Why Dereck Lively II Has Every Tool to Become an Elite Modern NBA Center | NBA Center Rankings

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, find the Lockdown NBA Podcast where there's no offseason. West Matt and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. On today's show, a bounce back season from Dareg lively is crucial. Where is he rank among the best centers in the NBA? We'll tell you. This is Cooper Flag and you're listening to Lockdown. So all of them are told, five, nothing as important as winning this place. All about winning. I will win in dollars. You are a Lockdown man. That was great. You're doing Dallas Maverick's podcast.

1:01Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. All these changes. Your team every day. Nice to know my dog about that. Good. And welcome you're locked out of the Dallas Maverick's. Your team every day. My name is Zig Deng. And join me as always, my co-host, the Lego Lord, the one more thinking what you got for me, Isaac Harris. All right. We're talking about Dareg lively and where he ranks with the centers. And I went back and watched like highlights of the finals and like the playoff run. And I was like, dang it. I just got pissed off again. It's like, I need that lively back in my life. Okay. If you want to, if you want to feel better about Dareg lively, what we can talk a lot about him today, we're going to do our rankings on the best centers in the NBA. It's our last in our position group series where we'll go through and we'll rank every center or the center from each, the starting center from each team. And we'll see where it lively ranks. If you want to feel better about Dareg lively, go to his Instagram right now. His first, his most recent post, the first photo in the carousel is a photo of him. And Tyson Chandler in the workout room. And you're just like, yeah, I've seen this. You know what?

2:02That made me feel good because remember just we're hoping that when in Dareg lively is rookie, like, man, we just hope that he wouldn't be great if like Tyson Chandler got a hold of him. And it seems like Tyson Chandler did. Like you see both of them in the weight room, Lately's holding the weight. He replied, comment on it and said, onk. I think everybody's rooting for Dareg lively, right? It's just hard not to. The personality. He's at all the team events. He was there for the, you know, the chase patch unveiling, you know, he was their representative. Big event this summer. He was a huge thing for the, but he is, he's there. The schedule release video. He was in it with Max and had a, you know, I had a big part in that. Like, he is like kind of the team representative in some kind of way now. Almost like replacing my pal. That guy. That guy. I thought you were going to say replacing Mavsman. I was like, all right. No one will replace Mavsman. He is kind of to a school near you. Chance. Mavsman. Shout out to Mavsman is in the squad listening every day. You're still creepy, but take that back.

3:04He's part of the squad. Okay. Outside of the mask, you're not creepy, but inside the mask, the old mask was actually, we don't know what's under the helmet is under the helmet. Still the basketball graded skin because that, that I may have to agree with you because he did, he kind of evolved into a power ranger a little bit. He did. And I'm fine with that. Go go, Mavsman ranger. I don't, I don't care. Mavsman, we got to get you up on that ladder again to do the little decimal thing. And that was, that's one of my favorite things we do. We need something for the decimal to go for first. Whoa. Whoa. And hopefully the Mavs bring it this year and especially Derek Lively because he can be one of the best like centers in the NBA in the modern day. He just brings the things that you want in a modern day center, the rim protection, the switching out on defense, like just that side of the ball. He is exactly what you want in today's NBA rebounding. He gives you that and then he gives you passing on the offensive end. His passing is really good and to have a guy that can pass like that and rim roll, finish

4:08around the rim, have that verticality. He just brings so many things that you want in a modern day center. The injuries have just been piling up for him over the over the, the first three years of his career that I just don't know how much they can trust him. And this is a big maker break year. Obviously with the, you know, the extension that he could be getting, but we don't know what we like last we heard that they had started talks about that. But what we don't know is going on with that. It's kind of a make it break year a little bit for him. It is. I mean, you saw a person a few days ago back on, you know, Thursday of last week, almond Thompson from that draft class that got an extension and we'll see how many of these guys from that, that class get it gets extension before the deadline in October. But we don't know what's going to happen with him with that, but he has to have a healthy year. I mean, it's whether they ride it out until next summer, which I think that's the route they should go. I just, he has to have a healthy year into your point. Everybody in that building, everybody outside of that building in Dallas is rooting for

