The Mavericks’ Plan For Cooper Flagg is WILD

The Mavericks’ Plan For Cooper Flagg is WILD

So, according to The Athletic, the Mavericks will officially try the two timeline approach with Cooper Flag. You know, win now and win later. Amazing. Why wouldn’t you do two timelines? Oh, that’s right. Because it’s almost impossible to do one timeline. I mean, we just saw the Nuggets, Cavaliers, and Celtics lose trying one timeline. Kind of difficult. But the Mavericks are like, “Well, we’ve got the talent and the leadership to do both. Really?” Well, what’s the plan exactly? I mean, maybe I’m being too harsh. Has a two timeline approach ever actually worked? Yes, it has. So, what is the Maverick’s plan? Because details just got leaked, and it is wild. But conference finals pick. Well, the Maverick’s two timelines are Anthony Davis and Kyrie now and Cooper Flag later. But they will not trade the pick to maximize AD and Kyrie, and they will not trade AD to maximize Cooper Flag. What’s wrong with that? Well, in the last video, I showed how rookies don’t usually lead to winning, no matter how good they are. LeBron won 35 games as a rook. Wimby just 22 wins. But Cooper is different. See, those guys were expected to carry their team, especially on offense. But Flag strength is D. He measured at 6’8 without shoes at the combine. Will probably get bigger. He’s able to defend in the paint and on the perimeter. Got 52 steals and 50 blocks in just 32 games at Duke. Plus, he doesn’t need the ball to be effective, so Cooper can fit perfect right away. But there are two major concerns. First is offense. See, after Kyrie went down and AD came back from injury, Dallas had the 24th ranked offense in the NBA, dead last in threes. So, do you really want to put that big of an offensive burden on 18-year-old Cooper Flag? I mean, it’s bad enough to lean on the kid, but there will be expectations to win now. That’s the two timelines. And the second problem is his age. And I know dude is good, but he is 18 years old. He is so young that if he was 11 days younger, he would be too young for the NBA draft. Just 10 days older than LeBron when he was drafted, which means by age they are basically getting a high school kid. Oh, but he’s a number one pick, which means the Mavs now have three number one picks leading their team. Kyrie, AD, and Cooper. The problem is when Kyrie was drafted number one in 2011, Cooper was 4 years old. When AD was drafted, Coop was 5 years old. It’s a huge risk. And yes, Cooper plays older than his age. I mean, the hype really went crazy when at 17 he shook off all world defender Drew Holiday, then hit a three in AD’s face. Yes, you cannot deny that. But also, this wasn’t an NBA game, people. Are we acting like those guys were giving their all? But the alternative is Giannis. You know, the Bucks would do that in a heartbeat. Then they would really give the AD timeline a chance to win a championship. This stuff is hard. Or do you trade AD to maximize Cooper Flag? Because the Mavs don’t control any of their picks from 2027 to 2030. So what are they going to do when AD gets old? If he breaks down, how are they going to build around Cooper? Not through the draft. You can’t trade for anyone to help Cooper. You don’t have any picks. This is the exact opposite of what the Spurs are doing with Victor Wimanyama. Oh, shoot. We had a down year. No problem. Our record sucked and the pick ends up at number two. So now the Spurs get to add yet another huge talent around Wimi. But the Mavs, if things go south, they don’t have a draft pick to fall back on. I mean, even San Antonio was like, “Yo, we got to get De Jonte Murray out of here to maximize Wimby.” and Dejante was 25 years old. Daytona Davis is 32. What are they doing? But at least they’ve got the Luca trade as a backup. Remember, they got Anthony Davis, Max Christie, Austin Reeves, the Lakers 2029, and 31st, plus swaps in 26, 28, and 29. Oh, wait, no, they didn’t. They got a terrible package with nothing to fall back on when AD gets old. I guarantee in a few years when it’s just Cooper on the maps, people will be saying two things. One, why didn’t we trade AD when he actually had value to build around Cooper? Or they will say, why didn’t we get more for Luca? Either way, both timelines could be screwed. Or will they? Because two timelines has actually worked in the past. Of course, the latest version was the Warriors. In 2020, they got the number two pick. And then in 2021, they got number seven and 14. And yes, they were able to win the 2022 title. Well, having the young guys on the roster, which means it worked. But that’s only one timeline, the win now timeline. What about the win later one? Well, Wiseman’s gone. Kaminga probably is too, and Moses Moody is average at best. So, they would have been better going allin on one timeline. Who knows if Steph could have ring number five or six, but when has it worked? Well, in the 1970s, the Lakers were on the verge of winning, but they took Magic Johnson at number one in 1979. He put them over the top. Then, when their older players started to fade, the young guys started to shine, and that kept them dominant all the way to 1991. From 1977 to 91, they made at least the conference finals 11 of 15 seasons. Damn. Another example is the Spurs from David Robinson to Tim Duncan. A great team kept the number one pick instead of trading it for a vet and they won the title with the young guy dominating. And by the way, Duncan to Kawaii doesn’t actually count because Kawawaii was the number 15 pick. Getting the number 15 pick wasn’t like this big fork in the road where they had to choose a timeline. They just happened to draft a really good guy. I’m talking about a really good team that gets like the top pick. But why did our two examples there really work? because the rookies ended up being top 10 players of all time. Magic Johnson, Tim Duncan. Okay, is Cooper that? Are you sure? Also, both those teams had vets who were reliable, unlike the Mavericks. And speaking of reliable, Kyrie is injured and the Mavs have a backup plan. Jake Fischer reports that sources say Dallas will be looking to add a capable starter this summer who can later transition into a complimentary role once Irving has returned to active duty. So, a point guard to make AD and Cooper competitive year one. Well, the free agent options at point guard are Taius Jones, Trey Jones, Chris Paul, D’Angelo Russell, and Malcolm Brogden. And yes, reports say that CP3 will probably not be a spur next year. But what about trading for a point guard? Cuz the Mavs have a ton of front court depth with guys like Davis Flag, PJ Washington, Daniel Gaffford, Derrick Lively. So, what if they traded one of those for Lonzo Ball, Austin Reeves, Drew Holiday, Colin Ston, or Jordan Clarkson? Now, that is an interesting list. I think the best option is Reeves. Obviously, the Mavs and Lakers have a history of working together, but LA also really needs what Dallas has a lot of a big I mean, yeah, Lakers love Austin Reeves, but he’s pretty redundant on a team with LeBron and Luca on the roster. We saw that in the playoffs. So, what about the Mavericks get Reeves for Daniel Gaffford and the Lakers get their 2029 first round pick back. Okay, that might be a little cheap for Reeves. They might have to throw in another pick, maybe a swap. And LA says they love him. But I know a lot of people are going to be excited about Lonzo Ball. He would be cheap and talented, but his health is still a gigantic question mark. Either way, this is still the two timeline approach going this way, which might sound okay on paper, but in reality is setting both timelines up to fail. But if dealing Cooper is not going to happen, we might still have fireworks on draft night. There’s reporting that the top three picks could be in trade discussions. So, I looked at what the Spurs and Sixers could get if they put picks two and three on the market.

SUPPORT AM HOOPS and sign up for Underdog today – use promo code AMHOOPS for up to $1,000 in bonus cash PLUS a Free Square Special 👉 https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-am-hoops

Cooper Flagg will be drafted by the Dallas Mavericks but the plan they have after that is interesting. The Athletic reports Dallas will try the “2 timeline” plan that Golden State attempted with James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga. This is a look at the plan in detail and why it could ruin the franchise’s second chance after Luka.