2025 draft thread: THE MAVS SELECT COOPER FLAGG

[F Gump]

From Iztok's article today. Man, I know he has been doing both writeups for the Lakers and the Mavs.  It is going to suck losing his analysis on Mavs stuff moving forward. 


Awesome article by
@iztok_franko
on Cooper Flagg…. Check it out in the post below.

“If you filter college stats for players with Flagg’s combination of scoring (over 20 points per 36), assists (over 4 per 36), usage rate (above 25%), and more than 100 three-point attempts in a season, you won’t find wings. Instead, you’ll mostly see high-usage scoring primary playmaking options like Stephen Curry, Kemba Walker, Damian Lillard, and Ja Morant.”

I didnt have the stats, but that was my sense of things in my ideas for Flagg, that they might consider slotting him at a starting "G" aka point-forward aka primary offense creator (until Kyrie returns). While a different skill set than Luka, he's been creating offense at every level, even though he's big, and has built his game like that. 

The Mavs didnt quite see Luka as a PG at first. Was he going to be in the ilk of Bird, or Magic, all around players who could each do many things, some very flashy, but like Luka were both the size of a PF?

It's that KNOWN capacity and track record at his size that has had NBA teams eagerly awaiting the chance to get him since he was in HS.

I don't think the Mavs even want a heliocentric offense like Luka is, and would see starting players like AD, Klay, and even PJ at times as capable in starting and/or creating offense too... which means its now going to be a much easier load to fill for whoever is the primary guy.

CF obviously wouldn't have to play all 30 or so minutes in that role -- as they bring in backups, he can then be secondary creator alongside someone like Williams or Exum (or even Hardy, if for some reason he isn't traded?).

We also have to consider that presumably during the season this is NOT necessarily needing to be a TOP playoff-ready lineup (although that would be an intent) since Kyrie will be back well before the playoffs. 

I'm not stuck on CF as the point forward necessarily, but I think the Mavs will be very flexible in how they approach things and seems like an intriguing possibility. And they are building multiple lineups - this season without Kyrie, then with- as well as lineups that do or dont include PJ and Gaff in future years, so imo we should EXPECT to see a whole slew of unexpected.