NBA Rookie Rankings: When Will Dallas Mavs’ Dereck Lively II Get Respect He Deserves?
The Dallas Mavericks are off to their best start of the Jason Kidd head coaching era at 15-8, and they’re riding a season-high-tying four-game win streak after defeating LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
Luka Doncic is Dallas’ undisputed MVP, as he’s the league’s second-leading scorer while nearly averaging a triple-double at 32.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game. However, 19-year-old rookie big man Dereck Lively II has arguably been the Mavs’ second-most important player — yes, including Kyrie Irving — this season.
In 21 games, Lively is averaging 9.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 25.9 minutes while shooting an NBA-leading 73.7 percent from the field. Dallas is 0-2 when Lively hasn't played this season, and it lost those two games by a combined 30 points.
Despite being one of the most important players on a team that's currently in third-place in the Western Conference, Lively still isn't getting the recognition and respect he deserves when it comes to NBA.com's "Rookie Ladder" rankings. In the latest edition, Lively was placed at No. 7, behind several players like Detroit Pistons' Ausar Thompson and Utah Jazz's Keyonte George, who are talented players, but they're also not keeping their respective teams from being league bottom-dwellers either.
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And look, we're not naive enough to believe the people writing these "Rookie Ladder" pieces are watching every single game. There's a lot of box-score watching going on, and NBA.com apparently values points per game more than anything else if you go down the list 1-10. With that being said, though, it's time that Lively started getting more recognition and respect for what he's doing as a teenager in a league where it normally takes a few years for rookie centers to have a major impact on winning.
"Take the age out – he's a basketball player," Jason Kidd said of Lively after the Mavs' 127-125 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. "He understands how to play the game. He's very coachable. This was a great test for him on a back-to-back after last night's game and the minutes and the physicality. Then to turn around going from Jaren Jackson to A.D. (Anthony Davis) and understanding he's playing against two All-Stars – he's going through it.
"But again, I think the trust – not just of the coaches but his teammates – if Luka is being double-teamed, he's also looking for Lively to score or play make. It just shows how important he is to this team but how good he really is."
There's a case to be made that Lively should be at least No. 3 on the NBA's Rookie Ladder, behind only San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama and Oklahoma City Thunder's Chet Holmgren ... and Lively out-played both of those guys in their head-to-head matchups so far this season, which should probably count for something as well.
As this season progresses, Lively will naturally continue to get better as he gains more experience. If he keeps up his current pace, not only will he be a lock for the NBA's All-Rookie Team, but the Mavs will be poised to make some noise in the playoffs after missing the postseason entirely last season.