5:10him because when he is healthy, he's really dang good. And there was a, you know, a world there to where like, dude, he's one of like the cornerstone pieces of of this team and how great would it be to end this season and be like, all right, this injury stuff is behind him. He's one of the cornerstone pieces for us to be like, dang, we got to get some young guards in here because lively, res and flag are just a unit up front. Like, wouldn't it be so great to end the season and be like, all right, we made out of one bunch of games where we know that that, that, that trio is incredible doing so many different things. Speaking of res, I opened the comments. I had not opened the comments. I just saw that flag commented on that picture of lively and Tyson Chandler. More chance to do your responded ultra instinct form. And then jet Howard said, good motion twin. I don't know, jet Howard and lively. I don't think there's many similarities between the two. I can jet. Jets already part of the career already getting in there. All right. Let's start our rankings. Doing each of these rankings by doing the maps one first.

6:11And I had a hard time with this. I put lively in multiple different spots in these, in these rankings as I went through it. And I ended with him in a tier on his own at the 20th spot. Wow. I had him at 19. We're so close. And it sucks because you know, like, you just have to factor in the entries, right? Like, you just, you just have to. It's been multiple seasons. It wasn't like, hey, he's been healthy up until the end of last year. And now we're like docking him all these points. It's like, no, like, is this been a couple seasons now? So, but if you're looking at this list and saying, who's the guy that could move up this list, like, like multiple spots with a good year? For sure. I think he's the name that I'm circling the most do there. But we'll get to those names. I could, I could see him easily getting to 15. Where I could, where I could have him. I think he could crack the top 15, the top 15 big if he has a healthier.

7:11Where he's a top, like, they get a bunch of teams are going, man, it'd be really nice if we had a player like that because some of these guys do some of the things that he does, but not all the things that he does, especially the mobility that he has. And we'll see if you know, the one of the things that he said about his injuries, they want to make sure that he gets it right. Like, you want to make sure that he comes back, he's right, and that he has a really solid firm base and foundation going back into this season. And so let's hope that, let's hope that they get it because, man, he's a special player. But it's a maker breaks season with injuries. That's just that's the main thing with him this year. And number one, do you go with, did you waver? Did you waver? Which route did you go? I actually think Wimby has taken over the spot. It's the best player in the, I have one. So I think adding the defense, like him being the best defender in the NBA by like a big margin. Matters. Yeah, I mean, you know, I feel like a reference to this ever pod now, but we're working on our top 100 for a lot of locked on.

8:12And it's like SGA, even like just all the players, SGA is one, you know, he's backs back in the P's and I'm like, I feel like I, you know, you almost have to put him there. But I just didn't. I'm like, I think Wimby is taken over that spot as the best player in the league. So always best player in the league. You put SGA as a second best center. No, but I did put Yoca chin number two. Yeah, I got Yoca chin number two as well. So the same one and two. Yeah, Yoca still, still great. The playoff, the playoff stuff is still is kind of like, all right, wish you would have gone. If you're this good, people are talking about him top 15 all time. Like you got to get a little farther than the playoffs a couple times here. Oh, yeah, he's, he's really good. Still really, really good. Still really good. Coming up, let's give me, give me your third one. Cause I think I had two players here that I went back and forth on and I think I land on the right one. Yeah, I had three players in this in this one tier here. Um, I put chat. Wow, big chat believer. I just, yeah, I mean, I know a lot of people are talking about his like playoff stuff.

9:16It was against Wimby when it's not against Wimby. He's literally like the best defender in the league, like, especially as a big man. If you don't consider Wimby and it's like, he is so dang good. And I mean, he was, I think it all started this past year and like all the stuff. So that thundercane, they missed Jada a lot. And he was the, you know, the second best player on that team. So yeah, he got pumped in the playoffs against Wimby. Wimby made him like dumb and embarrassed team, but he's really dang good. Number three, I had the guy that beat Wimby in the finals and I had towns. I had towns at four. Yeah. It was, it was between towns. And then honestly, I'd bam. I'd bam ahead of chat. Well, I had bam at five, but yeah, easily, just because the 83 same top five. I mean, the 83 matters. I was honestly more impressed with the other, you know, 81 games where he didn't score 83. The towns when it's just like the resume has to win out.

