Cooper Flagg

[johannking]

Not much to takeaway from this game. I checked out at the H2 10 min mark

[firedavidkahn]

Cooper Flagg is so damn good.

True freshman leading Duke in EVERY major category (points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per game) and with Duke being ranked #2 (18-2)

Anyone who doubted him is a fool

[Duke4life831]

21/8/7 with 3 steals and 2 blocks

Dude just does everything at such a high level

[JustBuzzin]

21/8/7 with 3 steals and 2 blocks

Dude just does everything at such a high level

LeBron Jr.

[FrodoBaggins]

Read on Twitter

[damanick10]

People still have Harper over this guy? Insane

[og15]

Did you even watch Brent Barry?

They aren't even remotely similar, other than being white. WTF?

Yeah, I watched him. You don’t like my comparison? Ok, his ceiling is a rich man’s Tom Gugliotta. Better?

Strike for trolling.
- ccs

Tom Gugliota was really good before all the injuries and near death experience. During his peak, he was a 20/8/4/1/1 player. A rich man's Tom Gugliota is a lot better basketball player than you think. So you are saying Flagg is going to be a 25/10/5/1.5/1.5 guy with good to great defense?

Surprised no one's bothere comparing him to Chris Mullin yet. He's been compared to every other white guy.

Even though I don't think that comp is so good, I agree, if you have a "rich man's" Gugliotta, then you're talking about a perennial All-Star player. Gugliota has some nice passing skills, quick hands, shooting ability and some versatile skills, so if you have that an improve on everything, you're got a very very good player.

That's one of those attempted diminishing remarks that fails.

[FrodoBaggins]

Read on Twitter

[Ice Man]

He is better than the hype.

[RookieStar]

Yup... he is as advertised. I cant wait for the NCAAT to see him being matchup with bigger SF/PF that will try to show him up in hopes of getting into GMs draft radar.

[CptCrunch]

I like seeing Coop pass.

His is scoring is what it is. Good for his draft position, but not special.

Racking 7-8 assists a game in college hugely improves his NBA potential. We go from Tatum/Paolo to LeBron-lite type of SF/PF.

[Special_Puppy]

He’s quite good

[GSWFan1994]

Looking more and more like a mix of Bird's passing, ballhandling and (gulp) shooting, along with Kirilenko's athleticism and defensive awareness.

[Johnny Firpo]

overrated prospect. people use 'generational talent' so loosely these days.

What makes him overrated?

His stats were pedestrian in high school.

16.5ppg 7.5rpg 3.8apg 1.6spg 2.7bpg

I don't care if that is a great high school team with a bunch of other top players, one of his teammates averaged exactly the same averages points and rebound averages. The season prior it was the same guys and he averaged 9.8ppg 5.2rpg and was like the 3rd or 4th leading scorer. If you are some generational talent I think you really need to be dominating high schoolers in a way that is tangible on the court. Luka and Wembanyama for example dominated professionals.

I expect him to be the #1 pick and longterm it will probably work out well, but a lot of people are already talking about him as the best player in college basketball or top 5. I think expecting a 6-9, 200lb dude that plays in the post to come into college basketball at the age of 17 and be a top 5 player like I've seen some pick him is ridiculous in the super senior era. Freshmen are struggling more than ever per kenpom.

He not only has that working against him, he doesn't turn 18 until like the last week of December when there will be many 23 and 24 year old 250lb post players in college basketball next year in the last year of the super senior. It's basically like a high school Junior playing in college basketball if you take his age and those in their 5th or 6th years and he will run into Bacot and DJ Burns types.

We need an update from you. Flagg's production and efficiency is higher than what you predicted/expected, and I think most of your arguments now are hard to defend, but maybe you still disagree. I think it's very-very hard to argue against him being a top 5 college player today.

[tsherkin]

Well, he's certainly crushing it for Duke. Great to see.

[12footrim]

What makes him overrated?

His stats were pedestrian in high school.

16.5ppg 7.5rpg 3.8apg 1.6spg 2.7bpg

I don't care if that is a great high school team with a bunch of other top players, one of his teammates averaged exactly the same averages points and rebound averages. The season prior it was the same guys and he averaged 9.8ppg 5.2rpg and was like the 3rd or 4th leading scorer. If you are some generational talent I think you really need to be dominating high schoolers in a way that is tangible on the court. Luka and Wembanyama for example dominated professionals.

I expect him to be the #1 pick and longterm it will probably work out well, but a lot of people are already talking about him as the best player in college basketball or top 5. I think expecting a 6-9, 200lb dude that plays in the post to come into college basketball at the age of 17 and be a top 5 player like I've seen some pick him is ridiculous in the super senior era. Freshmen are struggling more than ever per kenpom.

He not only has that working against him, he doesn't turn 18 until like the last week of December when there will be many 23 and 24 year old 250lb post players in college basketball next year in the last year of the super senior. It's basically like a high school Junior playing in college basketball if you take his age and those in their 5th or 6th years and he will run into Bacot and DJ Burns types.

We need an update from you. Flagg's production and efficiency is higher than what you predicted/expected, and I think most of your arguments now are hard to defend, but maybe you still disagree. I think it's very-very hard to argue against him being a top 5 college player today.

