2025 draft thread: THE MAVS SELECT COOPER FLAGG

[Chicagojk]

Kyrie is the exception yes, but how about another recent example of an exception the Mavs should note in Jalen Brunson.   At the end of the day the draft is about NBA LEVEL TALENT.  Its hard to project but that's why the GM and Scouting dept. and Coaches get paid the big bucks, to detect those skills and intangibles that will translate. 

The Mavs even had the player in-house and missed the true value on Brunson.  


It's convenient that the projected guards in this draft mostly have nice size, but Mavs have to look for the outlier skills and intangibles too.  This season do you remember who was trending very strongly to be rookie of the year before he was injured?   It was Jared McCain, barely a scooche bigger than Kyrie Irving if at all.  

He is a smallish guard but not tiny, a strong build so a little Brunson-like, very young so required projection. 
Thing was he was showing signs of outlier shooting/3-pt ability and a social media darling (leadership).  

Brunson I always thought was underrated because of what some would see as intangibles which have now borne out to the tune of making the Knicks a true championship contender!  Brunson has the NBA blood-line, raised by a basketball father (Harper has that :-) but more than that the Villanova championships were no fluke.  Brunson and those players had and still have those skills and winning intangibles.  Kudos to NY for recognizing why that was a special college team. 

So who's got it this year? If they happen to have good size then fantastic, but NBA talent projection is the most important.  Losing Kyrie Irving imo is the biggest factor that SANK Nico's vision of this years Mavs. 
AD wasn't bad really, actually you could argue he was pretty damn good, great end of season numbers including a 40/9/2/1/1 statement at the end. 

The new NICO Mavs (   ) didn't have a ready-to-go replacement for that small guard scoring, clutch play and leadership intangibles Kyrie brings once they butchered the Luka trade w/o bring back AR in the deal.  Max Christie by the way is a nice young wing pickup who will look a lot better once they have a lead guard again. 

They absolutely required Kyrie to be in that defense first rotation with Dante Exum imo being the 2nd most important guard but also was banged up.  Dinwiddie would have been just 3rd in that mix. 
Is there a Brunson in this draft?  Brunson was drafted 33rd btw 

Speaking about McCain:

14.3 pts as a freshman at Duke on 46/41/88 shooting.  Is a winning player who makes the right play.  6'2-6'3 and not a point guard at this stage.

vs

Jase Richardson

12.1 points as a freshman (numbers went up when he was put as a starter on 49/41/83 shooting.  Is a winning player who makes the right play.   6'2ish I think and not a point guard at this stage.

I have McCain as a higher rated player because I think he showed a little more.   Richardson is really left handed and pretty much played off ball.  MSU had two other point guards so not sure if Jase found a role for that team.   McCain is also a little thicker build.  If Richardson was 6'6 or 6'6, he would be perfect for the Mavs.  Although he would be long gone at the end of the lottery.  BTW, he has a highly recruited brother who is a SR who is 6'6.   I am really having trouble evaluating Jace's upside.

Oh, and I believe his dad had a Nike shoe deal.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he8AkLTR8gM