MAVS NEWS:

[cow]

Flagg is one of the rare youngsters I actually follow before they get to the league. I have no love for college basketball, in general, but in his case I've been following him a little since high school, and I REALLY got interested after watching him hold his own (understatement) against the olympic team. 

I agree he won't be as offensively polished as Luka right away, and frankly, he might never be as polished on that end, but I think his offense is likely to be better than Luka's DEFENSE almost right away, so in a well-rounded way, I actually hold out some hope for him making a winning impact out of the gate. And, it's important to remember that there is a LOT of talent on this team right now. This is nothing like the team that drafted Luka. Yeah, AD and Kyrie are old and on the tail end of everything, but just as a thought process, in two years both will still be younger than KD is NOW. It's not insane to imagine Cooper Flagg being a top 10, top 5 guy by then, is it? 

Plus, everyone not named Davis, Irving or Thompson on this roster IS pretty young still, and it's plausible than any of them could be here long enough to get Flagg and the Mavs past the draft capital waste years, I think. 

Speaking of draft capital, I find myself in rare agreement with Skin about that. What little they CAN trade now I'd have no issues moving with the goal of being good, personally. The only truly potentially valuable piece of draft capital they have is that future Lakers pick, and I'd try to hold onto THAT, but everything else...swaps, draft night deals, etc, between now and the days they can control their destiny again? I say go for it.

I have a co-worker who was a high level college basketball athlete as well as her husband and, unsurprisingly, their gaggle of children.  She keeps up with the college ranks so I asked her about Cooper and she simply said he needs time.  I trust her opinion.  I don't think he'll ever reach the heights of Luka's offensive skill because his feel for the game can't be taught, but that's not a knock.  And like you mentioned, his defense is already leagues ahead of Luka's.  It also seems common opinion is his work ethic and motor are probably his most elite skillsets which is a nice change of pace.  I just want the organization to do right by this kid as it was hard to watch us stumble with the end of Dirk's peak/later years and the continual tripping over our own dicks with Luka.