2025 draft thread: THE MAVS SELECT COOPER FLAGG

[DallasMaverick]

Flagg is a special guy, i don't where is ceiling but he seems a 30yo pro athlete.

Dang. 

A Maverick you’re actually positive about.

Oh, wait. He’s not a Mav yet.

[FireNicoHarrison]

Dang. 

A Maverick you’re actually positive about.

Oh, wait. He’s not a Mav yet.

it's not easy to earn my trust.

You confuse realism with pessimism, so far the facts are proving me right on almost everything.

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

it's not easy to earn my trust.

You confuse realism with pessimism, so far the facts are proving me right on almost everything.

No, I enjoy this version of you much more.

[DanSchwartzgan]

Prediction:  Brooklyn is where Ace Bailey is trying to steer himself.  The Nets trade up to #4 to get him and Charlotte takes Maluach at #8.

[SleepingHero]

Prediction:  Brooklyn is where Ace Bailey is trying to steer himself.  The Nets trade up to #4 to get him and Charlotte takes Maluach at #8.

Oooo that's a fun idea to think about.

Does Brooklyn really want to take a chance on Bailey when he obviously has attitude concerns? Does Charlotte take the risk that Maluach lasts till #8? 

I think Charlotte is going to take Maluach at #4. It just seems like something they'd do. Utah is 100% taking Kneuppel. And Washington all of a sudden rejoices because a top 3 prospect has fallen to #6 and they will 100% pick him up. 

So far my predictions on draft night:

1. DAL - Cooper Flagg
   
2. SAS - Dylan Harper
   
3. PHI - VJ Edgecombe 
   
4. CHA- Khaman Maluach
   
5. UTA - Kon Knueppel 
   
6. WAS -  Ace Bailey 
   
7. NOP -  Tre Johnson
   
8. BRK -  Egor Demin
   

[DanSchwartzgan]

Oooo that's a fun idea to think about.

Does Brooklyn really want to take a chance on Bailey when he obviously has attitude concerns?  

Does he really have attitude concerns, or is all that is happening a planned out process to get him where he wants to be...his own team in a large TV market.?

[SleepingHero]

@TheDunkCentral
The Washington Wizards are reportedly willing to trade some ‘surprising names’ in an effort to move up to the No. 2 pick, per @GrantAfseth


“Holding picks No. 6 and 18 in the first round, the Wizards have explored trade-up scenarios in hopes of securing one of the top backcourt prospects, league sources told RG. Washington has made multiple offers to teams in the top five in an effort to land either Dylan Harper or Jeremiah Fears, even being willing to part with surprising names to move up to No. 2 overall. Thus far, those attempts have been rebuffed.”

[SleepingHero]

Does he really have attitude concerns, or is all that is happening a planned out process to get him where he wants to be...his own team in a large TV market.?

That's the age old question. Hard to know without actually seeing how he conducts himself in interviews or if it's all agent driven.

His agent, Omar Cooper, has had a history of being obtuse in pursuit of money.

Case in point, Sharife Cooper, his own son. Sharife was ranked a top 20 prospect in the 2020 class and had the makings of being a real player in the NBA. His dad, Omar, elected to become his agent and represent him. At the time, he was the highest ranked prospect to ever go to Auburn. 

Only issue was, his dad was also the manager of an AAU team that appeared to funnel their best players to Auburn where he may or may not have gotten kickbacks for doing so. 

This wrapped up his son into an NCAA eligibility investigation which took nearly half his freshman season away, AND almost wrapped up into the FBI investigation into the Auburn program where their coach was caught taking bribes. 

Cooper was later cleared, but the damage was done. He later declared for the NBA draft that same year at the advice of his father, but because he was a 6'0 guard with only 12 games under his belt a the college level, Sharife was picked 47th in the 2020 draft and is now playing overseas in China. 

Point is, even if Bailey is okay, I question his decision making choosing Omar Cooper as his agent.

[Chicagojk]

Ok, my favorite early to mid second is Duke’s Sion James. He knows what he is. Nothing flashy, but sometimes these are them guys who find success. Find a role where they get minutes and with those minutes and experience, just gets a little bit better each year.

[Chicagojk]

That's the age old question. Hard to know without actually seeing how he conducts himself in interviews or if it's all agent driven.

His agent, Omar Cooper, has had a history of being obtuse in pursuit of money.

Case in point, Sharife Cooper, his own son. Sharife was ranked a top 20 prospect in the 2020 class and had the makings of being a real player in the NBA. His dad, Omar, elected to become his agent and represent him. At the time, he was the highest ranked prospect to ever go to Auburn. 

Only issue was, his dad was also the manager of an AAU team that appeared to funnel their best players to Auburn where he may or may not have gotten kickbacks for doing so. 

This wrapped up his son into an NCAA eligibility investigation which took nearly half his freshman season away, AND almost wrapped up into the FBI investigation into the Auburn program where their coach was caught taking bribes. 

Cooper was later cleared, but the damage was done. He later declared for the NBA draft that same year at the advice of his father, but because he was a 6'0 guard with only 12 games under his belt a the college level, Sharife was picked 47th in the 2020 draft and is now playing overseas in China. 

Point is, even if Bailey is okay, I question his decision making choosing Omar Cooper as his agent.

He is definitely polarizing. You can watch his highlights and one minute be salivating with his talent and the next be scared of using a pick on him.  I disagree with his pre draft strategy.  It works with Kobe who got his way to LAL but they could be costing him millions.  Maybe he never gets that back.   I feel like he is top 5-6 though.  There are some bad teams who will be willing to role the dice with his upside.  We will see though.

