ATL - Nico gets the boot

[Sigra]

In Nico's defense, superstars like Harden and Luka force their way out by gaining 30 pounds and then losing 40 pounds once they've reached their Los Angeles destination. It's as much as a League problem and player problem (see Luka) as it is a Nico problem.

Not just superstars. Smart clearly didnt like Memphis. With Lakers he is healthy again and looks like old Smart. Ayton in Portland lowered his value too. With Lakers he looks valuable again.

But I am from Europe. We have Real Madrid, Barcelona etc so for us its kind of normal to have "popular" teams.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

He looked pretty good last night. Pretty athletic, as Marques talked about, and high IQ. More strength? Sure. But his shot needs to be his priority. He was the only decent Mav playing yesterday, so he doesn't have a lot of guys to help his transition to the NBA.

Rich Man's KVH? Less Competitive Bird? Taller West? More Athletic Dirk? What is the go-to white man comparison for Flagg?

[DingleJerry]

He looked pretty good last night. Pretty athletic, as Marques talked about, and high IQ. More strength? Sure. But his shot needs to be his priority. He was the only decent Mav playing yesterday, so he doesn't have a lot of guys to help his transition to the NBA.

Rich Man's KVH? Less Competitive Bird? Taller West? More Athletic Dirk? What is the go-to white man comparison for Flagg?

Rich mans Gordon Hayward as most likely good outcome? Dream scenario being poor man's Bird?

[Ron Swanson]

Sky is the limit for Flagg and some of the comps I've seen (not just here) are weird. It's almost like people forgot how bad 18-year old Lebron looked when they asked him to play point guard his rookie year. Dude doesn't have Lebron's play-making chops so it looks even worse with whatever the hell they're trying to do with him, but this is kinda par the course with your franchise guy right now. You gotta figure out if he can be this helio-centric offensive hub right away these days, and even though I think it's dumb, you're clearly fine with the rough patches when you're better off tanking this season anyways.

[emunney]

It's hard to find a comp because he's just a much bigger dude than guys with a similar skillset, and his mental makeup is pretty special. My go-to has been Havlicek but, again, he's so much bigger and has a lot of space in his frame to fill out. There's some Kawhi with better playmaking upside there I think.

[BigO]

The Bird comp is the best. Having said that, Bird is arguably one of the five best players of all time that I've seen. He's not in my top 5, but pretty close.

Flagg is more athletic than Bird. Has a similar high BBIQ, plays defense probably a little better than Bird.

Bird was a great shooter, even in college. He was special. Flagg is no where near him in shooting and in this era, that's a big difference. Flagg will get a lot better in shooting, but not at Bird level.

[Plossum]

I reckon Pippen is the best comp for Flagg. He'll be a defensive monster when he hits his peak. It's just a matter of how good his offence can be. Pipp as great as he was never quite had the game for a true #1. It's hard to know how good Coop will get on the offensive end, but gun to my head, I think he projects more as an elite #2 like Scottie or Pau.

[Milbucks96]

Kawhi has always seemed like a good build and skill set comp for Flagg. Gordon Hayward the closest white guy comp but I still think it’s pretty off. I don’t see any of the Bird or other guys comp at all.

[mattg]

The comp is a better shooting Jimmy Butler, some variant of Kawhi as well. Said it pre draft and nothing has changed.

The kid is still 18, he's so much younger than what the typical "basketball prodigy" is. People are already talking up AJ Dybantsa (and he's a great prospect too no shade) as if he's levels above Flagg as a prospect. They are a month and a half apart in age. Dybantsa was playing his junior year of HS at the same age Flagg played at Duke. You just flat out do not see guys play up like Flagg did and dominate. They pull the reverse like AJ did, be a 16 year old freshman who is a full year and half older than the typical oldest in a class, absolutely dominating kids in middle school and early HS that are way younger, and then reclassing after the fact into a more correct grade.

[LikeABosh]

Nico landing back at Nike in some executive/advisor role would be the cherry on top here and I'm definitely rooting for it to happen. At that point would there be any doubt about how complicit and corrupt this league is?

Honestly it is the only thing that makes sense right? Unless Nico is a scrape goat for a crazy owner, which is what I originally assumed and why he had a job up until now.

I truly think he's just an idiot who has failed upwards. He refused to give Steph Curry a signature shoe when he worked at Nike, he fired the Dallas medical staff when they refused to greenlight injured players, he put Jrue Holiday in the same tier as Nikola Jokic, he traded Quentin Grimes for Caleb Martin, tried to trade an unprotected first round pick for Kuzma. Everything about him has just sucked

[BucksFanSD]

In Nico's defense, superstars like Harden and Luka force their way out by gaining 30 pounds and then losing 40 pounds once they've reached their Los Angeles destination. It's as much as a League problem and player problem (see Luka) as it is a Nico problem.

Not just superstars. Smart clearly didnt like Memphis. With Lakers he is healthy again and looks like old Smart. Ayton in Portland lowered his value too. With Lakers he looks valuable again.

But I am from Europe. We have Real Madrid, Barcelona etc so for us its kind of normal to have "popular" teams.

