Cooper Flagg

[Big J]

Don't you wish that on Cooper, Ricky Bobby.

PG has a bad rap now, but he was great with the pacers. It’s weird that PG is a diss, but AK47 is a compliment.

AK47 left it all on the court. Fierce competitor.

PG doesn't seem to give a ****.

AK47 had a lot of years where he sucked. We just don't remember them.

[tsherkin]

AK47 had a lot of years where he sucked. We just don't remember them.

Not really. He wasn't really a consistent starter, but he was a high-end wing shot blocker and overall help defender. He didn't support huge scoring volume, but he was a solid player for a decade at least who didn't overreach his ability. And he didn't really suck until he was older and post-injury at the end of his career.

[FrodoBaggins]

AK47 never sucked. Maybe his last year with BKN. He was an impact guy during his entire stint in UTA and his single year in MIN.

[Big J]

AK47 never sucked. Maybe his last year with BKN. He was an impact guy during his entire stint in UTA and his single year in MIN.

He was out of the league by the time he was PG’s age.

[LakerLegend]

POY.

Cooper is the white Larry Bird.

Good one.

[Duke4life831]

I will say this. His progression on the offensive side over the last 2-3 years is crazy impressive. When he first really showed out at the U-17 championships, he was basically just a defensive guy.

He’s full blown point forward now. There isn’t even a question anymore if he will be a Point Forward the NBA. Just the overall improvement with his handle, vision, and jumper is pretty damn ridiculous. I’m even at the point now I’m shocked when he misses a FT (87% over the last 3 months).

The other thing is, his athleticism is also improving. His functional athleticism is pretty damn close to elite and it’s still improving.

[C3H6N6O6]

we are pretty much learning right now he isn't in the same stratosphere as AK in terms of stocks/defensive playmaking.

Are we? Oh, thats disappointing then, at least his offense outperformed expectations from what I see.

Well...defense doesn't really matter with the rules in todays NBA.

Always remember that these are the type of people who bitch the most amount about the NBA without understanding any of it.

[FrodoBaggins]

Cooper now leads in Basketball Reference's BPM and Bart Torvik's BPM.

Basketball Reference: 16.3
Bart Torvik: 14.9

Two more games left. Hell of a freshman season.

[Duke4life831]

Cooper now leads in Basketball Reference's BPM and Bart Torvik's BPM.

Basketball Reference: 16.3
Bart Torvik: 14.9

Two more games left. Hell of a freshman season.

Just a couple more things to add to this. Flagg is also #1 in Kenpom’s POY computer rankings and EvanMiya’s POY rankings as well.

So for anyone thinking Flagg is just a media hype thing, he’s leading in basically all of the major college basketball analytics as well.

[tsherkin]

Two more games left. Hell of a freshman season.

Yeah, he's certainly looking good out there.

[tmorgan]

The best part is that he still looks like wet clay out there, ready to be molded into almost whatever his new team wants and needs.

He’s going to be so fun to watch next year, and not because I expect some historic rookie season. Actually, I guess he struggles a little out of the gate. But whatever team is fortunate enough to get to develop him is going to improve pretty rapidly, just like Cooper will.

[tsherkin]

The best part is that he still looks like wet clay out there, ready to be molded into almost whatever his new team wants and needs.

He’s going to be so fun to watch next year, and not because I expect some historic rookie season. Actually, I guess he struggles a little out of the gate. But whatever team is fortunate enough to get to develop him is going to improve pretty rapidly, just like Cooper will.

He looks like he has the tools to be a good player, and the potential to be a lot better than that, for sure.

[Sedale Threatt]

The best part is that he still looks like wet clay out there, ready to be molded into almost whatever his new team wants and needs.

He’s going to be so fun to watch next year, and not because I expect some historic rookie season. Actually, I guess he struggles a little out of the gate. But whatever team is fortunate enough to get to develop him is going to improve pretty rapidly, just like Cooper will.

Pretty hard to beat high IQ and a quality frame, skill set and athleticism. He definitely looks like he's just gonna keep getting better and better. Just the fact he was able to outplay top-level pros as a 17-year-old at the US Olympic camp last summer, even if it was just for a stretch, made me sit up and take notice.

[tsherkin]

Just the fact he was able to outplay top-level pros as a 17-year-old at the US Olympic camp last summer, even if it was just for a stretch, made me sit up and take notice.