10:20I've never been a big towns guy. I've never owned, you know, property on towns, I win just never have. But it's like, dude, at this point, like you, you, you want a title, you have like these stats, like, he's going to be a hollow famer. Yeah, probably. And so it's like, hey, at some point, the resume you just can't like deny it, even though I'm still not like the biggest like fan multiple conference finals with the Timberwolves too. I know. That's what it's like. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Did you see the video of his honeymoon in Africa? Yeah, I looked at him. Holy cow with the, with the hot air balloon over, over like the safari zones and stuff. Like man, what he looks like. He's like lost some weight too. He does look a lot thinner too. I wonder what's going on with that. For sure. Yeah, that's our top five. Wembee, Yokech, Towns, Bam, Chat is mine. And then you had Chat Towns, Bam. So a little different order, but same top five.

11:20And Derek Lively, we had around the 29th. Yeah. Yeah. Derek Lively had 19th, 20th spot. So coming up, let's talk about the other players we think are ahead of Derek Lively right now that he could, he could pass up. Talk about that. Today's episode of like the maps brought to you by square. Support for today's episode comes from square. The system powering so many of the places we already know and love. You may have gone to one of those places today and they turn around the thing. You're like, all right, you got to pay for the, pay for the thing that you wanted from this place. And you pay with square. It makes it so easy, whether you're running a packed game day spot, a local restaurant or a growing business. Square gives sellers the tools to run their business without making things more complicated. So go check out square because it brings payment, inventory, payroll, invoices, customer insights, and more all wrapped together into one connected system. So whether you're a one location business or growing into multiple locations, square gives you all the tools to sell, manage and grow without needing an IT team to figure it all out. That's the last thing you need is something else to have to think about, have to worry about. Check out square.

12:21If you're starting a business or if you're running one that deserves better tools, square helps you sell, manage and grow without slowing down right now. You can get up to $200 off square hardware at square.com slash go slash NBA again. It's squ a re dot com slash geo slash NBA run your business smarter with square. Get started today. Thanks for having out with some like a V party show part of the raccoons by the two color listeners listening every day. Answer our like a maps fan survey. It's the last day you can do it. We've got it in the link in the description. So answers for questions about the map. I think about their future, which think about their team right now. We just want your opinions. We're going to talk about them all throughout the rest of the week. So we answered the questions on that. All right, Isaac, we're ranking our the best centers going into this season. And some of its projections, some of it we're like, all right, when he's going to overtake Yoke, or he has overtaken him, or he will. And but those are our top five and we're pretty set on our top five that they're we have the same five players. And we're looking at the players now between the top five and where Derek Lively is at this point. And so, all right, who'd you have at six?

13:25No, you go first. I don't like top. I'm not confident with these three and I have three in a tier. I was not confident in mine either, but at some point, I'm with you. You got to go with the resume and I want to go bear. Okay, me too. Just an elite defensive player and just like make sure team better on that at the ball every year. And there's there's a ton of offensive like downfalls from him. Like I don't think you get a lot offensively, but what you get defensively, which thing makes up for it? Screen assist is good. And he's finally going to have like a picking role guy in in in Lamello that I think is going to max that is a little bit more. It he learns how to catch that is sure. Yeah, he can catch labs. I mean, yeah, we can somebody will actually throw a time. So I'm sure throwing a spot he can get. All right, you keep going. I jam drags in junior next. Oh crap, because I am not a believer in shingoon or dern. And that's why I had that tie the next two. Oh, okay. Okay, what a whole lot.

14:27Where did you have AD and in bead? I did not do AD because he's not a center. We had him in the wings. Oh crap. Yeah, we did. Got to do star. You got to do star. It's freaking star. Why did I need to be I had in be behind go bear and be to have it 10. I just don't know what to do with him either because I just know he's not going to play enough games. Like if I'm going to downgrade lively for games and I'm also going to downgrade and beat. Okay. It's tough. What I rather have, would you rather have 80 games of Jalen Duren or 35 games of M. B. You know, it's like. Yeah, but like when he did play Boston in the playoffs, he's pretty dang good. And then what happened and then Jalen Duren in the playoffs was he was bad. That's what happened, but he was still all NBA. So it's like, all right, I still have a nine. But all right, I go bear at six. I had in be to seven. I had Jalen Duren at eight. Yeah, it's still insane. We're still around the same area. Yeah, then I had Evan Mowbly at nine. No, we had to have Jared Allen because we did we did.

