Flagg preseason debut: looking as good as advertised at 18 years old

[FrodoBaggins]

Don't you think that it's far more representative to look at Luka's 72 games RS? Making conclusions from 4 games per 36 stats is kinda funny.

It's to temper expectations & put things into perspective.

If you want to put things in perspective and temper expectations you rather write down Luka's per 36 RS numbers, which I understand should be the goal for Flagg.

You don't compare preseason stats to regular season stats. I can give you a rough prediction of what I think Flagg will average.

[Bob8]

Luka's rookie preseason per 36 stats for comparison:

18.4 points, 62.05% TS
6.2 rebounds
4.3 assists
1.8 steals
1.5 blocks
4.0 TOs

Hot shooting from three (43.5% on 7.1 attempts) gives Doncic the shooting efficiency advantage, but more turnover-prone. Cooper's also nearly a year younger (18.5 draft age vs. 19.3 draft age).

Luka was also much more experienced and overall skilled

Luka was older and more skilled in a narrower set of select skills. He was, however, smaller, less athletic (speed, power, quickness, etc), dramatically worse on defense, and playing off-ball on offense.

Both guys have their strengths and weaknesses.

Luka is 6'7 without shoes, I don't exactly see a big difference there and more importantly he's 6'7 Pg, extremely big for his position. They're totally different players, people who believe Flagg will suddenly become Pg and similarly productive player might while being great defender might be very disappointed.

[Bob8]

It's to temper expectations & put things into perspective.

If you want to put things in perspective and temper expectations you rather write down Luka's per 36 RS numbers, which I understand should be the goal for Flagg.

You don't compare preseason stats to regular season stats. I can give you a rough prediction of what I think Flagg will average.

But you can predict, if Flagg will have better stats than Luka. And I'm telling you he won't have 23.7/8.7/6.7 per 36.

[levon]

With how Dallas is playing him, he's going to have to hit his shots to be good offensively. If one of AD or Lively get injured, then we'll see him slotted appropriately at the 4. His handle is pretty good for his size.

Defensively he's high IQ. He has good athleticism but not overwhelming.

Confusing prospect honestly. I'm inclined to say he's overrated based on the hype but I know he has the tools and smarts to get there. I think it's a bit premature though and Kidd's doing him no favors.

[sikma42]

With how Dallas is playing him, he's going to have to hit his shots to be good offensively. If one of AD or Lively get injured, then we'll see him slotted appropriately at the [emoji[emoji[emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji[emoji6]][emoji[emoji6]]]][emoji[emoji[emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji[emoji6]][emoji[emoji6]]]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji[emoji6]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]]]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji[emoji6]][emoji[emoji6]]]]]. His handle is pretty good for his size.

Defensively he's high IQ. He has good athleticism but not overwhelming.

Confusing prospect honestly. I'm inclined to say he's overrated based on the hype but I know he has the tools and smarts to get there. I think it's a bit premature though and Kidd's doing him no favors.

I think playing Flagg like this is for his long term benefit. He is going to fast track the development of his guard skills instead of just leaning on the things he’s already exceptional about that. IMO it’s the right move.

Same thing the Spurs did with Wemby.


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[Texas Chuck]

He just looks like he belongs. He's going to have rough nights, he's the youngest player in the league. He's not a knock-down shooter. But he plays like he knows he's an NBA player, he competes hard and he's big and talented.

Don't really care what his per 36 numbers are now or will be in the regular season. His impact isn't going to be box score driven anyway. See absolutely no reason to even compare his numbers to Luka one of the biggest stat stuffers we've ever seen. Cooper is almost certainly never going to be flirting with 30/9/9 or having 1st half triple doubles. Just not who he is.

[ryguy613]

I don't know, even out of these picked ones, to me just two last quotes implied he could be as good as LeBron. Saying he is as polished as rookie LeBron does not really mean guy thinks he will be next LeBron, people just exited, because for a 18 year old, Flaggs current ability is already super high level, which is true...

18 year old Luka was probably more polished than 18 year old Lebron and he did even go top 2 in his draft

however you wanna interpret it, its still pretty over the top. The real point here is still that people were using a 14 minute stretch of a single Preseason game to go absolutely ham about how amazing this kid is. If you're gonna set up logic like that, its funny to get defensive when someone else uses a single preseason game to express concern.

It pretty much just goes to show it really doesnt matter what this guy was able to do or not do in preseason. When he did well it was proof that hes a star in the making! When he did poorly its no big deal because MJ also had a bad game early in his career... or something lol. All of this is just pretty nonsensical. Hes neither a star or a bust. he literally hasnt played a single minute of real NBA basketball.

Its about what he is capable off, not if his shots fall in. He was clearly capable off a lot in a games we saw him in, hense the hype and optimist, its justified. Where in your case, you didnt point out that maybe he is too slow or smth actually substantial, negative commnts only mentions that he was 3 from 13, which can happen to any player. People pointing positives and people pointing negatives here are not the same at all, negatives mentioned here are not substantial...

When you scout a player, you look at things he can do and can't, what is translatable, you dont see guy have bad shooting night and just assume he sucks now.

hes not the first guy who is capable of greatness from an early age. how many times are we gonna have conversations about the Ben Simmons and Zions of the world. We've seen super star potential often in young guys. Thats the beauty of the draft. Its all upside while its just hypothetical. I have no intention of trashing Flagg. I dont believe hes going to be a bust, nor do I see a reason for concern. I'm simply stating that your logic, in my opinion, is flawed. Lots of guys flash greatness early. Hell, Lonzo Ball had something like a 30 point triple double in his second ever NBA game. Do you think that's flashing greatness? It would have been easy to proclaim he could be the next Magic Johnson, but it wouldnt have been wise to do so. So the point is greatness needs to be measured over time, with a reasonable sample size... not over preseason minutes. I dont think these games can be used to proclaim his greatness any more than they can be used to exclaim concern. Neither is particularly well reasoned imo.