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After making it all the way to the Western Conference Finals the year prior, plenty of folks had high expectations for the Dallas Mavericks heading into the 2022-23 NBA campaign. And those expectations became even higher once the Mavs traded for point guard Kyrie Irving prior to the 2023 NBA trade deadline to pair with Luka Doncic. But fast forward to the current day, and it's evident that the Mavs fell very short of expectations.
The Dallas Mavericks 2022-23 regular season was nothing short of a disaster. Dallas finished the regular season with a sub-par 38-44 record, just the 11th-best in the Western Conference, and missed out on the NBA postseason entirely. If this season taught the Mavs anything, it's that they need to make some changes this summer.
The Mavericks' 2022-23 campaign was certainly underwhelming, but a solid NBA Draft could have helped fans forget about the season that was. Unfortunately, though, the Mavericks did not have a great draft, to be frank.
The Mavericks had two first-round picks in the 2023 NBA Draft. They traded the 10th pick and Davis Bertans' contract to the Oklahoma Thunder in exchange for the 12th pick, which they used to select Duke big man Dereck Lively II. The Mavericks also acquired the 26th pick in a separate trade with the Kings and drafted Olivier-Maxence Prosper. And the Mavs made a mistake by selecting one of these players. With all of that said, let's look at one big mistake that the Dallas Mavericks made in the 2023 NBA Draft:
1 big mistake by Mavs in 2023 NBA Draft
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Trading down in the draft for Dereck Lively II
Starting with what Lively II does well, he starred on the defensive end of the floor in his freshman year with the Duke Blue Devils in the 2022-23 campaign. Lively II staked his claim as arguably the best rim-protector in the nation, as he averaged a whopping 2.4 blocks in just 20.6 minutes per game and 4.7 blocks per 40 minutes. What makes Lively II such a special rim protector is his unique combination of size, timing, and athleticism. He projects to be an NBA-ready rim protector and might just be the best shot-blocker in his class, not named Victor Wembanyama.
But while Lively II's ability to block shots may be his trademark defensive skill, he brings more to the table on the defensive side besides just blocking shots. Lively is also a great rebounder who rebounded the ball at a high rate with Duke. He corralled 5.4 rebounds per contest this season, including 10.5 per 40 minutes.
Although for all of the good that Dereck Lively II brings to the table on the defensive end, he's a very raw and flawed offensive player, which should have made the Mavericks think twice about trading down for him. He shot just 15.4% from behind the three-point arc and 60% from the free-throw line in his season with the Blue Devils. Hence, he's not very comfortable scoring the ball outside of the painted area right now, and it's difficult to imagine at this juncture that he'll ever become a consistent threat to score from the perimeter.
All in all, Lively II's defensive potential is very alluring, and he certainly deserved to be a first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. But he is too flawed on the offensive end of the ball for the Mavericks to justify using a lottery pick on him.