[myconsumerclub]

We need to surround Cooper with players he can play with after the aged ones are gone. I would not want to take on a fat contract for an old guy like Jrue. With Irving out we need to be patient and consider this year a rebuild year till he gets back. Developing Brandon makes sense to me.

The problem is what we have to offer in order to get extra picks or make a trade. Trading a future first might get you a late first or early second if you sweeten the deal with a 2nd or gift them a player.

I think we may have few takers for Martin Powell Hardy and Omax. Hardy and Omax seem to be useful pieces to me but they are not guys I would use as starters. Martin is a proven commodity somewhat and it seems to me that he just did not find a place to fit in here. Powell is an expiring contract perhaps he has value in helping a team get rid of a guy they want to give up on who we might value.

I am beginning to think that Cooper is going to have to play as a point and hope for the best while we use Brandon Williams behind him. Maybe they look at Gortman again as a backup. I was not happy with the turn overs that Naji created when trying to play point last year so I would put an xnay on repeating that mistake. I know Ryan Nembhard is short at 5'11 but so was JJB and he creates 9.8 assists per game and shot 40% from 3 in his senior season. Mocks show him going from 50 to 58. He might be better than nothing. The pickens sure are slim at PG once you get to the end of the draft and there is nothing but undrafted rookies.

Going after Jrue at this point is kind of dumb look at that contract as we move into future years with Jrue. Patience wait and see if Irving even makes it back. If he does not heal up well enough to play this year then why would you want to move on Jrue? If he takes longer to make it back then you need to just use Cooper as the point and develop him as a big PG and see how that works. I would rather try to develop assets in the 2 way market and play Cooper at PG.

By using Cooper at PG is then you get to start PJ Klay AD and Lively. I bet he can pass it to AD and get us scoring that way and AD creates lots of assists for a PF. You can bring in BWill and move Cooper to SF and or SG.

[david75090]

In my opinion it's the, what-do-you-do-when-you're-in-a-hole, gambit. You stop digging. The Mavs have a hole at PG. Don't make it worse. Don't trade for another team's bad contract, old vet, or injured player. Check out the undrafted free agents or overseas players who improved by learning fundamentals over there. Wait it out. Churn the back half of the roster if need be. Don't do something expensive that'll shortly have to be undone.

[Winter]

We will know quite a bit more on draft night.

The options this season are variable and a little unpredictable. The promising aspect on draft night is that there may be some eager teams to help shuffle the deck. Then we can have a clearer understanding of Free Agency.

[Chicagojk]

There was a report that Ace Bailey declined to work out for the Jazz. That won't stop Danny from drafting him if he thinks he is the best player. Just really weird though. Could be costing him millions and have a whole slew of questions if a team who didn't work him out drafts him. I can understand having strong preferernces where you wind up and maybe not working out for a organization or two who may be perceived as toxic. But now workouts? That is extreme.

[F Gump]

Has Bailey worked out ANYWHERE? I'm not sure he has, and that raises even more questions regarding what he's doing and why.

For the sake of his stats (and next contract), a player like him probably NEEDS to land on a team where he can get plenty of latitude, rather than strict limits of a team trying to win big right now (with other better veteran players getting most of the shots and being higher up the pecking order). He may have seen PHI as a bad fit for those reasons -- but hard to see the same rationale for avoiding workouts with teams in slots 4-10.

He's from the greater ATL area. Does geography mean anything to him?

Is he just that confident? Or that scared? Is he hiding something? If I'm an NBA team, the more he hides, the scarier it gets.

And I have seen some draft analysts who really hate his game (which is based on forcing hard shots, which he makes a lot of, but raises questions of whether he can sustain against harder competition in the NBA). His year at Rutgers was a MAJOR negative too, since both he and Harper went there as elite prospects expected to dominate, yet they couldn't even get to the NCAA tourney (which means neither could even carry a college team). Some gurus are really pessimistic and think he has bust written all over him.

I can't see him dropping past BKN-TOR-PHX at 8-9-10. Who knows, some team earlier than that may like him a lot, and just say screw it, let's roll the dice.

[SleepingHero]

The more I watch of Proctor, the more I fall in love.

Him and Will Riley are my favorite late 1sts/2nd prospects

[Winter]

The more I watch of Proctor, the more I fall in love.

Him and Will Riley are my favorite late 1sts/2nd prospects

I can't quite tell from the videos why Proctor is even a 2nd round pick. Even if you don't like him as a PG, he looks more than capable as a SG. The draft analysis podcast I saw last week had two guys both thinking this guy could easily be a late first round pick... and still I see him generally as a pick in the 40's in most mock drafts. 

Disciplined, good defense, shooting 40% from 3 on a good volume, played at top notch school with Flagg no less.

[Chicagojk]

The athletic's lastest mock...I believe it is free

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6434991...an-harper/

[cow]

The athletic's lastest mock...I believe it is free

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6434991...an-harper/

With all the Ace Bailey drama, him being selected by the Wizards almost feels too perfect in a morbid kind of way.  I'm not sure who I'd feel worse for (probably the Wizards).

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

With all the Ace Bailey drama, him being selected by the Wizards almost feels too perfect in a morbid kind of way.  I'm not sure who I'd feel worse for (probably the Wizards).

I was thinking exactly the same.  What a cursed franchise.