Cooper Flagg

[Pelly24]

Cooper gives me Jimmy Butler vibes. Not in attitude, not at all. But rather his game -

1) Mostly plays off the ball, gives his teammates a lot of breathing space to do their own thing. He ain't Melo.
2) Tends to score inside, not on post-ups, but on bully ball drives
3) Gets fouled a lot.
4) Unselfish and effective distributor, with simple passes. Nothing flashy.
5) Good rebounder.
6) Excellent defender.
7) Takes over a game when his team needs the points, otherwise happy enough to play within the system.

He's bigger than Jimmy, of course, but a similar playing style. Only it took Butler until his late 20s to reach that level of game understanding, and Coop has it just after his 18th birthday.

He is obviously a Can't Miss prospect. Whether he becomes an all-time NBA great or just a really good player, that I do not know.

Glad someone else agrees with me. i think I'm the first person to make the comparison. I think "taller Jimmy Butler" probably means a top 5 player. Jimmy between 2016 and 2023 at least was a top 10 player to me. Cooper just seems springier and longer. He's got a chance to be an even better playmaker.

[turnaroundJ]

i still don't think he has wing quickness/shiftiness like some of these SF comps being mentioned

[Jakay]

He's not taller than Wembanyana either. That's a concern.

He DOES deserve a concern thread.

[50yrceltsfan]

Taking into account his production relative to his age, he has the making of an all-time player.

Been watching him since he was 14. The other thing nobody's talking about is he's an absolute alpha dog, Larry Bird mentality, supremely confident, he's the boss, talks a lot of trash. Tough to find a comp for him, his slashing style & quickness reminds me a little of the best Andrew Wiggins. He's unique and still growing his game. Wish he had a higher release on his jumper. He's 6'8 but may keep growing at 18 yrs 1 month.

[50yrceltsfan]

i still don't think he has wing quickness/shiftiness like some of these SF comps being mentioned

He's very quick by any measure. I wouldn't call him shifty but I would call him strong and decisive.

[Bad Bart]

All of the questions about his ability to score in this thread even after he set the ACC freshman scoring record in a game (42 points on 14 shots) plus another 28 point game after that seems bizarre to me. He's also 5th in the country in WS/40, 2nd in Defensive Rating and 2nd in BPM at a very young 18 years old. I think a lot of you are missing the forest for the trees here. Generational or not I don't know, but I'm pretty sure any team in the NBA would be improved with him on their roster.

[tsherkin]

All of the questions about his ability to score in this thread even after he set the ACC freshman scoring record in a game (42 points on 14 shots) plus another 28 point game after that seems bizarre to me. He's also 5th in the country in WS/40, 2nd in Defensive Rating and 2nd in BPM at a very young 18 years old. I think a lot of you are missing the forest for the trees here. Generational or not I don't know, but I'm pretty sure any team in the NBA would be improved with him on their roster.

I think the salient takeaway is that no one should really care that much about specific college achievements. Redick and Morrison crushed scoring in the NCAA and it did not translate to the NBA. Flagg enjoys physical advantage to a degree which will be diminished in the NBA, and has questions about his shooting. It's quite likely that he'll be very good, but not of these ACC scoring records or whatever else really matter at all where the NBA is concerned. That'll only start to get settled once he actually hits the league.

[Bad Bart]

All of the questions about his ability to score in this thread even after he set the ACC freshman scoring record in a game (42 points on 14 shots) plus another 28 point game after that seems bizarre to me. He's also 5th in the country in WS/40, 2nd in Defensive Rating and 2nd in BPM at a very young 18 years old. I think a lot of you are missing the forest for the trees here. Generational or not I don't know, but I'm pretty sure any team in the NBA would be improved with him on their roster.

I think the salient takeaway is that no one should really care that much about specific college achievements. Redick and Morrison crushed scoring in the NCAA and it did not translate to the NBA. Flagg enjoys physical advantage to a degree which will be diminished in the NBA, and has questions about his shooting. It's quite likely that he'll be very good, but not of these ACC scoring records or whatever else really matter at all where the NBA is concerned. That'll only start to get settled once he actually hits the league.

You're 100% right, there's nothing we can learn from his college experience that would translate to the NBA. And mentioning Redick and Morrison in connection with Flagg makes a ton of sense since they're similar players.

[tsherkin]

You're 100% right, there's nothing we can learn from his college experience that would translate to the NBA. And mentioning Redick and Morrison in connection with Flagg makes a ton of sense since they're similar players.

Your sarcasm notwithstanding, my point is that the specifics of what he's doing as a scorer aren't telling.

With his specific profile, as I said, it's likely that he'll translate well. But mentioning what he's doing as a scorer isn't terribly useful to projecting how well he'll translate to the NBA.

[Duke4life831]

All of the questions about his ability to score in this thread even after he set the ACC freshman scoring record in a game (42 points on 14 shots) plus another 28 point game after that seems bizarre to me. He's also 5th in the country in WS/40, 2nd in Defensive Rating and 2nd in BPM at a very young 18 years old. I think a lot of you are missing the forest for the trees here. Generational or not I don't know, but I'm pretty sure any team in the NBA would be improved with him on their roster.

I think the salient takeaway is that no one should really care that much about specific college achievements. Redick and Morrison crushed scoring in the NCAA and it did not translate to the NBA. Flagg enjoys physical advantage to a degree which will be diminished in the NBA, and has questions about his shooting. It's quite likely that he'll be very good, but not of these ACC scoring records or whatever else really matter at all where the NBA is concerned. That'll only start to get settled once he actually hits the league.

