Cooper Flagg - Duke

[eminence]

I think I'd need to see some more physical growth to get him up to reliable C size to consider him at a Zion tier of prospect. I don't see any way for him to get there primarily on his offense, he likely needs to have elite rim protection potential to have that type of impact on the NBA game.

[clyde21]

again, you guys are comparing 16 yr old Flagg with 18 yr old Zion at Duke...Zion was not the Zion at Duke he was 16...so yes both at the same stage Sophomore going on Junior Flagg is undoubtedly better

we'll see what happens with Flagg at Duke, hard to imagine anyone having a better year than Zion tho but we'll see.

he's definitely a freak prospect and I wouldn't overthink this cat.

[mattao313]

he quite literally blew through a sneaker at Duke due to the amount of weight/torque he produced and injured himself. He was anywhere from 270-285 lbs coming out and his weight was always a long-term concern. How did you miss all of this?

Just look at the “weaknesses” of his scouting report

https://www.nbadraft.net/players/zion-williamson/

https://hoopshype.com/zion-williamson-scouting-report-and-accolades/

What? He was not overweight at Duke. Just because he was a freak specimen so much so that he blew through a shoe doesn't support your argument.

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c'mon now. Every single scout and talking head talked first and foremost about his weight concerns and how that much weight would likely prevent him from having a long and healthy career due to the stress on his joints. And those fears have been realized with him constantly being injured and overweight as a pro. He was carrying too much weight even at Duke. Not "fat" but too heavy. Then he became fat in the pros.

Again he was fine at Duke I mean all super explosive players will have questions about injuries but that's isn't gonna affect how good he is as a prospect.

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[mattao313]

again, you guys are comparing 16 yr old Flagg with 18 yr old Zion at Duke...Zion was not the Zion at Duke he was 16...so yes both at the same stage Sophomore going on Junior Flagg is undoubtedly better

we'll see what happens with Flagg at Duke, hard to imagine anyone having a better year than Zion tho but we'll see.

he's definitely a freak prospect and I wouldn't overthink this cat.

Highshool Zions physical tools and ball skills trump any stats this guy puts up in HS. That's not knocking him but Zion was generational.

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[clyde21]

again, you guys are comparing 16 yr old Flagg with 18 yr old Zion at Duke...Zion was not the Zion at Duke he was 16...so yes both at the same stage Sophomore going on Junior Flagg is undoubtedly better

we'll see what happens with Flagg at Duke, hard to imagine anyone having a better year than Zion tho but we'll see.

he's definitely a freak prospect and I wouldn't overthink this cat.

Highshool Zions physical tools and ball skills trump any stats this guy puts up in HS. That's not knocking him but Zion was generational.

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do you have any posts from when Zion was in HS calling him generational? im too lazy to look it up.

because I was the first one on this board to call Zion generational, and he wasn't even the top HS recruit in his own class (that was RJ)

[Duke4life831]

again, you guys are comparing 16 yr old Flagg with 18 yr old Zion at Duke...Zion was not the Zion at Duke he was 16...so yes both at the same stage Sophomore going on Junior Flagg is undoubtedly better

we'll see what happens with Flagg at Duke, hard to imagine anyone having a better year than Zion tho but we'll see.

he's definitely a freak prospect and I wouldn't overthink this cat.

Highshool Zions physical tools and ball skills trump any stats this guy puts up in HS. That's not knocking him but Zion was generational.

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do you have any posts from when Zion was in HS calling him generational? im too lazy to look it up.

because I was the first one on this board to call Zion generational, and he wasn't even the top HS recruit in his own class (that was RJ)

I will challenge you on this!!! haha. Im not sure, but Im putting my hat in the competition for the first guy on here to claim this. And the reward will be nothing.

[Duke4life831]

Here is the thing, there are more than 1 way to be a freak prospect. Zion was a freak prospect because of how freakish athletic he was to go with his super high offensive BBIQ. Dude just didnt take a bad shot. Add in he was still in his peak athletically at Duke, so he was able to fly around defensively. Straight up beast.