15:30We did. God bless. We did. Mowbly in the wings. That's true. I'll give you a second, but that's my top 10 and Duren Jackson Jr. I would have it the next one. By the way, cool. Now, Duren Jackson Jr. then at nine and then, um, but okay, real quick. Though I'm doing good. You put him. He was right after triple J. Okay. So then we have the same top 10. But the thing with Jackson is like, he had this spand where everybody loved him in Memphis. And it's like cool. This dude can switch and guard on the perimeter. He can hit some threes. He doesn't rebound. And it's like, this is my whole thing with with Utah is like, with Kessler being gone. It's like, all right. Cool. You're just rolling out him and marketing. And it's like, is Nercage your answer? I really think they may do the Nercage. Then Jared Jackson Jr. Markin and Peterson, Keonte. Like I think they may do this like Nercage more. But you're right. That Jackson should be in the BAM town's category.

16:32Like he should be in that conversation, but he's just not. Yeah. Talent with what we've seen. Making a defensive player. Yeah. All that stuff. Like, yeah. No. All right. Who do you got next? 11. I think this guy's going to have a bounce back here. And I don't like the next guy that has been an all star. Even more than the other ones. So I put Zubots. No, I put Zubots too. 11 nice. He's good, dude. And he's going to put Halberton now. Yeah. Now there's the thing that I'm going to do. Yeah. Now they got to figure out their like style crap because Zubots doesn't really fit their fast-paced style. But he's so good. And talking about getting the heck out of Dodge, man. I mean, if he didn't... I'm afraid of man. He was, and I was looking at his basketball reference yesterday. I was like, really just going through a bunch of stuff. I forgot that he played on the Lakers at the beginning. Yeah. I will never forget that because it was, they traded him for Mike Muscala. And they don't even just like give him away. And they only got Mike Muscala for like the rest of the season.

17:33It was such a strange trade. And then Zubots became really good. He made it... He made a all defensive team. And so it's kind of... It's one of those all-time like bad Lakers trades. Yeah. They need... He spent his whole career with the Clippers. I mean, I was... So I'm like, dude, where does he rank on like Clippers all-time guys? Yeah, no kidding. Because he's been there for a while, but... But yeah, he's good. And he's such a smart player. He's going to be great with Rick Karla and them. As long as Halbert and his healthy, that team is really dang good. Yeah. I had subonus next. I just couldn't drop him in lower. I did too. You just can't drop him any lower. Like he's still really good, but you don't... I don't like him in any of the... Like I don't... If I'm going into a competitive playoff series, I would take any of the other guys above him and probably some of the ones below him. Yeah, but you can't deny the numbers. He's still dead. He's still good. Can we just get him traded? Just getting somewhere. Yeah, but you're aware. I don't know. Just out of sacrament, oh man.

18:34Like... You want him in Dallas? No. Um... Uh... Toronto, uh, Charlotte... The map center is... We ranked in the 20s. Like the 20th spot. It's a lot of money. I'm not... It's too much money. In his style and everything, I just don't. Yeah. Jay Trianos not here anymore, so... That system that they want to keep that system then... Then maybe, but no. All right, so we have the same top 12 then. Yeah. I did tears as well. Tear one elite with Wembee and Yokehitch. Tear two all in B.A. with Towns, Bam, Chat, Go Bear. Tear three all stars and it ends here with Sabonis. Okay. I had Miles Turner next. I don't think Miles Turner is very good. Is this gonna be one of our biggest gap? The biggest difference I had him, I had 28. Holy crap. I don't think Miles Turner... You hate her. I do. I do not think Miles Turner is very good.

