Cooper Flagg, a talented 18-year-old young man from Maine with competitiveness that is absolutely unmatched. Not only is he intensely competitive and wants to win at all costs which every NBA scout drools over, he is also blessed with an amazing frame standing at 6’9”. You combine his incredible work ethic with that frame you’re bound to get unmatched talent that hasn’t been seen from an American prospect since Anthony Edwards.
I project Cooper to go at #1 in this upcoming draft. According to almost all draft boards and mocks they have him going first as well.
Now let’s dive into the statistics, Cooper is averaging an astounding 19.4 pts 7.6 reb and 4.2 ast on an exciting Duke team that is ranked #1 at this time. Now on the defensive side of the ball you can just see the intensity which he plays with and his willingness to hustle and do the “dirty work” to win. He has clocked in 1.1 blocks and 2 steals a game.
While those stats may be good they don’t jump out at it, However the counting stats is not where he shows his incredible defensive intellect. He ended up with the best defensive rating in the entire ACC with an 87.4. He also was ranked 1st in defensive box plus minus nationally with a 5.00 rating. www.sportskeeda.com even made the statement that “he should have won defensive POTY.”
While he is a great NBA prospect there are some significant weaknesses. For example, while yes he is shooting 37.7 % from 3 this season which is higher than the average 3 pt percentage across college hoops at 34%, I do not think that will translate well to the NBA. My reasoning for having that thought is that even at the college 3 he seems hesitant and uncomfortable scoring from the perimeter. However, there have been plenty of shaky 3-point shooters who turn into league average or great shooters in the NBA. With the right shooting coaches and staff, I don’t see why in a few years he couldn’t do the same.
The only other weakness that I could possibly imagine is that he may be a little too frail to compete with some of the other players at his size. With Cooper only weighing in at 209 pounds. Who is not to say that he could be put on a diet and workout regimen that would work for him to gain weight in muscle upon being in the league. Players such as Giannis Antetokounmpo came into the league extremely frail and now is arguably one of if not the most muscular and strong players in the NBA. On the contrary players like Brandon Ingram have found success in the league without having much weight or strength to them.
In my opinion Cooper has most likely the highest floor in the entire draft. His style of game should translate very well at the NBA level with his high intensity level and wantingness to win while still willing to put in the effort to get better. The only real thing that I can see that would be a struggle to translate is his 3 point shooting, with the current NBA how it is most teams are extremely dependant on the 3 ball. Sadly that is most likely his biggest weakness. However, he is such an amazing talent that can score in so many other ways that I know he would be an incredible asset to any team.
With most NBA teams already having a solid to elite deep threat he can add another layer to a team’s offensive game plan by creating great looks from the post if a smaller guard of wing gets switched onto him or generating looks with his shiftiness in the midrange like a Demar Derozan or De’Aaron Fox only bigger.
Comparisons
Ceiling: Cooper could be a variety of variations dependant of how he progresses with that in mind I have narrowed it down to 3 ceiling comparisons
- A smaller Anthony Davis
- Andrei Kirilenko
- Kevin Garnett
Floor:
- Jalen Johnson
- Taj Gibson
- Derrick Jones Jr.
