Tom Heinsohn vs. Dereck Lively II Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Dereck Lively II and Tom Heinsohn, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Tom Heinsohn played 9 years in the NBA, 6 more than Dereck Lively II, who played 3. Tom Heinsohn had the first of his seasons in 1956-57, while Dereck Lively II had his rookie season in 2023-24. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achievements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Rookie Season
	Tom Heinsohn	Dereck Lively II
Season	1956-57	2023-24
Team	Boston Celtics	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards	Rookie of the Year	-
	-	All-Rookie Second Team
	All-Star Game	-
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Mavericks Lost NBA Finals

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Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Tom Heinsohn	72	29.9	16.2	-	-	9.8	1.6	-	-	-	4.2	6.2	15.6	.397	-	-	-	3.8	4.8	.790
difference:	+17	+6.4	+7.4			+2.9	+0.5				-1.6	+2.2	+10.2	+.350				+3.1	+3.3	+.284
Dereck Lively II	55	23.5	8.8	2.5	4.4	6.9	1.1	0.7	1.4	0.9	2.6	4.0	5.4	.747	0.0	0.0	-	0.7	1.5	.506
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Tom Heinsohn	10	37.0	22.9	-	-	11.7	2.0	-	-	-	4.0	9.0	23.1	.390	-	-	-	4.9	6.9	.710
difference:	+11	+15.0	+15.0			+4.3	+0.7				-1.7	+6.0	+18.6	+.284				+3.2	+4.0	+.120
Dereck Lively II	21	22.0	7.9	2.7	4.7	7.4	1.3	0.4	1.0	1.0	2.3	3.0	4.5	.674	0.0	0.0	-	1.7	2.9	.590

Season 3
	Tom Heinsohn	Dereck Lively II
Season	1958-59	2025-26
Team	Boston Celtics	Dallas Mavericks
Honors & Awards
Playoffs	NBA Champion	Did Not Play

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3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Tom Heinsohn	66	31.7	18.8	-	-	9.7	2.5	-	-	-	4.1	7.0	18.1	.390	-	-	-	4.7	5.9	.798
difference:	+59	+15.3	+14.5			+4.4	+0.6				-1.1	+5.4	+15.5	+.221				+3.6	+4.5	+.002
Dereck Lively II	7	16.4	4.3	2.0	3.3	5.3	1.9	0.6	1.6	1.4	3.0	1.6	2.6	.611	0.0	0.0	-	1.1	1.4	.800
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Tom Heinsohn	11	31.6	19.9	-	-	8.9	2.9	-	-	-	3.7	8.3	20.0	.414	-	-	-	3.4	5.1	.661
Dereck Lively II	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Additional Years
* Tom Heinsohn played 6 seasons more than Dereck Lively II in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 9, from 1960 to 1965—Tom Heinsohn played in 6 Playoffs and won 6 NBA Championships. In those 6 extra years over Dereck Lively II, Tom Heinsohn got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	4 All-NBA Second Team 5 All-Star Game