Cooper Flagg

[VFX]

Can I mention again that this kid is 17?

Cooper is 10 days from the youngest possible draft age.

Most NBA freshman lotto players are closer to the maximum age, one year held back due to academic development or started school late by a year, reaching mid 20.5 in age by draft. Cooper will be 18.5 on draft day, which is insanity.

This is lost on people.

He should be a senior in high school right now.

[Special_Puppy]

Flagg is 17 and is the best player in the ACC. Admittedly the ACC is a Mickey Mouse conference, but that's still pretty impressive!

[NYPiston]

He's a stud, flat out. Game is so complete already and he's just a pup although his body is NBA ready already. What's he going to be like at 21? 25? One of the most complete prospects in years. Maybe he's not super elite at any one thing but he's very good at just about everything. The definition of high floor, high ceiling prospect.

[sikma42]

I don't think anyone is saying Flagg isn't a great prospect and worthy of the #1 pick. It's just that people aren't sold on him being generational.

Him being 17 is also important to factor in. But we've seen 17-year-olds in the NBA before. Kobe was 17 years old dominating NBA summer league and getting voted to the NBA all-star game. We've seen Dwight Howard, Moses Malone, Kevin Garnett, TMac, Amare Stoudemire etc.

We've seen guys this age come into the NBA. Also, not as familar with Moses Malone as a prospect, but the other guys were not seen as generational. So if we didn't consider Dwight Howard, Kobe, T-Mac, Amare etc. generational than Cooper isn't either. Unless you want to argue that he is better than Kobe or Dwight at 17.

The one thing that worries me about Cooper is that he has a bad shooting touch and isn't very skilled. I'm sure it can improve, but its a bit troubling that he doesn't really have much to go to. He just puts his should down and is out of control a lot. I'm sure he will be an all-star based on motor and athleticism, but I don't see generational (Shaq, Lebron, Wemby, Wilt, KAJ).

[PhilBlackson]

The thing too to keep in mind is how strong he’s prob gonna be as his body develops.

He’s only 17 and still able to impose himself on multi year college players. When his frame fills out he’s gonna be a problem.

[VFX]

My only question is what team will the NBA want him on. The draft is rigged imo for certain stars.

I think Washington is definitely off the board for the #1 pick.

San Antonio would be nice, but they already got rewarded with Wemby.

New Orleans not a chance especially how they mishandled Zion.

Toronto this is probably at the top of my list as of now. Pair him with Barnes and take over Canada.

Charlotte stays in NC plays next to 2 budding stars in Melo/Miller.

Utah maybe, but that market is off the radar and not attractive for FA's.

Portland again off the radar in the Pacific Northwest.

I think Toronto will be his destination.

In order of "rigged for a location"

1. Utah - No clear star outside of Lauri. Demographics
2a. Toronto - Tanking team looking to pair Barnes with someone
2b. Portland - Young team, no clear star, pressing reset on vets, botched Scoot pick. Demographics.
3. Washington - Brand identity with Washington/ (American) Flagg . Currently in last.

I dont view other locations as realistic in this framing.

[tsherkin]

Garnett took until year 3 as an nba player to hit over 3 assists / 36 minutes, but Cooper plays more outside in and is looking to pass as well as shoot on drives. A problem with Cooper may not be the passing, it's teams willingness to feel the need to send defensive help which will open up the assists for him. Ben Simmons can still make passing work without being much of a threat at scoring though.

Still credit to Garnett who was averaging like 5 assists as a big man in a different era in his prime.

Right, but again, stylistically, they don't look the same at all. It's not a quality comparison on any level. Not on physical tools or dimensions, not on skillset. Not on aesthetics. It's a weird, non-functional comparison. And that isn't a reflection on Flagg's ability, just every basic detail of the two players is different.

[SweaterBae]

Can I mention again that this kid is 17?

Cooper is 10 days from the youngest possible draft age.

Most NBA freshman lotto players are closer to the maximum age, one year held back due to academic development or started school late by a year, reaching mid 20.5 in age by draft. Cooper will be 18.5 on draft day, which is insanity.

This is lost on people.

He should be a senior in high school right now.

lol it's like the singular common sentiment in this entire 50 page thread. NOBODY is unaware or discounting that.

[VFX]

Can I mention again that this kid is 17?

Cooper is 10 days from the youngest possible draft age.

Most NBA freshman lotto players are closer to the maximum age, one year held back due to academic development or started school late by a year, reaching mid 20.5 in age by draft. Cooper will be 18.5 on draft day, which is insanity.

This is lost on people.

He should be a senior in high school right now.

lol it's like the singular common sentiment in this entire 50 page thread. NOBODY is unaware or discounting that.

