03-19-2026, 08:55 AM
(03-19-2026, 06:32 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: After a hopeful bump, Cooper is at 28% from three on a little more than 3 attempts a game. This summer that obviously needs to be a focus. It would do wonders if he could get up 5-6 per game at 36% from three next year.
He really needs to shoot them in flow. Too many times is passes a pretty good shot only to try to hammer into the lane. He is not getting the foul calls. Long term, you can just try to bang at the rim over and over. Not great for longterm. He is only 19, so that will come. His footwork is off sometimes on his shots and seems to settle for more difficult threes.
If this team adds another good creator, Cooper will need to be ready and willing to shoot those open threes next year.
I can't be too hard on Coop. It's been a long, ugly season and he's been challenged with doing new things (point-Coop) while stepping up (at 18) to NBA level play and while trying to keep his spirits up amid the worst season he's ever experienced.
Yet he's still in ROY consideration, although the team performance has probably blown that up. After the ASB, everyone knew what the goal was and everyone is playing that way, just trying to get through game 82 healthy. A summer to clear his head and work on polishing some aspects of his game should do wonders. Kyrie will be back, DLive will be back, new blood will be added, so the team should go into this fall with much higher expectations.
I, for one, am looking forward to getting glimpses of what the team does over the summer to prepare for next year and not have a key member disappear for 3-4 months.