2025 draft thread: THE MAVS SELECT COOPER FLAGG

[ThisIStheYear]

I’ll take my chances with Flagg. I don’t expect him to be quite as impactful as Luka because efficient, high volume scorers are the most difficult players to find, especially when they can regularly get you double digit assists and rebounds. But, a player with a floor of say a Bobby Jones type of defender and play style but who can score 20 a night and initiate offense is a sure fire hall of famer and future top 10 guy.

[Chicagojk]

Adam Silver says he will give you one more thing for the Luka trade. He says you can take your pick of one of Cooper Flagg High school teammates to add to your team. Who are you choosing:

Derik Queen
Liam McNeeley
Asa Newell

[myconsumerclub]

I don't disagree about your premise, but I should point out that very few teams understood who Luka was on draft night. No one saw him as "generational" then.

For the record, I don't like that term at all, and predicting that is silly in my opinion.

What I would say is that good players in college (especially Duke which is usually heavy with NBA players) or in a European league frequently find more opprtunities to score in the NBA. It's more wide open I think, and I suspect CF can easily be a 20+ ppg player. That said, I think CF's on-court value is probably more than every other prospect in the field - much more than just a ppg thing - and is what makes him the 1st pick.

An interesting comparison mught be someone like Kyrie - who is completely different than CF in regard to size and position - and yet when Kyrie came out he clearly had skills no one else had in the draft. He had advanced metrics everywhere and was the #1 pick. Kyrie scores in the mid 20s ppg as an average almost every year in his NBA career, but his value is clearly much greater than that. CF's value really shines when you add rebounding, defense, and rim protection - something Kyrie was never known for. I do think players like CF are really rare.

Look at how long it took Dirk to become a recognized great generational talent. He was never talked about like that in the early years of his career and he was picked later in the draft as well. These guys today are okay but give me a Dirk again any day of the week. Cooper at least can shoot a 3 without looking like he is mentally handicapped like Shawn Marion and we all thought highly of Marion anyway. We have Cooper in his beginning stages and he is already touted as generational. If he can be that I hope we keep him forever and don't decide to trade him off for an old has been. The more I read about the league taking great players away from teams to gift them to bigger market teams like LA and then gifting the team losing the player with the first pick it makes me think that this league is a lot more orchestrated than it first appears but hey if we benefit from it once in a while its an okay thing. As long as they are not fixing games I am happy.

[SleepingHero]

Mavs Film Room
(@MavsFilmRoom)
Marc Stein reports that a Mavs source tells him there’s “no chance” they trade the #1 overall pick “not even for Giannis”

[SleepingHero]

However compare Flagg to Luka is not a great idea...

I wasn't trying to make the comparison of Flagg v. Luka, but more so Flagg v. NBA execs, and Luka v. NBA execs, trying to draw parallels.

Flagg v. Luka is an unfair conversation. I was all in on Luka from day 1, but he still even exceeded my wildest expectations of him. I mean, who could've thought he'd make 5 1st All-NBA teams in his first 6 years along with as many all-star appearances. Plus they are just different players, with different games, and different expectations. 

Luka's feat has only ever happened 3 other times with it being Bird, Duncan, and Gervin too!

So no, I can't compare Flagg to that because it'd be unfair. That bar is unreasonably high. And I urge everyone to not do that.

Despite that, I am still so high on Flagg. I truly think he could be a big difference maker and become that level of player eventually. IF he could become that right out the gate like Luka, then the Mavs are the luckiest franchise to ever exist.

[F Gump]

Mavs Film Room
(@MavsFilmRoom)
Marc Stein reports that a Mavs source tells him there’s “no chance” they trade the #1 overall pick “not even for Giannis”

It's a shame that the Mavs FO is so inept that the question of "Would you trade Pick 1" need to be asked.

[Knutsen]

I wasn't trying to make the comparison of Flagg v. Luka, but more so Flagg v. NBA execs, and Luka v. NBA execs, trying to draw parallels.

Flagg v. Luka is an unfair conversation. I was all in on Luka from day 1, but he still even exceeded my wildest expectations of him. I mean, who could've thought he'd make 5 1st All-NBA teams in his first 6 years along with as many all-star appearances. Plus they are just different players, with different games, and different expectations. 

Luka's feat has only ever happened 3 other times with it being Bird, Duncan, and Gervin too!

So no, I can't compare Flagg to that because it'd be unfair. That bar is unreasonably high. And I urge everyone to not do that.

Despite that, I am still so high on Flagg. I truly think he could be a big difference maker and become that level of player eventually. IF he could become that right out the gate like Luka, then the Mavs are the luckiest franchise to ever exist.

I know it hurts and is unrealistic because of so many reasons, but wouldn’t Luka be the perfect player next to Cooper on offense? 

And if Cooper becomes what he is projected to become - wouldn’t he be the perfect sidekick to Luka as well, as a more well rounded and less athletically freaky Giannis?

[khaled1987]

I know it hurts and is unrealistic because of so many reasons, but wouldn’t Luka be the perfect player next to Cooper on offense? 

And if Cooper becomes what he is projected to become - wouldn’t he be the perfect sidekick to Luka as well, as a more well rounded and less athletically freaky Giannis?

Honestly, no.

As I said earlier in this thread, I think with Cooper you should build a more rounded offense. With real BALL MOVEMENT
Not heliocentric offense with a guy of high usage like Luka, or worse, forcing him to be the Luka and be the creator of the team. Just let him play within the rhythm of the team

[FireNicoHarrison]

I wasn't trying to make the comparison of Flagg v. Luka, but more so Flagg v. NBA execs, and Luka v. NBA execs, trying to draw parallels.

