Duke Coach Jon Scheyer 1-on-1: Mavs' Dereck Lively II Has 'All-Star' Potential
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks have benefited immensely from the immediate impact rookie center Dereck Lively II has provided. At 19, he's averaged 8.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 29 games, showing continued progression throughout his first NBA season as it plays out.
Lively, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, is already displaying how his skill set as a vertical lob threat, rim protector, and short roll decision-maker can be maximized playing alongside talents like Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in a professional offense. Lively's results are unsurprising to those who knew him closely before he stepped foot on an NBA court, including Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who spoke with DallasBasketball.com in a phone interview to share his perspective.
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Many attributes about Lively immediately jump out when analyzing him as a player. He's 7-foot-1 with a 7-foot-7 wingspan, a lot of athleticism, and is a vocal leader on the court. What most impressed Scheyer about Lively during his freshman season at Duke was his embrace of being the "ultimate teammate," along with his ability to handle adversity, evidenced by his handling of an early calf injury before ultimately contributing to an ACC Championship run.
"He's the ultimate teammate, but to see him go through a freshman season of ups and downs of having an injury, and just the mental toughness that he has, I think he became a more confident player knowing what he can go through," Scheyer told DallasBasketball.com. "The thing by far I was most proud of and most impressed with was his mentality and ability to handle adversity."
While overcoming an early-season injury, Lively averaged 5.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks in 20.6 minutes per game at Duke. However, his overall impact continued to elevate throughout the season, finding his stride around February and never looking back. Scheyer described Lively's type of impact as being unrivaled by any player in the country, providing instrumental for the Blue Devils.
"By the end of the year, his impact was just incredible," Scheyer said. "There's no player in the country that had the impact like him because of that."
Even as early as during Lively's draft night phone call with local reporters shortly after finding out he'd be joining the Mavs, he already had a clear understanding and appreciation for his role. He knew he'd need to master screen-setting for Doncic and Irving, set the tone as a rim protector, and continue growing his dirty work specialist skill set. Scheyer praised Lively's embrace for doing what it takes to win instead of trying to show off what he can do individually, making him a "perfect" fit in Dallas.
"I think so many young players try to show or do things that aren't their strengths, and Derek's the ultimate teammate. He's the ultimate winner," Scheyer said. "So as a coach, he'll do whatever you ask him to do, and with the team that [the Mavs] have, obviously they have two special guards [Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic], and the way their team is set up, what he does best fits in perfectly with their team. So Derek's okay.
"I don't even know if he's attempted a three this year, but Derek has just been the lob threat they need. He's been the rim protector," Scheyer continued. "He's provided energy. He's talking all the time. He defends and picks and rolls. He's playing to his strengths, and I think many young players want the ball in their hands. They want to show they can shoot or create. And his thing is all about impacting winning. And that's part of what makes him so unique."
Lively has worked diligently with Mavs assistant coach and former NBA champion Tyson Chandler to maximize his potential. The two emphasized various areas, with one early focus being Lively's finishing touch, aiming to grow his impact to execute more challenging finishes with finesse when the dunk isn't there.
While making the most of playing next to a transcendent playmaker like Doncic and an All-Star in Irving, Lively has already finished around the rim with elite efficiency. He's produced 1.533 points per possession on these particular attempts, trailing only Jakob Poeltl among 96 players with 125 or more attempts. Scheyer has seen Lively make significant strides as a finisher since he first arrived at Duke up until now with the Mavs.
"Yeah, I mean, he's grown so much, and the Mavs have done a great job with him and could not be more of a perfect fit stylistically or with their development to have a guy like Tyson [Chandler] to work with him. Are you kidding me?" Scheyer said. "But for us, seeing where he was in the fall, he just wasn't comfortable finishing or scoring.
“He's always been more comfortable passing and shooting, and to see him where he was when he got here to see the growth he's made over the last, what is it … 15 months or whatever, it's off the charts, man. He's not even close to scratching the surface of where he's going to be, but I think it's a credit to him and the work that he's put in and the job and the work that he's done with our coaching staff, but especially this year again with Tyson and the Mavs' staff."
Lively's impact as a paint protector has been apparent despite typically taking young bigs a few years to hit their stride in such a role. The Mavs have allowed 113.8 points per 100 possessions in the 732 minutes Lively has been on the court this season compared to giving up 115.1 points per 100 possessions in 1,092 minutes without him. The team's worst rebounding rate occurs when he's not in the game (46.7 percent) versus being substantially better when he's in the game (48.8 percent). Opponents shoot 5.0 percent worse within six feet of the rim and 3.6 percent lower on two-point field goals when he's the primary defender contesting. The impact is clear.
A significant element of Lively's defensive impact stems from his intelligence and ability to play in many schemes while having all the physical tools a team would like to have in a rim-protecting big. Scheyer described having an interior presence like Lively as having "spoiled" the Duke coaching staff due to his general impact, but especially with how many different looks they could deploy as a defense.
"Well, he spoiled me as a coach, you know, for my first year because literally, we had him up-to-touch at times, we had him blitz now and then, we had a mostly in drop, and we also had games where he switched one-through-five and to have the versatility — obviously, there's a lot of great players in the world of the NBA — you want to defend people different ways and he did it all for us and he's doing that now for the Mavs.
“But you're not able to do that just by ability; you have to be smart, you have to pick things up, and, for us, one game we would play a certain way, the next game, we could do something different. And that speaks to how smart he is and the versatility, his lateral quickness, the ability just to stay in front of quicker guards, and his timing to block shots."
As Lively grows into his role with the Mavs, he's shown real potential as a relief option playing out of the pocket in the short roll. There isn't an NBA player blitzed more frequently than Doncic, making it essential for the pick-and-roll partner to make quick decisions in the middle of the floor in these situations. Lively is not only a talented passer as a short roller but has also shown with the Mavs an impressive ability to put it on the floor to get the rim for aggressive finishes.
"I remember watching videos of NBA teams recruiting Dereck and felt like passing was one of the most underrated things he could do," Scheyer said. "And for us to have him here at Duke and to have the combination of being a lob threat and being able to play in the pocket in those short rolls, as you mentioned. It's so valuable.
"Like we do it all the time, even this year, and it's a hard thing to teach; being unselfish is a hard thing for a young player to have, and he has both of those," Scheyer continued. "Just watching him with the Mavs, I see he's done such a good job knowing when to roll to the rim, and I know they're coaching him on it. And then when to get him the pocket, it's everything for, I know, for our offense, but also the NBA offense."
Regarding Lively's long-term potential in the NBA, Scheyer envisions Lively adding no shortage of layers into his game, including integrating his jump-shooting ability from beyond the arc at some point. It was something Duke saw him often do in practice. An additional layer will then be to attack closeouts and create off the dribble more.
"I think just doing what he does now, he's going to get better in all these areas — the timing, the speed, the physicality — he's going to continue to get better and better the next couple of years," Scheyer said.
"The thing he'll start to do more is he can shoot. He's going to show that he can shoot beyond the three and the next step to his game, which I've seen him doing spurts and in practice all the time. He needs to get comfortable where he can drive closeouts and put the ball on the floor a little bit more."
Given how rapidly Lively has managed to positively impact the Mavs on offense and defense after one season of collegiate basketball, it's fascinating to project his long-term potential. Scheyer sees Lively as a future All-Star who is "just scratching the surface" of what they can become.
"He will be an All-Star sometime here, and I don't know when, but he's that good," Scheyer said. "He's just scratching the surface."
