

Anyways, it's just one game. But I see why the Pro-Lively camp are excited about him. He is a good defender. On a team that features Luka Doncic, his lack of offensive game shouldn't be that much of a detriment. Still, there were little signs that he's a raw dude in terms of just balance and footwork that Oral Roberts players weren't good enough to take advantage of. Does that mean he's automatically going to get abused? No. But something to keep in mind.

I definitely see the Tyson Chandler Comps. I also see a lot of Jaxon Hayes and WCS. High ceiling and pretty low floor. In the summer league, I'm looking for his stifling defense against guys that are a bit better than college dudes. His game doesn't necessarily translate well to glorified pickup games, but we'll see.