Flagg v. Luka is an unfair conversation. I was all in on Luka from day 1, but he still even exceeded my wildest expectations of him. I mean, who could've thought he'd make 5 1st All-NBA teams in his first 6 years along with as many all-star appearances. Plus they are just different players, with different games, and different expectations. 

Luka's feat has only ever happened 3 other times with it being Bird, Duncan, and Gervin too!

So no, I can't compare Flagg to that because it'd be unfair. That bar is unreasonably high. And I urge everyone to not do that.

Despite that, I am still so high on Flagg. I truly think he could be a big difference maker and become that level of player eventually. IF he could become that right out the gate like Luka, then the Mavs are the luckiest franchise to ever exist.

That's right, i agree with you... I see Flagg as a small versione of Anthony Davis. They have it all.

But street clothes lacks in leadership and carisma... We will see Cooper if he can be an alpha.

[Chicagojk]

Mavs Film Room ??
@MavsFilmRoom
Marc Stein asked Jason Kidd who the Mavs were drafting on draft night

“We love that kid from Duke.”

***************************
KIdd knows he can say his name right?

More scary, Mavs are the one team where you can question if he means Flagg or another Duke player. ha ha

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

In my opinion, if AD thinks he's a PF, and that's his preferred position, then he and CF are redundant. I'm fairly sure that's PJW's preferred position also. AD should be the most tradeable asset that's likely to bring the most in return in a trade. Also, AD fits the Flagg timeline the least. (Fire Nico) and have our next GM follow the Flagg timeline to maximize Flagg. Use AD's contract to bring in younger talent that fit positions of need. That's what this know-it-all amateur GM (me) is seeing.

Exactly.  I can see AD getting traded for a starting 2-way SF.

I like something like Franz/Suggs for AD/Klay.  Need to move more for $, but that's the core of it.

Kyrie, Hardy
Suggs, Christie
Franz, Naji, Martin
Flagg, PJ
Lively, Gafford

That's a top 5 roster, easily. Would need to bolster backup PG.

[BigDirk41]

Exactly.  I can see AD getting traded for a starting 2-way SF.

I like something like Franz/Suggs for AD/Klay.  Need to move more for $, but that's the core of it.

Kyrie, Hardy
Suggs, Christie
Franz, Naji, Martin
Flagg, PJ
Lively, Gafford

That's a top 5 roster, easily.  Would need to bolster backup PG.

There is zero chance and I mean zero chance Orlando even considers that trade. Only Nico would trade those guys for AD. Sign me up, but no chance.

[michaeltex]

Going back to the draft and associated trades, any way we could pry away one of OKC's picks? They have 15/25/44. OKC also has 15 guys under contract for next season, although 6 of them have TOs for next season. Plus they have a big batch of picks in the 2026 draft. Seems like something has to give roster-wise and I'm trying to determine how DAL may benefit from their logjam. They don't seem to have many areas of need and their contracts are mostly set, so bringing in drafted talent is going make it hard to find locker space for the youngsters.

I'm not sure what would work, but it would be nice to get another pick but OKC doesn't have many needs right now. For DAL, Exum and Dinwiddie are expired. OMax is a TO for the next two seasons. PJ and Gaff are expirings, but OKC it pretty set for big men so I don't see the match there.

[FireNicoHarrison]

Fire Nico, trade AD and start a new Mavs era.

[Mavs2021]

There is zero chance and I mean zero chance Orlando even considers that trade. Only Nico would trade those guys for AD. Sign me up, but no chance.

That is not accurate. 28 GMs would do that trade, none of them are in Orlando or Dallas.

[Chicagojk]

ESPN latest Mock:

Ace Bailey to Philly
Utah takes Fears at 5....with him and two former #1 in back to back years at PG, what does that say about Sexton
Kaspara Jakucionis goes 10th to Houston
Egor Demin goes 11 to Portland
Jase Richardson goes 16th to Orlando
Nolan Traoare goes 2oth to Miami
Walter Clayton goes 29th to PHX

Just some pt guard names in case you had an interest in trying to get a first roun pick.

[Winter]

I think Clayton is an interesting choice late in the first round. He can stretch the floor a little with that perimeter shot. His 3-ball is his warm, fuzzy comfort zone.

[Mavs2021]

ESPN latest Mock:

Ace Bailey to Philly
Utah takes Fears at 5....with him and two former #1 in back to back years at PG, what does that say about Sexton
Kaspara Jakucionis goes 10th to Houston
Egor Demin goes 11 to Portland
Jase Richardson goes 16th to Orlando
Nolan Traoare goes 2oth to Miami
Walter Clayton goes 29th to PHX

Just some pt guard names in case you had an interest in trying to get a first roun pick.

If I still cared, I´d consider Micic + #29 for Gafford an option, since Micic is a pure team option and Phoenix has no capspace or starting center.

[F Gump]

If I still cared, I´d consider Micic + #29 for Gafford an option, since Micic is a pure team option and Phoenix has no capspace or starting center.

That only works for PHX.

DAL would have no interest anyway, getting nothing but junk in exchange for a good talent.

And it doesn't matter, as the NBA says no, the trade doesn't come anywhere close to being legal.

[SleepingHero]

Exactly.  I can see AD getting traded for a starting 2-way SF.

I like something like Franz/Suggs for AD/Klay.  Need to move more for $, but that's the core of it.

Kyrie, Hardy
Suggs, Christie
Franz, Naji, Martin
Flagg, PJ
Lively, Gafford

That's a top 5 roster, easily.  Would need to bolster backup PG.

If we could flip AD for Franz I'd do that trade in a heartbeat. 

Franz+Flagg+Lively is an INSANE 3/4/5 frontline.