Cooper Flagg‘s start to his NBA career with the Mavericks has been an exercise in steady progress and managing expectations, writes Grant Afseth of the Dallas Hoops Journal.
It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing so far for the 6’9″ rookie forward, who joined a team with aspirations of contending and has unexpectedly taken on the role of starting point guard. The No. 1 overall pick is shooting just 37.3% from the floor and 28.6% on three-pointers as he learns a new role.
Flagg, for his part, is not satisfied with his performance so far, but neither is he losing confidence.
“It’s a tough league. It’s a transition,” Flagg said. “Honestly, I haven’t made a lot of shots or been as efficient as I would’ve wanted to, but I’m gonna just keep trusting the work. It’s nothing I think they should be worried about. I’m not worried about anything.”
The Mavericks share Flagg’s faith in his ability to figure things out.
“Cooper’s not the kind of player who gets rattled,” a Mavericks staffer said. “He wants to understand why something didn’t work, then figure out how to fix it. That’s rare for someone his age.”
We have more from around the Mavs:
- One way that the Mavs are helping to ease Flagg’s burden as he transitions to being the new face of the franchise is through their veteran stars, writes Tim MacMahon for ESPN. Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis both have the perspective of being former No. 1 overall picks who entered the NBA with big expectations, and they’re using their experiences to help Flagg. “Being a No. 1 pick is still going to come with the pressure, still going to come with a lot of the inner thoughts that you want to impose on the team,” Irving said. “You want to let everybody know who you are, and you want to earn everybody’s respect. And that’s what it takes to be in this league. There’s no boys allowed. For me, it’s just making sure he doesn’t get overwhelmed or it’s not too much for him.” MacMahon describes Flagg as a 6’9″ shadow to Irving when the point guard goes through his post-practice routine, whether shooting sessions or one-on-one work.
- Head coach Jason Kidd is tantalized by the potential combination of Irving playing alongside Flagg and is hopeful that fans will get to see that duo sooner rather than later, Afseth writes. “[Irving] is going to be a perfect fit with Cooper Flagg, when you talk about his skill set of being able to dribble and score,” Kidd said. “He also creates space on the floor for Cooper, and vice versa. We just can’t wait to get Kai back, at some point. Hopefully it’s in the year of ’25 — not ’26.” Afseth notes that the optimistic timeline stands in clear contrast to the cautious approach Kidd and the Mavs have taken when previously discussing Irving’s rehabilitation schedule.
- Until Irving does return, Mavs fans shouldn’t expect a change in approach, despite the team’s early struggles to score, according to Christian Clark for The Athletic. Dallas’ offense went bone-dry in the fourth quarter against the Pistons in Mexico on Saturday, Clark writes, a trend largely indicative of the greater struggles the team has faced en route to a 2-4 start to the season. Entering Sunday, the Mavs were averaging 104.2 points per 100 possessions while every other team in the league was scoring at least 106, Clark notes. However, Kidd seems content to focus on the bigger picture rather than getting weighed down by the offense’s current struggles. “We are playing for something greater,” Kidd said about the ongoing Point Flagg experiment. “Just to have that experience early on is a blessing.”
Fire Jason Kidd
Flagg playing PG is going to stunt his growth
Arrested for drunk driving and assualting his wife are HC leadership qualities
While it is a monumental task for a PF to try and play PG out of nowhere at 19 in the NBA, Flagg’s +/- game by game:
-29, -6, +5, -20, -7, -12
He isn’t doing anything. Still, it was always going to be a burnt year for him. Wemby wasn’t in the NBA at 19. Still plenty of time for Flagg to establish himself as the game’s best PF.
Dude’s 19. Different player than Wemby obviously. Let’s let him learn
wemby was 19 for the first 3 months of his career. and cooper is still 18
He’s not even learning anything, he will never be a PG for the rest of his career. It’s a whatever year for him, but it makes sense to test his skills out and see what you have. I am still very high on him.
Although it’s largely semantics, he’s a SF, not a PF.
It’s a team game and the Mavs have thrown him into the deep end of the pool from day 1. Does he have any teammates with a positive +/- in this 6 game sample?
SF? PF? OK, but the one thing he’s not – and shouldn’t be expected to be – is a PG.
@NBA is OK
Please google this “cooper flagg power forward” and let me know what you see.
Why is Kidd starting Flagg at the point? Mavs aren’t constructed for a makeshift point. What play makers Mavs got. As in, here’s the rock, do your thing? Give D-Lo, Klay, Flagg, and a double big line up a go to hide defensive efficiencies. Mavs need more direction atm. Screwed around with Luka for ages playing the three too. Why?
AD js so soft, if they can find some dumb GM to give them a few FRPs for him I would do it.
Not happening, both because no one is going to pay a hefty price for AD and Nico not being ready to admit his mistake this early into the AD era in Dallas.
AD’s salary balloons to like 60 mil next season as well.
Kyrie not playing this season. He got his ACL surgery at the end of March, and older players with extensive leg injuries like Kyrie take at least 12 months to come back and then need a couple of months on the court to get back in the groove.
Nico and Kidd are dangling the carrot if it’s all going to get better soon to their fans to push the disappointment down the road.
Kyrie’s career is done. Most players with ACL injuries have says it took them 2 years to get back to what they were. Kyrie is a short guard who depends on his explosiveness (his legs). He is going to be 34 early next year.
Mavs better start trading their assets first a full rebuild!
Very well said. The NBA has a weird tradition of playing injured guys (Gordon playing with a torn hamstring in the gm 7 vs OKC) or rushing them back (not properly healed calves that turn into snapped ligaments), but in this case, it’s just smoke.
That team was going to be the most criticized and ridiculed in the NBA, even more than Sacramento, with their own fans turning completely against them. And then they pulled a 1.5% or whatever the chance was, and lucked into Flagg.
They will keep losing games, and then at some point, they will start to openly play to get Flagg a buddy in the lottery. Probably already doing that now, but just playing a role.
Wait for Luka to get a season ending injury. Or just being out the playoffs. Then decide.