Exactly! Lower your value, get to Los Angeles, try to win championships. I'm not turning a blind eye to this. The product that is the NBA is turning into a bad product. Unless more fans catch on, this will surely continue.

[Plossum]

Can anyone really beat OKC in a 7 game series? Short of them having an unforeseen injury crisis, they seem to be cake walking to another title. The talent disparity between them and the field seems pretty wide. I get that Denver and Indy took them to 7 last year, but outside of Denver I don't see anyone else having a realistic chance.

[raferfenix]

Haven’t Mavericks fans suffered enough?

Then there is Jason Kidd. Kidd is in good standing in Dallas, both with ownership—which has extended him twice—and a fan base that remembers how Kidd helped deliver a championship as a player and steer the team to the Finals as a coach. His hands are (publicly, at least) clean in the Dončić deal—Harrison gave him cover when he said he didn’t inform Kidd of the trade until it was completed—and no one is pointing fingers his way for the flop of the Mavs’ injury-riddled roster. Under a Kidd regime, Dirk Nowitzki could be brought back into the fold. Will Kidd want the job? Probably, people who know Kidd say. Kidd has craved input in personnel decisions at previous stops. And while he has come into his own as a coach in Dallas, a rebuild around Flagg is inevitable. Better to oversee it from an executive office than the coach’s box.

https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks-had-to-fire-nico-harrison-after-luka-doncic-trade-debacle

[Bucks4005]

Haven’t Mavericks fans suffered enough?

Then there is Jason Kidd. Kidd is in good standing in Dallas, both with ownership—which has extended him twice—and a fan base that remembers how Kidd helped deliver a championship as a player and steer the team to the Finals as a coach. His hands are (publicly, at least) clean in the Dončić deal—Harrison gave him cover when he said he didn’t inform Kidd of the trade until it was completed—and no one is pointing fingers his way for the flop of the Mavs’ injury-riddled roster. Under a Kidd regime, Dirk Nowitzki could be brought back into the fold. Will Kidd want the job? Probably, people who know Kidd say. Kidd has craved input in personnel decisions at previous stops. And while he has come into his own as a coach in Dallas, a rebuild around Flagg is inevitable. Better to oversee it from an executive office than the coach’s box.

https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks-had-to-fire-nico-harrison-after-luka-doncic-trade-debacle

I know Kidd soured on a lot of people here, but to be fair, we absolutely sucked before he got here. This board was a factory of sadness. We did nothing for years before Kidd brought some life back. Then he goes to the Lakers and they win a championship when he’s assistant. He’s taken the Mavs to an ECF and Finals trips. Say what you want about his scheme, him as a person, but as a coach, he’s generally had success. You may not agree with him being the primary factor, but 3 separate stops kinda illustrates he’s doing something/has some effect.

[Willie Colon]

I don't think Flagg plays like Bird at all. He's closer to players like Pippen and Lamar Odom. Oh, and Pippen in 1994 was a clear #1 and could've easily been from 89 - 95 had Jordan not been around. Absolute stud on both ends, high effort, high IQ monster.

[ShootingtheJ]

Sheesh. So Kuzma is playing good ball after 7 games and Flagg is semi struggling. Is Kuzma better than Flagg? These comps are atrocious.

Flagg is fine. You guys would have written off Giannis after watching him for one season, let alone 7 games.

Flagg has an all around game, including defense. He has no holes in his game, except he needs to continually work on his shot. But it will come.

He's presently weak and slow. He tried to iso in the post against 6'4" CJ McCollum, a horrid defender, and got absolutely stonewalled.

Flagg will get better when he increases his strength and explosion, but not until then. His shot is the least of his worries.

He looked pretty good last night. Pretty athletic, as Marques talked about, and high IQ. More strength? Sure. But his shot needs to be his priority. He was the only decent Mav playing yesterday, so he doesn't have a lot of guys to help his transition to the NBA.

It was cool to see his breakout game. Sucks he'll spend a good part of his career under Jason Kidd.

[blazza18]

Schedule has been pretty nutty for Boston and Philly to play 3 times already. All three games have been 1 or 2 point wins for the winner.

[Plossum]

Interesting to see what the Celts do in the next year or 2 with their roster. Even with Tatum back that roster is pretty thin. They'll have $145m wrapped up in Tatum, Brown and White next year alone. Cap projected at $166m; 1st apron $209 and 2nd at $222. Celts already have $172m in committed salary. I wonder if they bit the bullet on trading White this year to get a bit more cap flexibility. They are otherwise pretty limited in how they can build out that roster with Tatum back.

[Prez]

Leaning towards OKC just slaughtering everyone this year if they're healthy. J Dub hasn't played a single game and Chet, Caruso, and Dort have all missed 4-5 games already, and yet they're 11-1 with a +14 point differential. God I wish Giannis ever had a team that loaded.

[Perishable517]

Again, he’s barely 18. The strength will come. He has the frame to add muscle. This isn’t a Chet situation.

Agree, he's a little like Wemby that way. It'll take time.

Yeah, remember Giannis as a rook?

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