I think everyone kind of went "hey, what?" when that happened, for sure.

[Duke4life831]

I’ll say this as one of the bigger pros for his long term potential. Flagg on the season is shooting 83% from the FT line. FT shooting is usually a pretty good indicator on overall shooting potential.

And his shooting has looked even better over his last 21 games. He’s shooting 87% from the line (112 makes on 128 attempts) and he’s shooting 43% from 3 (3.5 attempts per game).

He’s not just showing potential to be a solid-good shooter. He’s showing potential to be a very good shooter. If he ends up being a very high level shooter, to go with his facilitating and his defense.

I’ve been saying for the past year + I don’t view him as a generational prospect, but the tier below that. He’s kind of looking like a generational prospect when you throw in the elite level shooting

[tmorgan]

Flagg is what, a 90-95th percentile athlete in college, along with a 95th+ percentile basketball IQ guy?

In the pros those numbers are gonna be more like 75th and 75th initially. More than enough to be good player right out of the gate, but the adjustment period will be a bit harsh to begin with, because he doesn’t have any super easy way to score, and one assumes his teammates are going to kinda suck unless one of these extra pick holding teams gets really lucky.

That’s why I think he’ll struggle a bit as a rookie and a bunch of people are going to flip out and be quick to judge. But once he gets some experience and additional muscle (which seems inevitable on that frame, at his age), he’ll be back to an 80th+ percentile athlete with 95th+ percentile hoops IQ, along with his remarkable ability to keep adding skills.

Gonna stick with All-Star by year three and All-NBA by year five. And that seems reasonably conservative and based on starting on a struggling team with less-than-ideal teammates for a point forward.

[Tor_Raps]

Crazy part of Cooper's freshman season is that he's still supposed to be in high school. Imagine if his freshman season if he played it next year...

[sikma42]

Flagg is what, a 90-95th percentile athlete in college, along with a 95th+ percentile basketball IQ guy?

In the pros those numbers are gonna be more like 75th and 75th initially. More than enough to be good player right out of the gate, but the adjustment period will be a bit harsh to begin with, because he doesn’t have any super easy way to score, and one assumes his teammates are going to kinda suck unless one of these extra pick holding teams gets really lucky.

That’s why I think he’ll struggle a bit as a rookie and a bunch of people are going to flip out and be quick to judge. But once he gets some experience and additional muscle (which seems inevitable on that frame, at his age), he’ll be back to an 80th+ percentile athlete with 95th+ percentile hoops IQ, along with his remarkable ability to keep adding skills.

Gonna stick with All-Star by year three and All-NBA by year five. And that seems reasonably conservative and based on starting on a struggling team with less-than-ideal teammates for a point forward.

I’d put him as a 99 percentile athlete and 85th percentile basketball iq.


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[Handlez]

A lot depends on the franchise.

The Mavs, if I'm not mistaken, had to trade away basically every starter in Luka's rookie season because they couldn't handle a European white rookie being alpha dog.

The franchise is going to have to give Coop the keys and dismiss anyone not getting in line.

Franchises can ruin careers.

[tmorgan]

Flagg is what, a 90-95th percentile athlete in college, along with a 95th+ percentile basketball IQ guy?

In the pros those numbers are gonna be more like 75th and 75th initially. More than enough to be good player right out of the gate, but the adjustment period will be a bit harsh to begin with, because he doesn’t have any super easy way to score, and one assumes his teammates are going to kinda suck unless one of these extra pick holding teams gets really lucky.

That’s why I think he’ll struggle a bit as a rookie and a bunch of people are going to flip out and be quick to judge. But once he gets some experience and additional muscle (which seems inevitable on that frame, at his age), he’ll be back to an 80th+ percentile athlete with 95th+ percentile hoops IQ, along with his remarkable ability to keep adding skills.

Gonna stick with All-Star by year three and All-NBA by year five. And that seems reasonably conservative and based on starting on a struggling team with less-than-ideal teammates for a point forward.

I’d put him as a 99 percentile athlete and 85th percentile basketball iq.

Nah. 99th percentile athlete is guys like Zion and the Thompson twins, Westbrook, DRose, Wall, etc. Cooper doesn’t have a great first step, great hops, freaky Dyson Daniels reflexes, or anything like that. The fact that he’s well above-average in all of those things for his size is still pretty rare, but def not 99th percentile rare.