19:35I think there's a chance that like a little where is starting for him. Oh my gosh. What did he do to you? I take all these guys ahead of him right now. I just think that he's... Is he like secretly 45? I just don't know. He's not the rim protector he used to be. He's not the three point shooter that we wanted him to be. Like it's just... Oh, is there someone who wanted to? You tried to get him traded. He's just 30. You're acting like he's 58. Maybe what I just saw with Milwaukee this last year was just not. Oh yeah, you fired up Milwaukee every night. Yeah, but I listen to like a box. All right, that's true. How many rebounds of game do you think he got last year? Probably more in Jiren Jackson. You'd be wrong. Wait, how many Jackson have? Turner had five rebounds of game. You played sox at rebounding. He played 27 minutes of game. She had 38% from three though. 40 from two.

20:35What did he shoot from two? That was a center. 44. 52%. Just... I just don't get it anymore. You're not getting the defensive impact that you used to. There's a reason why the Pacers moved on from him like that. And I think that... Crap. You didn't work with the Milwaukee last year. I'm fast now to see how all the names you have above him. Take all these games. You'd rather have Mark Williams over him. Come on. No, you could talk me into the out of that one room. Okay. 28. My God. Okay. Well, who did you get next? Okay, wait, you're now I'm rethinking mine, but I guess I gotta leave it because this is just... Who'd you have after subonus? After subonus, I had Walker Kessler. Okay. Walker Kessler's gonna get the Luca bump for sure. This... Yeah. Yeah. If he can stay healthy. Yeah. Then I had Jared Allen.

21:35Okay. Still good. Yeah. No, I had Kessler. I had poor Zingas above both of those guys. Okay. I had poor Zingas at 16. And then I had Kessler and then Jared Allen. Okay. There you go. We're rounding out our top 15 of our best centers in the NBA. We're getting to Derek Lively in the comments. If you're listening and you're enraged, let us know who you'd rather have. Who'd you rather have like Derek Lively instead of some of these players? Let us know. We'll talk about who we have at the bottom and why I was so wrong with my turner, Connor. Okay. Today's episode of Liked On Mavs brought to you by Fandool, College Football Saturdays, are already packed with reasons to get excited. And this season, Fandool is giving fans even more ways to get in on the matchups. So go check it out on Fandool. See what you can do. Back your favorite team, build a same game parlay, bet on team props, make your picks on the biggest games of the weekend. Throughout the season, keep an eye on Fandool. I'm a Fandool out for even more ways to get rewarded. Go check it out and see what you can do.

22:35There's no way they've got any player drops and co-wide, right? There's no way they've got that. But you can go check out all kinds of things they got. They've already got games up for this weekend. What we got in Texas games on here? Texas against Texas State. Isaac, you want to give a real quick guess on what you think the line is for Texas first, Texas State. I need to sport first. Texas football. Football. I need the sport first. It's volleyball, field men's field hockey. Texas is number five. Texas State is a spoiler, not ranked. Yeah, while I'm going to go at Texas at 13 and a half, you'd be incorrect. Minus 29 and a half. Is it really? Yeah, it's Texas State. So if you want to get on that, stamp those tech. Oh, yeah, you want to get on that? And all kinds of other things. Go check out Fandool.com to get started. All right, then we're breaking down our best centers,

23:38going into this season and we're with very different opinions on milestone. You'd rather have Miles Turner, their Walker Kessler and Jared Allen. Yes, over Jared Allen. Yeah, Kessler could be convinced on. Yeah, okay. Interesting. All right, this is the part of the show where we just we've rapid fire through some of these. 15, I had Zach Edie. Another one just injuries. These very impactful, but I think that he's injured a lot. Okay. After Jared Allen, I had Donovan Klingin. Okay. Yep. You'd rather have Edie over Klingin. Interesting. I like Klingin a lot. I'd Klingin 18. So I'd have much lower. Oh, okay. That's not too bad. Then I had Alex Sarr. Would rather have Klingin rather than Edie. I had Alex Sarr after Klingin. Yep, I had Alex Sarr at 17.