Here is my podcast about this very subject, if you want to hear the arguments.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Qxxzhgs4Y7XIeYLyQ9iK1?si=s5v9YejfRMuClvxDorLfzg

Basically I projected Flagg to have a 23 PER, 58% true shooting vs the 40th defensive SOS in the preseason on my site and here, and he's at a 29.1 PER, 59% true shooting vs the 63rd ranked defenses. For perspective, the last 7 POY's averaged a 37 PER, 65% TS, vs mostly top 20 defenses. Some like Edey were against top 5 defense. Broome currently has a 34.4 PER vs the #1 defensive SOS even as he's been hurt multiple times and not 100%. There isn't really a comparison statistically for all the people that want to make it seem like there is. I projected Broome #1 in the preseason while most had him around 5th.

Yes Flagg is better than what I thought, but still behind several players in my model I talk about who have better statistical impact vs objectively better competition. What people fail to acknowledge is how bad the ACC is. It might get 3 NCAA bids out of 18 teams and even 2 of them are not good seeds, and that's what he is lighting up. Basically a MWC level mid major conference. He's played easier defenses than several mid majors infact. Before he got to this pathetic conference he had a 23 PER, .505% true shooting, vs a top 15 defensive SOS. The level of competition matters IMO, and he's basically beating up mid major level teams.

[jfs1000d]

His high school stats were pedestrian? He didn’t really play high school. Monteverde is like semi pro. lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[12footrim]

His high school stats were pedestrian? He didn’t really play high school. Monteverde is like semi pro. lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Since the NIL and super senior era has kept so many players in college, especially bigs and consolidated the talent in the major conferences, the frontcourt players from Montverde had sucked and been disappointing. Even #1 guys going to Duke.



Underachieving in this era.

I don't think it was unreasonable to question if Flagg who averaged 16ppg 7rpg 4apg on a 62% TS would just walk into college and be the most dominate player in the nation like others projected after doing the research. I projected Broome to be that and he is and Flagg really hasn't. He has some real duds too vs teams like Incarnate Word, Seattle, Miami etc people just ignore.

My argument the entire time on here was do I think Broome who I projected one or other 23 and 24 year college guys would have averaged that same stat line on that same High school team. I think not when Broome had a better stats in the SEC last year in 24 minutes a game which is why I thought it voting Flagg #1 player in a landslide made no sense.

[GrindCityHustle]

A rich man's Tom Gugliotta lol

I like Tom but he never had dunks like that lol

[Johnny Firpo]

His stats were pedestrian in high school.

16.5ppg 7.5rpg 3.8apg 1.6spg 2.7bpg

I don't care if that is a great high school team with a bunch of other top players, one of his teammates averaged exactly the same averages points and rebound averages. The season prior it was the same guys and he averaged 9.8ppg 5.2rpg and was like the 3rd or 4th leading scorer. If you are some generational talent I think you really need to be dominating high schoolers in a way that is tangible on the court. Luka and Wembanyama for example dominated professionals.

I expect him to be the #1 pick and longterm it will probably work out well, but a lot of people are already talking about him as the best player in college basketball or top 5. I think expecting a 6-9, 200lb dude that plays in the post to come into college basketball at the age of 17 and be a top 5 player like I've seen some pick him is ridiculous in the super senior era. Freshmen are struggling more than ever per kenpom.

He not only has that working against him, he doesn't turn 18 until like the last week of December when there will be many 23 and 24 year old 250lb post players in college basketball next year in the last year of the super senior. It's basically like a high school Junior playing in college basketball if you take his age and those in their 5th or 6th years and he will run into Bacot and DJ Burns types.

We need an update from you. Flagg's production and efficiency is higher than what you predicted/expected, and I think most of your arguments now are hard to defend, but maybe you still disagree. I think it's very-very hard to argue against him being a top 5 college player today.

Here is my podcast about this very subject, if you want to hear the arguments.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Qxxzhgs4Y7XIeYLyQ9iK1?si=s5v9YejfRMuClvxDorLfzg

Basically I projected Flagg to have a 23 PER, 58% true shooting vs the 40th defensive SOS in the preseason on my site and here, and he's at a 29.1 PER, 59% true shooting vs the 63rd ranked defenses. For perspective, the last 7 POY's averaged a 37 PER, 65% TS, vs mostly top 20 defenses. Some like Edey were against top 5 defense. Broome currently has a 34.4 PER vs the #1 defensive SOS even as he's been hurt multiple times and not 100%. There isn't really a comparison statistically for all the people that want to make it seem like there is. I projected Broome #1 in the preseason while most had him around 5th.

Yes Flagg is better than what I thought, but still behind several players in my model I talk about who have better statistical impact vs objectively better competition. What people fail to acknowledge is how bad the ACC is. It might get 3 NCAA bids out of 18 teams and even 2 of them are not good seeds, and that's what he is lighting up. Basically a MWC level mid major conference. He's played easier defenses than several mid majors infact. Before he got to this pathetic conference he had a 23 PER, .505% true shooting, vs a top 15 defensive SOS. The level of competition matters IMO, and he's basically beating up mid major level teams.

Thank you for the detailed reply, and I will definitely check out your podcast. NCAA is still my blind spot compared to the NBA, but I have become more invested in recent years. Checked out the pod quickly, your voice is okay, that's good thing it's not annoying. You are an intelligent guy, but I feel you are a little bit biased against this particular player. What do you expect in the Madness, if he could really play well and make the final four maybe, could that change your opinion, or since that's a small sample size, you would still feel that his current production and upside is potentially overrated in an NBA context?