2023 DRAFT: Mavs take Lively, OMP, sign Mike Miles to 2-way, sign Jordan Walker

[PositiveLegs]

If we go off the small samples of what Nico is looking for, i think he likes pedigree. Big time recruits. And maybe even big time recruits whose shine has slipped a little.

Look at Hardy last year. We've also worked out Emoni Bates.

If you go back 1 year, Lively was a top 5 recruit in the nation. Hendricks was nowhere in the top 50. So its not out of the realm of possibility that the Mavs (and many other teams) have Lively rated higher than Hendricks due to this.

I tend to agree with that line of thinking and feel like often times too much stock is put into one year of college basketball while ignoring the context around players (especially in Lively’s case). But fundamentally I just can’t support drafting a big who specializes in drop coverage that seems like even if he hits his ceiling he’s be played off the court in the playoffs if there’s a high rated big wing available like Hendricks or Walker. If those guys are off the board I could talk myself into Lively a lot easier.