I may or may not be talking about the world outside of this particular thread.

[ChuckChilly]

My only question is what team will the NBA want him on. The draft is rigged imo for certain stars.

I think Washington is definitely off the board for the #1 pick.

San Antonio would be nice, but they already got rewarded with Wemby.

New Orleans not a chance especially how they mishandled Zion.

Toronto this is probably at the top of my list as of now. Pair him with Barnes and take over Canada.

Charlotte stays in NC plays next to 2 budding stars in Melo/Miller.

Utah maybe, but that market is off the radar and not attractive for FA's.

Portland again off the radar in the Pacific Northwest.

I think Toronto will be his destination.

Lol. I swear people will ignore 20 years of players going into odd situations for the one time where a player goes to a marketable spot, just to say the draft is rigged. Whats the logic of Atlanta getting the pick this year?

[JustBuzzin]

My only question is what team will the NBA want him on. The draft is rigged imo for certain stars.

I think Washington is definitely off the board for the #1 pick.

San Antonio would be nice, but they already got rewarded with Wemby.

New Orleans not a chance especially how they mishandled Zion.

Toronto this is probably at the top of my list as of now. Pair him with Barnes and take over Canada.

Charlotte stays in NC plays next to 2 budding stars in Melo/Miller.

Utah maybe, but that market is off the radar and not attractive for FA's.

Portland again off the radar in the Pacific Northwest.

I think Toronto will be his destination.

Lol. I swear people will ignore 20 years of players going into odd situations for the one time where a player goes to a marketable spot, just to say the draft is rigged. Whats the logic of Atlanta getting the pick this year?

Weak draft no superstar prospect. Easy to reward them.

[baldur]

My only question is what team will the NBA want him on. The draft is rigged imo for certain stars.

I think Washington is definitely off the board for the #1 pick.

San Antonio would be nice, but they already got rewarded with Wemby.

New Orleans not a chance especially how they mishandled Zion.

Toronto this is probably at the top of my list as of now. Pair him with Barnes and take over Canada.

Charlotte stays in NC plays next to 2 budding stars in Melo/Miller.

Utah maybe, but that market is off the radar and not attractive for FA's.

Portland again off the radar in the Pacific Northwest.

I think Toronto will be his destination.

Lol. I swear people will ignore 20 years of players going into odd situations for the one time where a player goes to a marketable spot, just to say the draft is rigged. Whats the logic of Atlanta getting the pick this year?

all the past draft lottery results indicate it was never rigged but you can never a convince a conspiracy theorist despite the fact that reality and truths are plainly out there, in front of them.

lottery is rigged but I have never seen the most marketable team won the lottery.

[doogie_hauser]

My only question is what team will the NBA want him on. The draft is rigged imo for certain stars.

I think Washington is definitely off the board for the #1 pick.

San Antonio would be nice, but they already got rewarded with Wemby.

New Orleans not a chance especially how they mishandled Zion.

Toronto this is probably at the top of my list as of now. Pair him with Barnes and take over Canada.

Charlotte stays in NC plays next to 2 budding stars in Melo/Miller.

Utah maybe, but that market is off the radar and not attractive for FA's.

Portland again off the radar in the Pacific Northwest.

I think Toronto will be his destination.

Lol. I swear people will ignore 20 years of players going into odd situations for the one time where a player goes to a marketable spot, just to say the draft is rigged. Whats the logic of Atlanta getting the pick this year?

all the past draft lottery results indicate it was never rigged but you can never a convince a conspiracy theorist despite the fact that reality and truths are plainly out there, in front of them.

lottery is rigged but I have never seen the most marketable team won the lottery.

Spot on.

The Knicks would have won the Zion lottery if the lotto was actually rigged to suit the NBA's agenda.

Boston also have had cursed luck in the lottery, the only time we won it was with another team's pick (Brooklyn)

It was actually refreshing that a team that was a 100-1 long shot to win the lotto actually did (Atlanta for the first time in their history)

I would prefer a team that has never won it or hasn't had a top pick in over a decade win the lottery.

Would like Portland to win it myself.

[SweaterBae]

Lol. I swear people will ignore 20 years of players going into odd situations for the one time where a player goes to a marketable spot, just to say the draft is rigged. Whats the logic of Atlanta getting the pick this year?

Please don't reply to him, it's what he wants.

[SweaterBae]

Lol. I swear people will ignore 20 years of players going into odd situations for the one time where a player goes to a marketable spot, just to say the draft is rigged. Whats the logic of Atlanta getting the pick this year?

all the past draft lottery results indicate it was never rigged but you can never a convince a conspiracy theorist despite the fact that reality and truths are plainly out there, in front of them.

lottery is rigged but I have never seen the most marketable team won the lottery.

