LAS VEGAS – Other than having a few more skins on the wall, like an NBA championship ring and defensive player of the year trophy, Tyson Chandler doesn’t see much difference between himself and Mavericks’ rookie Dereck Lively II.
Same angular build. Same goes-on-forever height. Same ridiculous wing span.
Which is why Chandler is bullish on the future of the 19-year-old rookie that the Mavericks took with the 12th overall pick in last month’s draft. That’s 21 years after Chandler was selected No. 2 overall in 2001.
Now, after a 19-year playing career highlighted by the 2011 championship with Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and the rest of the Mavericks, Chandler is serving in a new capacity, one that might be just as important as him patrolling the paint, rebounding and swatting shots.
He’s trying to put Lively on the accelerated path to greatness.
“I’m looking at myself all over again,” Chandler said Thursday after the Mavericks had a zesty workout session in between games at the NBA 2K24 Summer League. “It’s crazy, to be honest. Seeing him and remembering where I was at that time. He has everything in front of him.”
And what might that “everything” be?
“I want him to be better than me,” Chandler said. “I’m trying to teach him things that I learned later at different points of my career, trying to shorten his (learning) curve.
“But I see a lot of great things. I love his attitude. He’s willing to learn. He comes in with great spirit every day, works really hard. And he’s a really good teammate.”
Sounds like a self-appraisal.
And Chandler’s experience – years of learning tricks of the trade to use in the low post on offense and defense – is what the Mavericks need.
They keep Chandler as a mentor on sort of an informal basis. He technically is a summer-league assistant coach, but the Mavericks allow him to have pretty much carte blanche when it comes to schooling Lively.
“To see him stopping drills on how he (moves) his feet on pick and rolls, how to get out for lobs on the left side or the right side, timing – there’s a certain way, which is why he was such a weakside shot-blocker,” Mavericks summer-league coach Jared Dudley said.
“Those are some things I can’t even teach him. That’s a defensive player of the year. That’s why we give Tyson freedom to come and go however he wants. We’re fortunate to have someone like Tyson.”
And Chandler is grateful to have a project to work on like Lively.
It was just a few days after the draft that Lively was asked about learning from Chandler and said:
“Being able to learn from somebody who was that high of a caliber player and who knows that much about the position, being able to have that is such an asset. He’s probably tired of me asking questions.”
Not hardly. Chandler sees the future and it’s looking brighter and brighter by the day with Lively.
He said that if the Mavericks envision Lively as another Chandler, they might be underestimating things.
“He can do that and more,” Chandler said. “He has so much untapped potential. And he’s just out there playing off instinct and ability. He has a lot to learn, a lot to learn. But he has all the tools and attributes that you would need to get to that point. He’s taking information and right now it’s just about trying everything.”
One of the best assets Chandler can impart to the young center is simply to not be a wallflower.
In time, he will be the anchor of the Mavericks’ defense, if things go as planned. That will require him to be a little bit of a chatterbox.
“A lot of young players don’t want to make a mistake and don’t want to say the wrong thing, so they stay quiet,” Chandler said. “He’s out there taking risks and being vocal, which is a great sign.
“He needs work, but the effort and intensity is there.”
And Lively has a wise tutor to learn from.
Hardy sidelined: Second-year guard Jaden Hardy will be held out of the final two summer-league games because of a left shoulder contusion.
Hardy suffered the injury in Wednesday’s game on a hard fall, but played the rest of the game.
He will join McKinley Wright IV (ankle) as Mavericks’ starters who are done for the summer league.
“The whole thing was possibly to get him four games, but we have enough film to be able to (learn),” Dudley said of Hardy. “I thought it’s been solid for him. The good thing about it is if you play good or play bad, it doesn’t matter until the regular season. They’re going to judge you on the regular season.”
Hardy averaged 23 points in three summer-league games, shooting 35.2 percent and 24.1 percent from three-point land.
Pacers on tap: The Mavericks will face the Indiana Pacers Friday at 6 p.m., Dallas time.
They will have one more game after that either Saturday or Sunday against an opponent to be determined.
Expect Taze Moore to see an uptick in playing time with the exit of Hardy. Moore has been the surprise of summer camp so far, Dudley said.
“He’s earned more minutes,” Dudley said. “I have him slotted for a certain number of minutes and every game, he plays more.
“He just does all the right winning plays and because of that, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Taze Moore in training camp either with the Dallas Mavericks or another team.”
Film don’t lie: After watching tape from Wednesday’s overtime win against Golden State, Dudley said the Mavericks fouled too much (providing 35 free throws to the Warriors).
And he was also not happy that the Mavericks are next-to-last in assists in the summer league.
“I would say about 30 percent of it is us missing shots and 70 percent is us over-dribbling and not making the necessary reads,” he said. “But overall I thought we did a good job rebounding and we had the right winning plays.”
Asked if young guards over-dribbling simply comes with the territory of being inexperienced, he said:
“Most people do over-dribble. Compare it to someone like Luka (Dončić). Luka might lead our team in shot attempts. But overall, you have to make the necessary reads and the passes to the corner and get guys threes because then guys play harder for you.
“They run to the corner to give you space to do what you do. Bigs set better screens when guys like Dwight Powell gets a dunk. It’s a give and take in this league. Yeah, most young guards do over-dribble, but you got to have a nice balance if you want to go further in this league.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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