Hi all,
I've read many posts hoping our offense improves as Whitehead/Lively come on. I agree on Whitehead. I am not sure on Lively.
First, if you go watch some of his mixtapes from high school, you'll see almost all of the highlights are passes, lobs, blocks and open 3s. We've seen the passes, lobs and blocks. We can hope he hits some open 3s, though he was 0-2 last night. Not sure what percent he hit in high school. Overall, though, while we might expect the current game we are seeing from him to get sharper and more confident, I don't think we should expect to see him start making post moves as that is not his game. Mixtape:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM7tDvI0WEs.
Second, see this negative scouting report on him from before his first game - pretty spot on as far as what we've been seeing:
"The lack of aggression is a bit of a concern. He really does not do much in the interior, and in terms of rim protection, it’s mostly second side or in recovery. He really doesn’t put a lid on the rim like people think. He’s not strong, and [though Oregon center Kel’el Ware] isn’t strong either, Kel’el is willing to play inside while Dereck isn’t trying to mix it up." Link:
https://www.nbabigboard.com/p/one-an...ated-seven-nba
I know his #1 ranking should be lower given there are talented players not in college, but even then it just seems too high. I'm not even sure he's at Freshman Mark Williams level right now.
I seriously wonder if this team would be better with Young starting over Lively. On the other hand, I'd start Whitehead now, perhaps over Proctor, as I think our season goes as he goes.
This is not to pile on Lively, which plays with heart and team spirit. I hope he proves me wrong and this post looks silly in a few months!