Helps having a facilitator like Luka. Such a great combo. Didn’t get to showcase his talents so much in Dukes system.
desirox
Boy caught some jitters at the line and missed some rotations and rebounding but overall did well returning from injury. We’re a much better team with him
T0AS_T
Heard them try to call him “zoom” on the broadcast. Is that a thing? Genuinely curious.
DL-77
To be honest Luka was spoonfeeding him on a silver plater tonight lol
edmarcake
Luka mentioned Lively and Irving in his interview that they need them to be back but not Josh and Maxi. Luka knows how important DLive on this team.
Active_Page_3886
And yet some people on here really wanted Gradey Dick 😂
Mavsfever
90% of the pre-draft responses I saw from this sub were hoping to get Taylor Hendricks or Jarace Walker. I think most thought Lively was gonna be another Moses Brown lol.
Just FYI Hendricks is averaging 5.8 points and 2.7 reb on 40% shooting. Walker is averaging 3.8 points and 1.5 rebounds on 42% shooting. Not saying they won’t be good NBA players but Lively definitely is top 3 steals of the draft.
Cuckledoodle
first game back too, our hero.
braves133
To answer your question, you can look at his college stats. 5 pts and 5 rebounds a game for a one-and-done player. Mavs were betting on his upside and it’s paid off so far. I don’t think the general consensus was that he would become so integral so quickly.
CIueIess_Squirrel
“Slip to the 12th pick”
Hardly a slip now, come on. If he fell to the second that’s certainly something worth talking about. Dude was still effectively a lottery pick
TheShadowOverBayside
IIRC, half of the draft projectors had him earmarked for the Mavs. The teams with higher picks, Lively didn’t quite fit their needs. So he went exactly where it was no surprise.
It’s been a joy to watch him be the spot-on missing puzzle piece for the Mavs this season. My second-favorite rookie this year apart from my own.
juanopenings
Scouting and draft profiling isn’t an exact science. It also helps to play with an All-NBA facilitator and have a game that perfectly compliments what he does best. And credit is due to Kidd for recognizing what he can do and to be willing to trust him so early on
Classic_Run_4836
Inarguably the second greatest center in Mavs history.
iAmBaTmAn1388
Anyone else catch that little push shot floater in the paint in the 4th? He can do more than just dunk and catch lobs already it seems.
dxbigc
Honestly, he is just outperforming just about everyone expectations. But, let’s not Kidd ourselves, he is not doing this if he is not playing beside Luka. When he was first drafted and I watched his college film, my first thought was a Dwight Powell 2.0….bigger stronger faster version, which I thought was great. Let’s not Kidd ourselves (see what I did there), Luka makes Powell a legit NBA rotation guy. So, a better version of that would be great. What we got, though, is something better…like Powell 4.0….as a rookie. He’s just a darn near perfect compliment to our best boy and it’s aweasome.
Economy_Lunch_7203
He got drafted into the perfect situation imo. We needed his skill set badly defensively and he has a playmaker who can feed him easy baskets. Idk if he would have thrived this much on any of the 11 teams who drafted before this dallas.
redditaccount-5
KBooks66
You have to understand lively would not be putting up these numbers without Luka.
elihonan
Can’t wait until Kyrie is back
elihonan
The pick and roll with Lively and Luka
Eatmydingleberry
Lively is doing a great job of catching the passes too. To be fair Luka makes some of the best passes in the league but Lively is catching them. Lively only had one turnover. Lively was also scoring after catching in the paint, not just lobs but instead of passing out he would dribble and score. Great to see
AdHealthy7493
He is not that good. Luka can play with anyone and he will look good.
shmooked
what a steal we got
IllumiXXZoldyck
He’s killing it. So glad he was paired with an excellent facilitator like Luka.
mechanismo2099
Cause his college stats were crap and didn’t play much.
jms2097
Big boy game!
An3i84
Yeah, Luka does great things for bigs, but DL does some awesome stuff without that help too. Like his quick outlet passes from p’n’r action, positioning for offensive rebounds, great agility etc.
Andrew0409
Sometimes rookies need the right team to excel. Not just rookies in fact. So much of how productive a player can be depends on the system they’re in people overlook. I mean look at KP now. And sometimes players just need a chance like Jeremy Lin with the Knicks.