Spot on.

The Knicks would have won the Zion lottery if the lotto was actually rigged to suit the NBA's agenda.

Boston also have had cursed luck in the lottery, the only time we won it was with another team's pick (Brooklyn)

It was actually refreshing that a team that was a 100-1 long shot to win the lotto actually did (Atlanta for the first time in their history)

I would prefer a team that has never won it or hasn't had a top pick in over a decade win the lottery.

Would like Portland to win it myself.

Portland will get the 7th pick and draft a 6' lead guard who can't play defense, or some Euro combo wing/forward who can't shoot.

[floppymoose]

Signs of a casual:
Lottery is rigged!
The refs cost us the game!
The coach has bad rotations!

[dc]

Good prospect that will likely come up short due to the generational talent expectations that will be placed on him. He should be much more efficient as a 6'9 wing with great athleticism.

Yeah, he's clearly playing as a "big" in college. I suppose Tatum was also sort of a "4" in college as well, but he had a wing like translated well to the NBA. I don't know if I see bully ball level size/strength/athleticism at the NBA level in Flagg, but his overall athleticism should be more than good enough.

If his game translates the way Tatum's has in the pros, then it should be a solid home run of a #1 pick. Again, the only reservation is that he's a big in college who probably has to be a wing in the pros.

Right now in college, he's basically playing like an AD/KG/Chet type of guy, but he's not the same size as those guys. He's a Tatum sized guy, so he's going to have to transition to playing that type of game.

[The-Stallion70]

I'm not 100% sure how good he's going to be yet, he seems a bit like an 'early bloomer' to me. There are guys his size and bigger who have better perimeter skills.

Franz Wagner is way more skilled of a ballhandler and finisher and he developed quite a bit physically after his freshman year.

Flagg looks like a pretty exceptional leaper and athlete at his size though.

Think hes going to be a good NBA player but not sure about stardom yet.

One thing I'll say about him is he reminds me a bit of Amare Stoudemire. He has better perimeter skills than Amare did and he's not as big but Amare was known as a great finisher after catching a pass from a teammate(Nash or somebody). Flagg looks like he's good at that, he looks like he can catch at 10-6 feet and then glide in traffic to make a difficult layup through guys and knows how to position himself to allow his leaping ability to do the rest like Amare did.

[Exp0sed]

I don't think anyone is saying Flagg isn't a great prospect and worthy of the #1 pick. It's just that people aren't sold on him being generational.

Him being 17 is also important to factor in. But we've seen 17-year-olds in the NBA before. Kobe was 17 years old dominating NBA summer league and getting voted to the NBA all-star game. We've seen Dwight Howard, Moses Malone, Kevin Garnett, TMac, Amare Stoudemire etc.

We've seen guys this age come into the NBA. Also, not as familar with Moses Malone as a prospect, but the other guys were not seen as generational. So if we didn't consider Dwight Howard, Kobe, T-Mac, Amare etc. generational than Cooper isn't either. Unless you want to argue that he is better than Kobe or Dwight at 17.

The one thing that worries me about Cooper is that he has a bad shooting touch and isn't very skilled. I'm sure it can improve, but its a bit troubling that he doesn't really have much to go to. He just puts his should down and is out of control a lot. I'm sure he will be an all-star based on motor and athleticism, but I don't see generational (Shaq, Lebron, Wemby, Wilt, KAJ).

There's nothing to be "sold" about, he's not a generational prospect and he won't be a generational player..

Still a great prospect nonetheless

The ak-47 or Garnett comps are way off, he'll be nowhere near their prowess on D



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[wegotthabeet]

My only question is what team will the NBA want him on. The draft is rigged imo for certain stars.

I think Washington is definitely off the board for the #1 pick.

San Antonio would be nice, but they already got rewarded with Wemby.

New Orleans not a chance especially how they mishandled Zion.

Toronto this is probably at the top of my list as of now. Pair him with Barnes and take over Canada.

Charlotte stays in NC plays next to 2 budding stars in Melo/Miller.

Utah maybe, but that market is off the radar and not attractive for FA's.

Portland again off the radar in the Pacific Northwest.

I think Toronto will be his destination.

In order of "rigged for a location"

1. Utah - No clear star outside of Lauri. Demographics
2a. Toronto - Tanking team looking to pair Barnes with someone
2b. Portland - Young team, no clear star, pressing reset on vets, botched Scoot pick. Demographics.
3. Washington - Brand identity with Washington/ (American) Flagg . Currently in last.

I dont view other locations as realistic in this framing.

He's going to look great on the Raptors next year.