I agree with this to a certain degree. Especially when talking about players with significant physical disadvantages when compared to the pros (like JJ and Morrison).

Now Flagg may not be a freak like a Wemby, but his size and athleticism won’t be viewed as a negative at the NBA level. He’s going to be a plus athlete (at minimum) at the NBA level.

Also I agree if we are talking random achievements. But let’s just cut to the big one. Flagg is the heavy heavy favorite to win NPOY as a freshman. Only 3 freshman have done that and they’re Zion, AD, and KD. We’re talking 2 first ballot HOFs and Zion who even though he’s been fat and injured basically his entire year. Year 2 in the league he was 27/7/4 on 65 TS% and a 27 PER. So what Flagg is doing is definitely pretty significant

[tsherkin]

Now Flagg may not be a freak like a Wemby, but his size and athleticism won’t be viewed as a negative at the NBA level. He’s going to be a plus athlete (at minimum) at the NBA level.

Yes, I expect so. His lift doesn't look remarkable, but he looks pretty mobile for his size and he has good reach and pretty good coordination.

Also I agree if we are talking random achievements. But let’s just cut to the big one. Flagg is the heavy heavy favorite to win NPOY as a freshman. Only 3 freshman have done that and they’re Zion, AD, and KD. We’re talking 2 first ballot HOFs and Zion who even though he’s been fat and injured basically his entire year. Year 2 in the league he was 27/7/4 on 65 TS% and a 27 PER.

We'll see how it goes.

I agree that Flagg is likely to hit the league pretty well, I just tire of seeing people talk up college achievements. Especially in an age where good players don't typically last past their freshman season, so talent ebbs and flows much more fiercely. And NCAA ball is generally much lower-quality than the NBA, so we'll see how NBA defenses impact things. Flagg isn't Zion, KD or AD, either, so to me, that comparison goes only so far for me at this point.

More to the point, Flagg's posting 19/8/4 in 31 mpg on basically 60% TS at the moment, right? That's reasonable.

KD: 26/11/1 on 59.4% TS
AD: 14/10/1 on 66.5% TS, with nearly 4.7 bpg (leading the nation), leading the nation in FG% on a pretty well-distributed offense
Zion: ~ 23/9/2 on 71.1% TS, shooting 68% from the field

The level of dominance these guys displayed was on a different level than what we're seeing from Flagg at the moment. Now granted, he's only played 18 games and he's trending up. He has looked quite a bit different in December and January and he's got his big explosion game out there now. So we'll see where the remainder of the season goes for him.

I'm interested to see what happens when he hits a league where the key is 4 feet wider. I'm interested to see what happens when he tries to do all of his work from the left side of the floor and teams start trying to force him right more. He moves well without the ball, he slashes pretty well right now, he's quick off the ground. First step isn't stunning but isn't bad, ball control seems all right. He has a reasonable set of moves with his back to the basket. Lots to like, for sure.

I am, of course, a skeptic by default, but in this case it's less about Flagg's potential (which I view as being quite strong) and more so about the practice of using college anything as a yardstick for league translation. Like, granted, if you blow in college but somehow make the league, I'd be surprised if you're good, sure. But there are loads of guys who look great in the NCAA and don't translate to the NBA, so I remain hesitant.

[puja21]

I think the salient takeaway is that no one should really care that much about specific college achievements. Redick and Morrison crushed scoring in the NCAA and it did not translate to the NBA. Flagg enjoys physical advantage to a degree which will be diminished in the NBA, and has questions about his shooting. It's quite likely that he'll be very good, but not of these ACC scoring records or whatever else really matter at all where the NBA is concerned. That'll only start to get settled once he actually hits the league.

Of course college statlines aren't transferrable to pros

But this comparison is awful.

Redick and Morrison were 4 year college athletes

At age 18, Morrison barely broke double figures on the year and Redick had over a dozen single digit games

You made the point yourself "Flagg enjoys physical advantage" -- at 18. Of course the scouts are projecting physical development. He won't be 205 LBS at age 25

[tsherkin]

You made the point yourself "Flagg enjoys physical advantage" -- at 18. Of course the scouts are projecting physical development. He won't be 205 LBS at age 25

Sure. And like I've now said multiple times, I don't expect Flagg to fall flat on his face as Morrison did, not struggle to be more than a roleplayer like Redick did.

[SmashMouthRod]

I think he's a skill blend of a couple different guys. I believe he will be a very good complementary player but who knows. I think he would be great for a team with a potential superstar in place such as Wemby, Cade, maybe even Curry. I think rosters like BKN. Utah or Wizards would still be a lottery team with him in place and his growth may even get stunted being on one of those teams. Reminds me of Gordan Hayward but has some bully in him. Probably will be a similar player to Franz.

[ryan in Maine]

He's not taller than Wembanyana either. That's a concern.

He DOES deserve a concern thread.

He's not done g r o w i n g.

[sikma42]

Cooper Flagg really dunking on these kids heads


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[adubmac]

He literally willed his team to victory. To me, his competitiveness is his best attribute.

[Special_Puppy]

I would definately let Cooper Flagg date my daughter

[CptCrunch]

Cooper Flagg wasn't going to lose this game

[reload141]

I would definately let Cooper Flagg date my daughter

I would date Cooper myself. Wait. What?