Cooper Flagg's Debut: Performance Highlights vs. Lakers

SportsGrid

Watch Cooper Flagg's Debut: Performance Highlights vs. Lakers - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Some have said, ah, one of the best prospects since LeBron,

00:04and that is Cooper Flagg, who made his summer league debut

00:07appropriately against LeBron's son and Bronny James

00:11and the L.A. Lakers.

00:13Dallas grabs a victory in that game.

00:16Cooper Flagg with a block and an assist

00:19for what was the winning three made by Gonzaga's Ryan Nembhard,

00:25who had himself a really, really good debut in summer league.

00:28But the Cooper Flagg performance was always going to bring all eyes, J.Y.

00:33He finishes with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists.

00:37Did shoot very poorly, though.

00:39Five of 21 from the field and 0 of 5 from three.

00:43Yeah, I mean, obviously, that's the thing that everyone's going to look at

00:46is how he shot from the floor.

00:49But me as a coach, I'm going to look at the other side of it, right?

00:52Because you're going to have times where you're going to struggle to shoot the ball.

00:55It's going to happen.

00:56I want to see the other stuff.

00:58I want to see his ability to create.

01:00I want to see his ability to rebound, which makes his – he's going to be –

01:05folks, I want to make sure I say this right.

01:07He's going to be a chameleon.

01:09Meaning, if you think he's going to go get you 25, 20 a night, it ain't happening.

01:14But can he give you 20 points one game?

01:16Yes.

01:16Can he give you 10 rebounds one game?

01:18Yes.

01:19Can he give you 10 assists the next game?

01:21Yes.

01:21Can he get you a triple-double during the season?

01:24I think he will.

01:25Can he give you maybe 20 double-doubles during the season?

01:28Yes.

01:29To me, it's about how he's used and how he's played.

01:33So, to me, yeah, there were a couple of moments.

01:35I mean, number one, the dunker transition early in the game.

01:40Like, I was like, oh, here comes a finger roll.

01:42No!

01:42No finger roll.

01:43He just yammed it, and then the one where he almost dunked on all of L.A.

01:48He almost dunked on the Lakers and the Clippers at the same time

01:51when he came up and tried to yam it down the middle of the lane.

01:55So, you see the freakishly athletic things, and people start talking about LeBron.

02:00I'm going to say this.

02:01Okay?

02:01I want people to understand this.

02:03This guy is – I'm going to say this carefully.

02:05The best white American prospect since Larry Bird.

02:12And think about how Larry Bird kind of came in magic and transcended the game.

02:18We've talked about for a long time, LeBron's towards the end.

02:22You know, Katie's towards the end.

02:24Steph Curry's towards the end.

02:26Who is going to be the American face of basketball?

02:30Is it Ant?

02:31Is it, you know, Ja?

02:33Probably not because he can't stay out of trouble.

02:35I'm going to tell you right now, this kid could have, in a weird way, American-wise,

02:41a Caitlin Clark effect on the NBA, meaning driving people to go watch him play.

02:48We're all rooting for him, but the thing about him is he's got the game.

02:51I'm not panicking about the first game shooting performance.

02:54Cooper Flagg, by the way, just has the ability to be the best player in the NBA.

02:59When you get to guys of this level, of this hype,

03:02they have very, very high floors, and they have incredibly high ceilings.

03:08You think about the guys that he's been compared to, right?

03:11The more, right.

03:11So Anthony Davis is someone who has a top three MVP finish.

03:15And I knew at least a top five.

03:16He's an NBA champion.

03:18A number of all-stars made throughout his career.

03:21Victor Webinyama looks like a future multi-time league MVP.

03:25People would bring up Zion.

03:26Zion, I think we all know it's the health, though, with Zion Williamson.

03:29Because every time he plays, he's absolutely brilliant.

03:32And I think for Cooper Flagg, the one thing that was on display for me,

03:35JY, that I thought was important was the 21 field goal attempts.

03:39For Cooper Flagg, because the intangibles are so great,

03:43and in that it's not just the winning, right, but it's the defensive hype, right?

03:49The best American defensive prospect, I think, since Anthony Davis as well.

03:53At times, we forget the level of scorer I think Cooper Flagg is.

03:58When people talk about who's going to lead this rookie class in scoring, right?

04:01What we think about, all right, well, Trey Johnson shoots a lot.

04:04Oh, Ace Bailey's going to light it up.

04:06We know Ace Bailey can get loose, right?

04:08How many looks will Jeremiah Fears get in New Orleans?

04:11Cooper Flagg is the favorite to lead this class in scoring

04:15because Cooper Flagg has shown the highest ability as a scorer.

04:19Let's not forget, I understand it was ACC play,

04:21but the 42 points that he scored against Notre Dame,

04:24nobody had a higher, no one else had a 40 ball, right?

04:27You think about the NCAA tournament, the 30-piece against Arizona.

04:31He scored 27 against Houston, which is like a 50-point game.

04:34Yeah, right, exactly.

04:35You know, when you translate it, when you consider that defense.

04:37So for me, JY, it's funny, but the 5-for-21 game,

04:44the 21 mattered more to me.

04:46Exactly.

04:46And it tells me that, again, rookie of the year, I love value.

04:51I love beating numbers.

04:52I have not thrown a free bet or anything in this market

04:55because he is going to be almost, I think, impossible to beat.

05:00Now, for Cooper Flagg, what is unfortunate is his expectations.

05:06If you, you know, keep your ears open around the coverage of this league,

05:11it's not just win rookie of the year.

05:14It's the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs.

05:16That's what you're hearing.

05:18Books may be a little more hesitation, JY.

05:2140-and-a-half NBA win totals have come out.

05:2440-and-a-half is the number for Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks.

05:28What's your first reaction when you see that number?

05:30I think it's going to be an over.

05:32Now, here's the thing.

05:34It's not going to be predicated on him.

05:36It's going to be Anthony Davis.

05:38How many games can he get you?

05:39Can Clay Thompson, can he recapture the magic?

05:42What do you got on Martin off the bench?

05:44P.J. Washington.

05:45Lively gets hurt.

05:47Gaffer gets hurt.

05:48To me, Cooper Flagg, I'm going to say this,

05:50Cooper Flagg is like almost like the least of my concerns with that team.

05:54It's everyone else and their ability to stay healthy.

05:57But, folks, remember, I think it's 47, 48 wins is what you need to make the playoffs.

06:01So there's two ways to look at it.

06:02It's make the playoffs or is it the win total?

06:05I think they're over it.

06:06And I think here's the way I would look at Cooper Flagg, folks.

06:09Look at him primarily early in the year, especially with no Kyrie.

06:14I would use him at the point, run him into pick and roll action.

06:17He's a very good passer, great sight line.

06:20And then I would look at rebounds plus assists, but really look at stocks.

06:26Because this guy is going to get at least a steal on the block every game.

06:29And if they hang it at two and a half, I think he can get there almost nightly.

06:32Let's go.

06:41Let's go.

06:43Okay.

Category

Transcript

Recommended