Are people lower on Cooper Flagg?

[MrGoat]

People in general are pretty damn stupid

If you're writing off a 19 year old after 1 month on an absolute shipwreck of a team, then you simply exposed yourself as one of the stupid.

He hasn't even turned 19 yet. If he scores at least ten points in each of his next three games he breaks LeBron James' record of 11 consecutive double digit scoring performances as an 18 year old, and he's still going to be 18 for his next 14 games

Because his birthday is in late December he was able to reclassify his eligibility to play in the NCAA up a year because he was still technically born in 2006. He only played three years of high school ball before starting the season at Duke when he was still 17. He's the youngest player to play a game in the NBA since LeBron James in 2003, and he was only 2 days older than LeBron was for his first game.

Projecting what he will eventually become this early is a fool's errand

[MavsDirk41]

He looks good, but people were saying he was generational and the best prospect since LeBron. The hyperbole got to be too much with him. The more I watch him, he looks like a mix of Tatum and Siakam on offense, especially Siakam with how often he goes to the spin move to score.

literally nobody worth listening to said that and claiming people were is you being hyperbolic. Wemby was literally just drafted two drafts prior and is widely considered generational.

"Generational" is the most overplayed buzz word amongst these fake draft experts. It loses all meaning when someone is "generational" every other year.

Once a generation.

Shaquille O'Neal
LeBron James
Victor Wembanyama

That's the list. One guy every 10 to 15 years.

Flagg is in the Anthony Davis, Zion, Kyrie Irving tier of draft prospects. He will be fine, but he's not generational. People need to find a new word already.

There are more generational talents in nba history then just James. Shaq, and Wemby lol stop

[1993Playoffs]

People were calling him generational. I’m not seeing it.

[tsherkin]

People were calling him generational. I’m not seeing it.

Ultimately, it's irrelevant. He's a strong prospect. He's in a non-ideal situation, but he's been figuring it out, and we know that even really good rookies often struggle. So we'll see what happens.

[basketballRob]

I am guessing most thought he was suppose to come in like Luka and be dominating by the end of the first few weeks of his rookie season

More people are putting him into B tier star ceiling status.
Even some on Reddit are saying he would have gone 5 or 6th next years class because of how talented it is.

Honestly I've seen him make rookie mistakes but the dude to me has the it factor. I mean it ain't Luka it factor but the dude is going to be good.

Peoples thoughts so far?

Luka was almost a year older. You need to factor age when you're that young. I think Flagg may have a better career if he stays healthy.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[JellosJigglin]

People were calling him generational. I’m not seeing it.

He's a boy amongst grown ass men. Kids his age were just at their senior prom a few months ago to put it in perspective.

[tsherkin]

People were calling him generational. I’m not seeing it.

He's a boy amongst grown ass men. Kids his age were just at their senior prom a few months ago to put it in perspective.

This gong cannot be banged loudly enough, nor often enough. He's still 18. And he isn't being put into the role of high-volume shooter yet. He's working inside the system instead of being asked to prop up the team AS the system. I think people are a little stuck in their preconceived notions and generally lacking in awareness of the appropriate comparisons and such. Volume fetishism rears its ugly head, as usual.

[sashaturiaf]

literally nobody worth listening to said that and claiming people were is you being hyperbolic. Wemby was literally just drafted two drafts prior and is widely considered generational.

"Generational" is the most overplayed buzz word amongst these fake draft experts. It loses all meaning when someone is "generational" every other year.

Once a generation.

Shaquille O'Neal
LeBron James
Victor Wembanyama

That's the list. One guy every 10 to 15 years.

Flagg is in the Anthony Davis, Zion, Kyrie Irving tier of draft prospects. He will be fine, but he's not generational. People need to find a new word already.

There are more generational talents in nba history then just James. Shaq, and Wemby lol stop

Love how a guy who can barely hit half his free throws is more generational than Kareem

[tsherkin]

Love how a guy who can barely hit half his free throws is more generational than Kareem

Shaq's physical dominance was undeniable, though, so it doesn't REALLY matter, because he was able to compensate for his weakness at the foul line in ways the league had not seen since Wilt. Odd way to position a pro-Kareem mention, because KAJ stands all on his own as meriting that sort of distinction.

[Handlez]

The Mavs organization is a dumpster fire and now they're letting shot happy vets stall Coop's development.

[Yoshun]

Let's have this conversation in 3 years.

[tsherkin]

Let's have this conversation in 3 years.