To be fair, I dont think Flagg will be as dominant as Zion in his one year in college (hopefully at Duke). But I dont think that will mean he wont be just as good of a prospect.

Again the reason I say this is because Flagg is the best defensive high school prospect probably since AD. Flagg is a legit 6'8 (some places say 6'9) and I dont know his wingspan, but just from looking at his body, Id say its a damn good 7'1+. And then you look at his offensive growth in the last year. He was not a point forward in any sense of the word this time last year. His jumper was also much further behind where it is now. Now he is playing that point forward role, the jumper still isnt money but the progression is no doubt there. Add in the dude is already a mid to high 80% FT shooter and has nothing wrong with his form. He also has a high release which will be very beneficial going forward.

So ya Zion was a freak prospect because he was a freak athlete like we havent seen before. I think Flagg is going to be a freak prospect because I think he has a chance to be a legit DPOY kind of defender while being your #1 option on offense and a 6'9 point forward. That player in today's NBA is basically as ideal of a player as you can ask for.

[clyde21]

Highshool Zions physical tools and ball skills trump any stats this guy puts up in HS. That's not knocking him but Zion was generational.

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do you have any posts from when Zion was in HS calling him generational? im too lazy to look it up.

because I was the first one on this board to call Zion generational, and he wasn't even the top HS recruit in his own class (that was RJ)

I will challenge you on this!!! haha. Im not sure, but Im putting my hat in the competition for the first guy on here to claim this. And the reward will be nothing.

can you beat Jan 13, 2018?

[Duke4life831]

do you have any posts from when Zion was in HS calling him generational? im too lazy to look it up.

because I was the first one on this board to call Zion generational, and he wasn't even the top HS recruit in his own class (that was RJ)

I will challenge you on this!!! haha. Im not sure, but Im putting my hat in the competition for the first guy on here to claim this. And the reward will be nothing.

can you beat Jan 13, 2018?

Lets see, Dec, 13th 2016. I said I think he will be the #1 pick and we will see Barkley comps. I mean I may not have said the exact word of "generational" haha. But I say thats pretty close enough haha.

I also called him a freak talent early in 2017. I wont go too in detail on my posts back then. I may have called Bagley as a guy that has freak potential. And around that time I may have been hyping Langford up as a top 3 pick as well (not a freak talent though) haha. Also some rough Duval takes as well haha.

[clyde21]

I will challenge you on this!!! haha. Im not sure, but Im putting my hat in the competition for the first guy on here to claim this. And the reward will be nothing.

can you beat Jan 13, 2018?

Lets see, Dec, 13th 2016. I said I think he will be the #1 pick and we will see Barkley comps. I mean I may not have said the exact word of "generational" haha. But I say thats pretty close enough haha.

I also called him a freak talent early in 2017. I wont go too in detail on my posts back then. I may have called Bagley as a guy that has freak potential. And around that time I may have been hyping Langford up as a top 3 pick as well (not a freak talent though) haha. Also some rough Duval takes as well haha.

ok u def got me beat then by like a year

i claim 2nd tho then

[Duke4life831]

can you beat Jan 13, 2018?

Lets see, Dec, 13th 2016. I said I think he will be the #1 pick and we will see Barkley comps. I mean I may not have said the exact word of "generational" haha. But I say thats pretty close enough haha.

I also called him a freak talent early in 2017. I wont go too in detail on my posts back then. I may have called Bagley as a guy that has freak potential. And around that time I may have been hyping Langford up as a top 3 pick as well (not a freak talent though) haha. Also some rough Duval takes as well haha.

ok u def got me beat then by like a year

i claim 2nd tho then

Haha I went back and searched and saw my early takes on Zion and felt great. But then I saw many of those posts were filled with horrific Bagley and Duval takes as well. Even with the early Zion takes, not a proud moment of mine to go back and look at some of those takes haha.