He’s also bought into his role perfectly. And so rare for a rookie big man to not be a black hole once you pass them then ball. He doesn’t force shots at all. He will pass it out the paint if he needs to. This helps his FG% so much.
29 Comments
Helps having a facilitator like Luka. Such a great combo. Didn’t get to showcase his talents so much in Dukes system.
Boy caught some jitters at the line and missed some rotations and rebounding but overall did well returning from injury. We’re a much better team with him
Heard them try to call him “zoom” on the broadcast. Is that a thing? Genuinely curious.
To be honest Luka was spoonfeeding him on a silver plater tonight lol
Luka mentioned Lively and Irving in his interview that they need them to be back but not Josh and Maxi. Luka knows how important DLive on this team.
And yet some people on here really wanted Gradey Dick 😂
90% of the pre-draft responses I saw from this sub were hoping to get Taylor Hendricks or Jarace Walker. I think most thought Lively was gonna be another Moses Brown lol.
Just FYI Hendricks is averaging 5.8 points and 2.7 reb on 40% shooting. Walker is averaging 3.8 points and 1.5 rebounds on 42% shooting. Not saying they won’t be good NBA players but Lively definitely is top 3 steals of the draft.
first game back too, our hero.
To answer your question, you can look at his college stats. 5 pts and 5 rebounds a game for a one-and-done player. Mavs were betting on his upside and it’s paid off so far. I don’t think the general consensus was that he would become so integral so quickly.
“Slip to the 12th pick”
Hardly a slip now, come on. If he fell to the second that’s certainly something worth talking about. Dude was still effectively a lottery pick
IIRC, half of the draft projectors had him earmarked for the Mavs. The teams with higher picks, Lively didn’t quite fit their needs. So he went exactly where it was no surprise.
It’s been a joy to watch him be the spot-on missing puzzle piece for the Mavs this season. My second-favorite rookie this year apart from my own.
Scouting and draft profiling isn’t an exact science. It also helps to play with an All-NBA facilitator and have a game that perfectly compliments what he does best. And credit is due to Kidd for recognizing what he can do and to be willing to trust him so early on
Inarguably the second greatest center in Mavs history.
Anyone else catch that little push shot floater in the paint in the 4th? He can do more than just dunk and catch lobs already it seems.
Honestly, he is just outperforming just about everyone expectations. But, let’s not Kidd ourselves, he is not doing this if he is not playing beside Luka. When he was first drafted and I watched his college film, my first thought was a Dwight Powell 2.0….bigger stronger faster version, which I thought was great. Let’s not Kidd ourselves (see what I did there), Luka makes Powell a legit NBA rotation guy. So, a better version of that would be great. What we got, though, is something better…like Powell 4.0….as a rookie. He’s just a darn near perfect compliment to our best boy and it’s aweasome.
He got drafted into the perfect situation imo. We needed his skill set badly defensively and he has a playmaker who can feed him easy baskets. Idk if he would have thrived this much on any of the 11 teams who drafted before this dallas.
You have to understand lively would not be putting up these numbers without Luka.
Can’t wait until Kyrie is back
The pick and roll with Lively and Luka
Lively is doing a great job of catching the passes too. To be fair Luka makes some of the best passes in the league but Lively is catching them. Lively only had one turnover. Lively was also scoring after catching in the paint, not just lobs but instead of passing out he would dribble and score. Great to see
He is not that good. Luka can play with anyone and he will look good.
what a steal we got
He’s killing it. So glad he was paired with an excellent facilitator like Luka.
Cause his college stats were crap and didn’t play much.
Big boy game!
Yeah, Luka does great things for bigs, but DL does some awesome stuff without that help too. Like his quick outlet passes from p’n’r action, positioning for offensive rebounds, great agility etc.
Sometimes rookies need the right team to excel. Not just rookies in fact. So much of how productive a player can be depends on the system they’re in people overlook. I mean look at KP now. And sometimes players just need a chance like Jeremy Lin with the Knicks.
He’s also bought into his role perfectly. And so rare for a rookie big man to not be a black hole once you pass them then ball. He doesn’t force shots at all. He will pass it out the paint if he needs to. This helps his FG% so much.
Top 3 player on the team and he isn’t 3