24:40Sneaky good, you're. Sneaky good and I'm going to have a bigger spotlight on this year, I think, with more. I felt kind of dumb in that draft because going into that draft, I was like, hey, he's the, he should be the number one pick over Risha Shay and all those guys. And I was like, pretty confident in it. Not that he was going to be like an all star. But after that first year, I was like, oh, crap. Like, but now that last year, I'm like, all right, not bad. Not bad. Coming around. That's one of those tough. I had Yaka Pearl next. At 19. Yeah. Okay. This is like my injured zone. It's 80 porzingis, Pertal lively. I had, I had Pertal at 25. It's fine. Not going to be upset about it. Yeah. At 20, I had, I had Keda. Hmm. He had a good year. Yeah, I had Keda at 20, I had Diabata at 21, Zach Edie at 22. Okay.

25:41Yeah, the like the Keda Diabata, a Kongwu Mark Williams group is like, like they're all kind of around the same. I was going to see if we're going to have the same bottom, like three. And I don't think we're not. Yeah, we're not going to now. I had a Kongwu at 21. I thought he had a pretty good year last year. He started taking threes and that really elevated his profile. Okay. When look harder, Junior had next. Okay. Then I had Keda, then I had Diabata, and then I had Mark Williams. Okay. You have Mark Williams at what, 25? 25. I have Williams at 26. 23. Who do you have after Edian? Window Carter, Junior in a Kongwu. There you go. Window Carter, Junior. Somebody out, somebody out, I haven't historically been in on, but I thought he had a good, like, I thought he had some good moments in the postseason. Yeah, and he just, he's like an actor that just keeps getting hired too.

26:41So he just keeps starting for that Orlando team. Yeah. Yeah. After Mark Williams, I dare queen. I'm hoping for a little bit of a bump from him this year. He's, he's good, but he's got some, he's got some, there's some lacking in his game and the fit with him in Zion. The thing about ranking these guys and then actually playing them on the court, is the fit between those guys is awful, but the talent is definitely there. I had queen after Mark Williams too. Yeah. And then I had Nick Claksen, I think I'll get a little bump for the bulls. No, he sucks. He's finally, he's gonna play with Gideon. I think he's finally gonna play with the guy, who do you play with in Brooklyn? I haven't met 30. You had him above Neater House, or what do you know about Neater House? So dude, I like him. He's athletic. I'm, I like him. So Nick Claksen. What? What? You take, you take Nick freaking Claksen a whole for Miles Turner. I didn't do everything my Miles Turner hate. And then we both have Deeron Sharp.

27:43Yeah, the Deeron Sharp. Do slightly love Sharp. Slightly would have him in like the teens. He's tied to me. It's always somebody's, I'm like, I need to see it for a little while. Like okay, Musa Diabata, Kada, you showed it to me. Sharp now do the same this year. I'm not gonna project that much, but yeah, there's our list. And yeah, I'm curious what, what, where Derek Lively can rise to in this list. I think you can get to 15, that Zach Edie Porzingis. You know, where you have Miles Turner. Like, you know, you got to walk a Kessler for sure too, but Kessler's gonna play with Luca this year, which I think it's gonna help him. That's the thing. It's like you look at that next batch of like young sinners, and it's like Walker Kessler, Donovan Klingin, Alex Sarr, Zach Edie. And it's like he's gotta stay healthy to be in that group. And because right now, it's like majority of people would say, yeah, I mean, Zach Edie's had his health stuff and he probably will because he's so massive, but it's like, dude, you can be in that Klingin, Walker Kessler range, but most people right now

28:44would take both those guys who were Derek Lively. And but a healthy Lively will prove that he can shoot up this list. So I just, I wanna form so bad. And we're both expecting some health form with this ranking too, because if not, then we'd put them probably lower than we are. Yeah. Yeah. Which sucks, but that is what it is. Yeah. There you go. Answer our Mab's fan question, the link in the description, right there, and we're ever listening to watching this. Guys, thanks for watching us on the Lockdown Mabs. Peace out. Boom. This is Jake from Lockdown. When the game's on the line, the best no end to pass, because the right assist can change everything. And off the court, it's no different. That's where your State Farm agent comes in, whether it's protecting your car, your home, or helping you prep for the unexpected, they'll help set you up with a game plan that works for you. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Covered options are selected by the customer, availability and eligibility vary by state. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day.

29:45For your second listen, find the Lockdown NBA podcast where there's no off season. West Matt and Hayes keep you up to date on contract negotiations, rumors, and everything you need to be the most informed NBA fan. Find Lockdown NBA on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.