The Duke Chronicle Looks At Dereck Lively

The Duke Chronicle has been looking at the members of this year’s roster, starting with the freshmen. Next up is Dereck Lively.

A 7-1 freshman from West Chester, Pennsylvania, Lively has immense potential, as noted here: “Lively is able to use his size and speed to be the anchor for his team in transition. He is a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end, as he denies opponents any easy baskets at the rim...Lively is a constant threat at the rim for lobs and dunks. He helps his team get easy baskets and prevents the opposing team from getting any. As he continues to develop his post game and footwork, he can develop into a player that can create his own high percentage shots at the rim.”

Like most young players, he has things to work on - the NBA will want to see more range on his jump shot, for one - but like Mark Williams, he’s still pretty thin.

Actually, Williams was a lot thicker at 243. Lively is just 215 and that could be a problem. We saw Williams get pushed around at times by less gifted but more powerful players and we could see that again with Lively. The good news is that Kyle Filipowski and Ryan Young can bring more power if needed.