LAS VEGAS – The initial reviews from the first summer league practice involving Dallas Mavericks’ prized rookies
Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper were impressive.
Jared Dudley, the Mavs’ summer league coach, was gushing with enthusiasm when describing what Lively and Prosper gave his team in their first practice, which was held Friday on the campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
“Good,” was the first word out of Dudley’s mouth. “And I’m not just saying that. A huge defensive presence, those two.
“You would think they’d be behind defensively, but we spent some extra time watching film. They have a really good IQ defensively, and an awareness of that.”
And that’s not all. Dudley liked the fact that both Lively and Prosper were very inquisitive.
“They asked good questions,” Dudley said. “When I was a rookie I didn’t even ask two questions. I was too afraid to go ask questions. They asked a lot of questions.”
Lively and Prosper missed the Mavs’ first three practice sessions in Dallas earlier this week, because of the NBA moratorium involving free agents and players who were traded. The Mavs acquired both players via separate trades on June 22 during the NBA Draft, and they couldn’t practice until those trades were completed, which occurred on Thursday.
“Being able to finally step on the court with the players, being able to finally get the dust off – the old gears like that – it just feels amazing,” Lively said. “Being able to be out here and bring energy and be talking, and just being able to just figure out things (was a bonus), because playing is different from watching on the sidelines.
“It hurts being able to just sit there and watch your team being able to play without you. It makes you just want to be that much hungry to get back on the court.”
Standing alongside Lively in a dual post-practice interview session, Prosper said: “It feels good to be out there. Like Dereck just said, we’ve been standing on the sidelines the last three practices.
“So, to finally be out there and to go full speed and to play with those guys that we’re going to play the summer league with, it’s great. We’re learning, we saw it and now we’re in it. It feels a lot better to be in it than to learn on the fly.”
Lively (7-1, 234) was drafted 12th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder, and his draft rights were traded to the Mavs for the draft rights to Richardson native Cason Wallace, who was selected 10th overall by Dallas. Prosper (6-8, 215) was drafted No. 24 overall by the Sacramento Kings, who traded him and center Richaun Holmes to the Mavs.
Both Lively and Prosper will get an early test when the Mavs open summer league play at the NBA 2K24 Summer League on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT at the Thomas & Mack Center against the Thunder in a game that will be televised on ESPN2. It’s a well-polished Thunder squad that features center Chet Holmgren 7-1, 194), who was the No. 2 overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft, but missed all of last season due to a
season-ending foot injury.
“The first test is OKC,” Dudley said. “They might be the best summer league team of like seven guys on their roster. So, I’m looking for (Lively) to guard Chet — be physical.”
Lively said he’s up for the stern challenge Holmgren presents.
“He’s a great player,” Lively said of Holmgren. “He can shoot the ball, he can put the ball on the floor, he can get to the rim, he can get above the rim. That doesn’t mean I’m going to shy away from the fact.
“I’m just going to go at him with even more emphasis knowing he’s a good player. I’m going to try to bring physicality. I’m going to stay low. . .play him straight on. That’s what I’m going to try to do, and we’re going to see how the game goes.”
Prosper concurred, saying of Holmgren: “We’ve got to be physical with him. It’s a great matchup with a great player and we can’t wait to get at it tomorrow.”
From Dudley’s perspective, Lively and Prosper were like sponges in their first practice on Friday. And he didn’t want to dump too much information on them all at once.
“You always do the shell – our defensive principles,” Dudley said. “They’ve been doing it mentally. Now it’s physically in sync with the pace, 
and they’re excited.
“A couple of hiccups early on of when to rotate, who’s rotation it was. Once you went over it with them, they never make the same mistake twice, and that’s crucial. A lot of these young players, the reason why it’s difficult for them to stay in this league and be in this league is they keep making the same mistake twice.”
That definitely wasn’t the case Friday with Lively and Prosper. They were digesting the messages from Dudley and his coaching staff rather quickly.
Dudley said Lively’s number one job “is to protect the paint,” and to “get used to” making that priority number one.
“Go after every block, stay there, and offensively set 1,000 screens,” Dudley said. “Set 1,000 screens, try to get behind the defense and show your athleticism (and grab) offensive rebounds.
“Dereck, on our traps, him being up there and (he has) to be able to make the ball handler retreat. His length and athleticism is going to be special for the Mavs. We just got to keep working with him.”
As for Prosper, Dudley said: “Omax is just, you can tell he’s a mature player. His game is mature. I can see him playing for us even this
coming season because of how he is defensively. He’s going to be a huge addition. I think offensively, I’m looking for Omax for spacing, knowing when to cut.
“It’s my job, as in only one practice, I’ve got to integrate these guys slowly – knock on wood. I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Just to throw them out there for 30-40 minutes, it wouldn’t be smart of me.”
Friday was the first organized team practice for Lively and Prosper since their college days at Duke and Marquette, respectively, this past spring. And they certainly noticed the difference from the 30-second shot clock they played under in college.
“Being here, we understand that it’s a different pace to the game,” Lively said. “The (NBA) shot clock is 24 (seconds) now.
“Being able to know that the game’s more sped up and we’ve got to be able to be more disciplined, we’ve got to be able to be more focused, (and) we’ve got to be able to know what’s going on on the floor.”
Prosper explained that there’s an inordinate number of small details — which could mean the difference between winning and losing – that they also must pay attention to.
“There’s a lot of details,” he said. “(We have to) be able to see what’s happening even before it happens, because it’s so much quicker, guys are smarter, guys have better IQ’s, so you’ve got to be able to be sharper out there.
“What we’re running is not crazy offense, but it allows us to use our athleticism.”
In closing, Prosper said: “We’re here now. We took advantage of today and now we’re going to take advantage of tomorrow.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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