“Situational Evaluation” is a collection of articles that seeks to look at the circumstances that the majority usually affect an NBA prospect’s success. Every participant can be scored on a scale from 1-10 in 4 totally different classes: NBA-specific talent(s), deadly flaw(s), collegiate/abroad/pre-NBA atmosphere, and superb NBA ecosystem.
Cooper Flagg is an 18-year-old (!!!) wing from Newport, Maine, who averaged 19.2 factors, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists for the Duke Blue Devils. He’s anticipated to be the No. 1 decide within the 2025 NBA Draft. NBADraft.web, subsequently, presently has him projected at No. 1.
NBA-Particular Expertise
Cooper Flagg is actually, actually good at basketball. Like, actually. Good, I imply. At basketball. All of it.
I want I had sharper evaluation right here. However generally, you watch a child – sure, child who received’t flip 19 till December 21 – play basketball and there actually isn’t a lot so as to add.
Flagg isn’t an ideal participant. No one is. However few gamers his age come into the NBA draft with a better ground. The issues Flagg must hone – off-the-bounce capturing, tighter deal with, off-hand ending, constant 3-point step-backs – are the abilities that separate All Stars from potential MVPs. We’ll cowl it within the subsequent part.
What separates Flagg from his friends on this or just about every other draft? Easy. He by no means stops coming.
Flagg has the motor of a participant on a 10-day contract attempting to safe a second deal. There’s a desperation to Flagg’s method that we don’t usually see from gamers who inked high-profile sneaker offers in faculty.
For as expert and proficient as he’s as an offensive participant, he enters the NBA as a possible wrecking ball on the wing defensively. That is exceptional, by the best way. Most rookies are subpar defenders – even those taken for his or her defensive upside. Studying the nuances {of professional} defensive schemes towards one of the best assortment of offensive expertise on the earth is difficult for even top-notch defenders. Flagg will take his lumps, as all rookies do, however he received’t get performed off the ground. If something, Flagg can be given defensive assignments and duties usually reserved for veterans with 5-10 years of expertise.
By the point Flagg hits his rookie extension, he’ll seemingly see his title etched in stone on the annual All-Protection groups.
Offensively, Flagg can match seamlessly alongside high-usage gamers. He’s already an A-level cutter and mover with out the ball, and he not often holds the ball longer than a second or two earlier than making a transfer or swinging it to an open teammate. Issues simply stream higher when Flagg is concerned.
Throw in his game-changing transition potential and his tireless work ethic, and it’s exhausting to think about a non-injury state of affairs the place Flagg is something apart from one of many sport’s greatest gamers.
On a scale from 1-10, Flagg’s mindset, motor, and mentality price at a ten.
Deadly Flaws
I must rename this part “nitpicks” in Flagg’s case. There’s nothing right here that resembles a catastrophic flaw or critical hindrance. We’re speaking about abilities that may make the distinction between “a number of All-Star video games” and “All-NBA First Staff.”
At this time’s NBA celebrity – significantly if he performs on the wing – wants a step-back 3-pointer within the offensive toolkit. It’s essentially the most un-guardable shot, and people who can convert it effectively separate themselves from everybody else. After a slow-ish begin to the season, Flagg bumped his 3pt% to 38.5%, however totally on spot-up appears or transition alternatives. If Flagg provides an isolation step-back within the half-court to his already unbelievable skillset, neglect it. It’s not there but, nonetheless.
Flagg skeptics (a dwindling quantity, however they nonetheless exist) insist he’s a high-level position participant at greatest. They consider gamers on the variety of loopy 3s they take or the sorts of ankle-breaking YouTube-ready dribble drives they create. Flagg shouldn’t be that sort of participant. Apologies to the social media coordinators or content material aggregators of the world. You’ll should accept insane Flagg dunks in transition or chase-down blocks that appeared out of attain.
On a scale from 1 (not a priority) to 10 (critical hindrance), Flagg’s growing isolation 3-pointer is a 2.
Pre-NBA Setting
Draft obsessives have been listening to about Flagg for years. He turned heads when he proved he belonged on the court docket with elite NBA gamers when he kicked butt as a member of the Staff USA Choose Staff, tasked with warming up Staff USA previous to the 2024 Olympics.
Flagg has dominated at each degree. He did no matter he needed on the courts in Maine earlier than transferring to a loaded Montverde Academy squad. He reclassified to get a bounce on his collegiate profession, which is why he’s a 12 months (or extra) youthful than most of his contemporaries. And everyone knows what he did at Duke final 12 months.
On a scale from 1-10, Flagg’s pre-NBA profession charges at a 9. It will rank a degree greater had the Blue Devils not blown it within the Ultimate 4.
Perfect NBA Ecosystem
Let’s make this fast: Each group would commerce nearly each asset that isn’t nailed down in trade for Cooper Flagg. He matches into any offensive or defensive sport plan, any teaching philosophy, any roster development.
Let’s rephrase: Did the suitable group win the privilege of choosing Cooper Flagg? Clearly not. However is that this an excellent progress alternative for a probably transformative NBA prospect? Actually, it might be a lot worse.
Previous to the reshaped lottery odds, low-level organizations usually squandered the potential of uncooked, unproven, however tantalizing lottery expertise. Now, groups that narrowly missed postseason play usually discover themselves thrust upward within the lottery (although sure conspiracy theorists like to solid doubt on simply how “random” these lottery odds actually are).
Flagg heads to Dallas to step into the small ahead place lately vacated by Luka Doncic in a commerce that was sensible and good and everybody agrees. Flagg is not going to have to hold a heavy offensive burden, as he seemingly would on a typical lottery squad like Utah or Washington. Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving (every when wholesome) will permit Flagg to develop at his personal tempo and contribute precisely the form of factor Jason Kidd expects from his wings – tenacious protection, transition excellence, secondary shot creation, and so forth. A entrance line of Flagg, AD, and Vigorous/Gafford is impossibly lengthy, athletic, and formidable defensively.
That’s assuming Nico Harrison doesn’t maintain the New Steadiness factor towards him. Might Harrison actually move on Flagg or commerce the decide? Something is feasible.
On a scale from 1-10, Flagg (10) is among the most situationally unbiased draft prospects in years. Every group wants as many Cooper Flaggs as they will get.
