Second Duke basketball freshmen enters his name in NBA Draft, but it’s not a surprise

Dereck Lively didn’t attempt a shot in the final game of Duke’s basketball season last month.

The fact that he rejected so many shots, and altered other players’ plans to possibly shoot, is why that game proved to be his final one in a Blue Devils uniform.

The 7-1 center, whose defensive prowess helped Duke win the ACC championship, declared for the NBA Draft on Tuesday in a social media post, with no plans to return for his sophomore season. He made the announcement on Instagram.

“Thankful for this journey,” Lively posted, along with a video. “Thankful for my teammates, thankful for my coaches and thankful for all of Duke Nation. It’s about the get LIVELY.”

Lively made the ACC’s all-defensive team while averaging 2.4 blocked shots per game. He finished with a scoring average of just 5.2 points but averaged 5.4 rebounds per game.

His ability to turn high-percentage shots into misses makes him attractive to NBA scouts. According to Synergy Sports, players shooting layups with Lively defending them made just 37.8% of them (14 of 37 attempts).

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By comparison, players attempting layups against Duke 7-foot center Mark Williams last season hit 37.9% of them (11 of 29). Williams was named ACC defensive player of the year before becoming the No.15 overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft by Charlotte.

“Dereck has had a special freshman season,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “He’s grown as much as any player that we’ve had from the beginning of the season to the end and it’s a reflection on the work he’s put into his craft. He’s the ultimate team guy. Any NBA franchise will be lucky to have a guy like Dereck because of what he brings to the table, of course from a basketball standpoint, but just as much as who he is as a teammate.”

Another advanced metric, compiled by KenPom.com, shows Lively blocked 12.7% of the 2-point shots attempted against Duke while he was on the court. Only two other Division I men’s players had higher block percentages on 2-pointers. Again, comparing to last season, Williams blocked 11.5% of such 2-point attempts.

Lively joins fellow Duke freshman Dariq Whitehead in declaring for the NBA Draft with no plans to return for a sophomore season in college.

“Being a member of the Brotherhood is something I’ll always cherish,” Lively said in a statement released by Duke. “I learned and grew so much this season as both a player and person and I’m thankful for my coaches, my teammates – and especially my mom, who has meant so much to me -- for everything. This season was all I could have imagined, and it was an honor to be part of an ACC title in Coach Scheyer’s first season. It was always a dream of mine to play for Duke, and now I’ll set my sights on my dream of playing in the league and declare for the NBA Draft.”

The Blue Devils will return two other freshmen starters from this season’s 29-7 team that lost to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament’s second round, in a game where Lively didn’t score but grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked two shots. Mark Mitchell, a 6-8 forward, and 6-5 point guard Tyrese Proctor have both announced they’ll play at Duke as sophomores.

Duke is still waiting on decisions from 7-foot freshman center Kyle Filipowski and 6-3 junior guard Jeremy Roach. Those two starters are gathering information about whether to return to Duke or pursue professional opportunities.

Coach Jon Scheyer has signed the nation’s No. 2-ranked recruiting class, which includes five 5-star rated players. Three of 6-8 forwards, Sean Stewart, Mackenize Mgbako and TJ Power, are coming to Duke along with 6-5 guard Caleb Foster and 6-2 guard Jared McCain.

In addition to Mitchell and Proctor, Duke will also return 6-10 graduate student center Ryan Young.