Are people lower on Cooper Flagg?

[zero rings]

I’m a little lower on him than I was before. His shot has not translated so far, and he’s way too skinny to dominate the paint. He needs to bulk up in a serious way.

I still think he’s going to be a very good player, but maybe not the franchise savior that the Mavs need.

[Mephariel]

Like a year ago, I said that Flagg is good, but he is more like a KMart 1st overall pick and not a gen talent like Lebron or Duncan, and I got roasted hard by the Flagg homers.

He is already projected to be much better than K-Mart. I rather have Coop now than K-Mart in his prime.

[Mephariel]

Flagg isn't as good of a prospect as Luka and Luka was also a year older his rookie season. Flagg is still a better prospect than any prospect from the 2026 class. Hes the same age as the freshman players from the 2026 class because he reclassified. Imagine him playing at Duke this season instead of in the NBA, or imagine how much worse Peterson/Dybantsa/Boozer would look if they were playing in the NBA currently instead of NCAA.

I disagree with this. Peterson is polished and I think can easily contribute in the NBA today. Dybantsa and Boozer maybe less. But the 2026 class has a lot of players I believe can contribute today if they are in the NBA.

[tsherkin]

I’m a little lower on him than I was before. His shot has not translated so far, and he’s way too skinny to dominate the paint. He needs to bulk up in a serious way.

Probably not, to be honest. A lot of that is just being too hasty with a teenage rookie on a team riddled with injuries and having just been gutted with the loss of its superstar.

It's been 12 games, so you don't really know anything about his shot other than that he's doing very well at the foul line. His quickness looks great, his body control en route to the rim is very good.

The problem isn't Flagg.

The problem is that people are horrifically impatient and don't absorb context at all during this portion of a season.

[Mephariel]

Cooper's shooting better on pull-up threes for some reason. Kind of like Wemby's rookie season.

Pull-up: 37.5% on 2.0 3pa/g
Catch-and-shoot: 20% on 2.1 3pa/g

Could be that a lot of pull up threes are in transition where there are less close out opportunities for the opponent.

[cucad8]

Are we really doing this 12 games in?? Be better RealGM

[PushDaRock]

lol they have him playing PG and SG. Anyone expecting him to thrive in his current situation is expecting way too much. He's also a rookie and even guys that end up great players tend to suck as a rookie.

[dhsilv2]

You quoted a bit too fast, i added a line before that

My point is, Coop looks worse because this team was not built for him. ESPN just posted an article with NBA execs believing Mavs would look a lot better with a proper PG, which is obviously true. They lack an elite playmaker to tie everything together on offense because defense was never even a problem in the first place. So if you put an 18yo rookie in that position like KIdd has, the rookie will obviously look bad and the team as well. It's not a bad team and Coop will be incredible in few years but Mavs need to rebuild around Coop to maximize his potential. This is almost identical team to the finals run team PLUS Klay/Christie if you think about it. But Kyrie is injured and Luka is gone. So it's really not a bad team overall.

If a team "looks bad" because they are lacking something. I think it's fair to just call them bad. You can say they have some good pieces that don't fit. But that's just a nice way of saying bad. Similarly, when a team fits really well and it's "better than the sum of the parts". That's just a good team.

Yeah you can also say like that, i think that's a fair way to put it. But it is hard to correctly judge them because we know they could be so much better and even if you say, some "good" pieces don't fit, i would still argue it's a good team. They could just start winning out of the blue and then it's suddenly a good team.

I mean if Irving and AD are healthy, sure it's a "good" as in low seed playoff team. But without those two? This isn't a playoff team.

[Liam_Gallagher]

He doesn't look that special, to be honest. Skinny, hesitant, and not that good of a shooter. He has some length and competitiveness, which will help him.

He's closer to Tayshaun Prince than to Kevin Durant.

[cocktailswith_2short]

It will be talked about for years how kidd played him out of position to start in the NBA . It's diabolical.