Or at least at the All-Star break. Trying to crank on a rookie in his first dozen games is just so premature, especially when he IS actually showing all kinds of promise.

Fans gave Stromile Swift more chances than this, and he was brutal at almost everything.

[Pelly24]

I think Cooper will likely end this season as like, a top 40ish player. I thought he would be like top 25-30, but he's in a terrible situation at the moment. Once Kyrie is back and AD is able to play they will be he'll be in a much better spot —assuming they aren't traded. But even then, Cooper is a guy with great size and fluid and explosive athleticism. He's showing flashes of great shot creation and already understands the virtue of bully ball. He understands angles and how to position his body on the ground and in the air. The jumper will end up being solid. He can be at least a mid-40s midrange shooter, and I think a 38% three-ball shooter. He'll find out how to get to the line at least 7 attempts a game in a couple years.

I see him being an all-star level guy sooner than later. He has a high IQ. I still see his ceiling as a middle class man's Jimmy Butler (not rich man, because Jimmy is too good for anyone but lebron and maybe Giannis to be a rich man's version). His floor is like a top 25 player. I see him as a potential top 3 to 4 player.

[dk1115]

at draft night, i just thought he'd be a 3rd string all star, which is still a really good player, just not generational.

one step above borderline all-star

i kind of think him as what i think paolo banchero would be

[FrodoBaggins]

Last 4 games: 19.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 3.8 apg, 1.8 spg, 1.3 bpg, 2.3 topg on 59.0% TS. He's really bullying his way to the paint & rim on drives. 65.9% 2PT on 10.3 2pa/g. Just needs that three-point shot he displayed at Duke to come around, and you've got the super-high floor he was advertised as.

[dirkdiggler4177]

edit. the poster FrodoBaggins had the same idea at the same time. I never saw his post, but I do agree with him!

Original post from me:

He is just becoming better and better and understands what he can do in the NBA. Lately, he just bullies himself through the paint and uses his soft touch to finish.

In the last 5 games, he has averaged:
18 points on 51% shooting, 7rpg, 4.2apg, 1.8spg and 2.6 to

[UglyBugBall]

He had that week to week and a half of really rough play. You’d forget he was out on the court for large chunks of time (on both ends). And I think some other rookies were hot at this time, which didn’t help Flagg look even better.

But I’ll say after a few lineup changes (Klay to the bench and Williams to starting PG), like they’re not winning, but at least it looks like they’re kind of playing like a team. Compared to some of the ugliest offense I’ve ever seen, from earlier in the season.

And with that I think Flagg has looked like the best rookie. His jumper is off, but outside of that. He looked pretty good as a secondary ball handler, he’s hitting the boards again, he’s making plays on defense averaging 3.5 stocks over the last 5.

I think he ends up running away with ROTY

Harper has clearly looked better than flagg in the rookie class.

[Archx]

Another incredible game from an 18yo. Too bad his coach is Kidd. He's going to be insane in like 2 or 3 years. Still needs to get stronger and develop much better handles.

Watch on YouTube

[bonita_the_frog]

In the last 5 games, he has averaged:
18 points on 51% shooting, 7rpg, 4.2apg, 1.8spg and 2.6 to

If those end up being his rookie numbers, he'll have better rookie numbers than rookie LeBron.
And before anyone says, I know its a different era...

But rookie LeBron averaged 20.9 points, .417 field, .290 threes, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 3.5 turnovers
Cooper Flagg currently 15.6 points, .447 field, .273 threes, 6.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.3 turnovers

If I had to guess, Flagg's rookie scoring will finish close to 20ppg, and his 3pt% should get close to 30%, and assists keep going up.

[Ice Man]

Last night was Flagg's best game yet, 21/8/5 with 0 TOs.

The first half was the same as the rest of the season, standing in the weak-side corner in the PJ Tucker role. I can't overstate the stupidity of this tactic. It eliminates all of Cooper's strengths -- beating his defender off the dribble, bullying opponents in the paint, passing vision, and crashing the glass for offensive rebounds -- and plays to his key weakness, which is that he's subpar at catch-and-shoot 3 pointers. (Actually, so far in his NBA career, subpar at all 3 point shots.)

Cooper had 2 points at halftime.

The second half Kidd finally became an NBA coach, at least temporarily, and moved Cooper to being the roller in the pick & roll. Now, Cooper doesn't actually know how to roll and it's not as if a Dallas guard could find him if he did, so the roll part didn't happen. But at least Cooper would receive return passes in the middle of the court, so that he could do ... something. As it turned out, he did a lot.