But ya back to Flagg. No doubt nowhere close to the same freakish physical tools like Zion. But like what we were talking about with Boozer. At some point the IQ and two way overall skill just squashes your doubts on how his physical tools will transfer. And its not like Flagg has bad physical tools. Basically the same thing is said by everyone who watches the guy (especially in person). He is so fluid and agile for a guy his size and his age.

[BostonCouchGM]

Relax. Neither of you discovered Zion or were the first to think his talent was generational. He had mixtapes and massive hype 7 years ago when he was pretty much full grown and dunking on awful competition. People were predicting he'd go #1 in the draft even back then and called his mixtape the best they'd ever seen. Yes, the safe consensus from many draft gurus was RJ was ranked higher but that was completely flipped after 1 week at Duke.

Flagg is the better overall talent since his defense, length, size, skill is simply better than Zion and while he too has a massive physical and athletic advantage he isn't reliant on those like Zion. I honestly think the only 16 year old prospect better than Flagg is Lebron. BTW Flagg was talking to Lebron before the game and he's taller than him. He's a legit 6'9" and it wouldn't surprise me if he has a little more growing to do.

edit-everyone with eyes knew he was a freak talent but from my search jonnames might be the first on here to claim he was "generational" in July of 2017.

[bigboi]

again, you guys are comparing 16 yr old Flagg with 18 yr old Zion at Duke...Zion was not the Zion at Duke he was 16...so yes both at the same stage Sophomore going on Junior Flagg is undoubtedly better

we'll see what happens with Flagg at Duke, hard to imagine anyone having a better year than Zion tho but we'll see.

he's definitely a freak prospect and I wouldn't overthink this cat.

Absolutely not lmao. Flagg looks average athletically. I’m not understanding the hype at all. Flagg is more Banchero than Zion if that

[bigboi]

Stats are cool. Not seeing it offensively. He's basically LeBron at the h.s. level athletically in terms of strength, size, leaping ability. What he does on offense doesn't really matter when he can just steamroll his way to the hoop. The skill isn't really there yet imo and he also seems to lack length, footspeed, quickness, agility.. etc. His shot is looking good though

Lebron athletically? What are y’all smoking in here?

[mattao313]

again, you guys are comparing 16 yr old Flagg with 18 yr old Zion at Duke...Zion was not the Zion at Duke he was 16...so yes both at the same stage Sophomore going on Junior Flagg is undoubtedly better

we'll see what happens with Flagg at Duke, hard to imagine anyone having a better year than Zion tho but we'll see.

he's definitely a freak prospect and I wouldn't overthink this cat.

Highshool Zions physical tools and ball skills trump any stats this guy puts up in HS. That's not knocking him but Zion was generational.

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do you have any posts from when Zion was in HS calling him generational? im too lazy to look it up.

because I was the first one on this board to call Zion generational, and he wasn't even the top HS recruit in his own class (that was RJ)

I'm pretty sure I was in that zion thread before he went to Duke claim he was a generational athlete to lazy to look it up tho lol.

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[Upperclass]

Stats are cool. Not seeing it offensively. He's basically LeBron at the h.s. level athletically in terms of strength, size, leaping ability. What he does on offense doesn't really matter when he can just steamroll his way to the hoop. The skill isn't really there yet imo and he also seems to lack length, footspeed, quickness, agility.. etc. His shot is looking good though

Lebron athletically? What are y’all smoking in here?

As in.. He's a LeBron level athlete vs other Highschoolers.. Not overall. He obviously isnt close to that type of athlete

[The Moose]

Read on Twitter

lol

[NO-KG-AI]

Read on Twitter

lol

I watch him play and he doesn’t look like an NBA star to me but at a certain point, production that ridiculous is hard to just brush off.

He puts up some bananas stat lines, and not the “take a bunch of shots to get a bunch of points” kind. Super impressice performances.

[elias808]

AK47 on steroids. We will see how it plays in the NBA, but that’s the comp I’m using currently.

[Big J]

He looks slow compared to a lot of prospects. He’s gonna be good, but I’m pumping the brakes on him being generational.