[Blazing_royale]

People hyped him up like the next generational talent. From what i've seen he's an all-star type of talent. Nothing more and nothing less.

[Hook_Em]

Are we really doing this 12 games in?? Be better RealGM

Flagg sucks and Jokic had a nice run.

[LLJ]

He's fine, probably will be an all-star in a year or two. But the only one that looks like a true 'generational' pick of the last few years is Wemby.

[bonita_the_frog]

Flagg has the tools to be an All-Defensive teamer, a really good passer AND scorer.
He's already averaging 15ppg despite being raw, probably 16ppg or 17ppg by January and will finish with 18+ppg for his rookie season.
So his peak should be around 25ppg, and MVP contender because he'll do a lot more than just score!

[Ice Man]

I'm never lower on any rookie until January, at the earliest.

[JRoy]

Give the kid some time.

He’s very young and very talented. He will be an excellent player.

[tsherkin]

Are we really doing this 12 games in?? Be better RealGM

Flagg sucks and Jokic had a nice run.

Welcome to early-season nonsense, as brought to you by every season ever in the history of sport.

[ryguy613]

Some people set unrealistic expectations going into the seasons, basically saying he was due for a historic rookie season. I was trying to quell that kind of talk then, and now I would do the same to anyone saying he's disappointing. Its still way to early to say either way. Again, in both cases, just relax and let the kid play for a while before jumping to conclusions about who he is or isnt

[Blame Rasho]

He’s 18 years old. KG his rookie year averaged 10, 6, and 2. Tatum his rookie year averaged 14, 5, and 2. I think a KG/Tatum hybrid is what I expected to Flagg to be, and I didn’t expect him to put up Luka numbers his rookie year.

People lose sight and have no perspective. He is at least 10 to 12 years away from his prime.

[DusterBuster]

I’m a little lower on him than I was before. His shot has not translated so far, and he’s way too skinny to dominate the paint. He needs to bulk up in a serious way.

I still think he’s going to be a very good player, but maybe not the franchise savior that the Mavs need.

Most premocks had him projected as a high-end do-it-all kinda player.

He's struggled out of the gate in the first 10ish, but ... it's been 10ish games. LeBron's first 2mo weren't really all that spectacular either for those of us old enough to remember, there we're early bumps.

So I'm not lower on him at all, I think his predraft projects are still on track, just some learning curves to work through and he'll be fine.

What is correct though is that the Mavs were ABSOLUTE THE WORST TEAM POSSIBLE FOR HIM. I know Mavs fans are gonna say they love Flagg and they totally don't hold any of the Luka thing against him, which I'm sure is largely true, but the subtext for Flagg was that he was looked at largely as the Luka replacement even if Mavs fans don't want to admit it. He was looked at as a guy who could get fans to move past the Luka issue, but the only way he could do that was for him to basically be his Prime NBA self from Day 1 Game 1 Minute 1 and the Mavs to stay largely healthy. This team was expected to be back into playoff contention - most media members had them as a playin/playoff team

The reality is, no matter how you slice it, Flagg is always going to be under the shadow of Luka and the mess that was the Harrison era in Dallas for - at minimum - his whole rookie season.

This is why I'm hoping they just fully blow it up in Dallas. Tank the season, build around Flagg and do it now. Not this summer, now, before the deadline... maybe even months before the deadline of this season. This whole franchise needs an exorcism from anything Luka related as much as possible.

Have a true "Flagg era" start, recoup lost FRP assets as much as possible for the next 2-3 years with AD and Kyrie trades. Get as high as possible for this upcoming draft while the Mavs still own their own pick. I would also fire Kidd and bring in a "Flagg coach" (but tbf, the current brainstrust still might really trust Kidd - I wouldn't, but w/e).

Also, the Mavs are not in a position where they should be nice to the vets and "do right by them" by sending them wherever Rich Paul dictates. The Mavs need to control their own destiny and trade them for the most rebuilding assets possible, regardless of team/destination/player-happiness.