Why Tim Legler Believes Cooper Flagg Has IMMENSE Defensive Potential

Why Tim Legler Believes Cooper Flagg Has IMMENSE Defensive Potential

former Dallas Maverick Tim Leggler tim what’s going on what’s up gentlemen how’s it going man you guys got to be feeling pretty good about what happened with that lottery huh we are feeling pretty good about it we’re going to get into Best week of our lives tim that’s right as as it should be that’s justified description okay so let’s get into it since we’re there already when it comes to Cooper Flag if you could describe the Mavericks season in one word throughout all of the changes the trade the injuries and then culminating with them winning the number one overall pick uh what would that word be to describe the Maverick season oh man i guess it would be u rejuvenation right because they were everything that happened man with with it when that trade went down and what a gut punch it was to the fan base to the city um and then you know you you think well at least let’s take a look at some point at what Anthony Davis looks like with Kyrie and you know we we can maybe get over it if we start winning with those two guys and Anthony Davis gets hurt immediately time he comes back Kyrie is done for the year and a good majority of next year most likely that never came to fruition we don’t know so the trade itself I I you know everybody pretty much knows how I felt about the trade at the time i haven’t really changed my opinion despite what happened with the Lakers um I I you know I think though if you’re being fair you can’t judge a trade until you’re a few years removed from it that’s the only fair way to do it because I think teams involved in trades look at much more than just this unless you’re getting a guy that’s like expiring contract that’s a star and you’re trying to win a title like that year and then the guy leaves yeah then you could judge it immediately but that’s not what this was this is more about what it’s going to be in the future you can’t judge it we never got a chance to see what it looks like for Dallas uh small sample size for the Lakers i don’t think that was really necessarily that telling so it comes down to this the lottery and shocking the world by getting the number one pick in a draft it that is as clear-cut number one pick as any you’re going to find and they have a a generational talent coming in if they keep the pick and and draft Cooper Flag which that would be to me insane not to um I could go on for you know a entire hourong show about Cooper Flag and how long I’ve been watching him and what it is he’s going to bring he’s a can’t miss star and he’s going to be immediately a guy that helps like from day one he will be on the court and he will be helping the Dallas Mavericks win yeah and it’s it’s the you know it’s the best thing that could have happened to the Dallas franchise obviously no way to plan it no way to to have any idea that this is how it was going to go down but what we’ve been debating on the show for two weeks now three weeks now how however long ago it was is just how do you go forward uh what is what is the right way what is the right path what does the roster look like uh you know Anthony Davis was not traded for thinking that Dallas had Cooper Flag who who I think you know can play three can play two kind of can play five can play four though like like if you look at the modern NBA most players like Cooper Flag usually play the four uh and Anthony Davis who has always been best throughout his career at the five is somebody who also wants to play the four they’re both kind of these these really highlevel uh helpside defenders roaming defenders uh you know who want those roles they want to be helping off they want to be you know the the base of the defense not the not the top of the defense um so so you know just initial reactions with PJ Washington Cooper Flag uh Anthony Davis Derek Lively and Daniel Gaffer that’s a big big front court might be too many names what’s What’s your gut uh you know first reaction of how if you were in charge of this team you would go around building for the future well I look at it like this if you’re if you’re first of all completely married to the idea that Anthony Davis for whatever reason does not want to play five like it matters to him to have a more traditional center on the court with him so he can be you know called a four like that matters that much to him and it’s been made a big deal about that throughout his career if that’s the case and you believe you need to to make sure that that happens so let’s just assume you’re going to have to have a five on the court with him not the entire game i think he’s comfortable playing x amount of minutes per half at the five but at the start of each game it s and and probably the majority of his minutes he wants a five next to him if that’s the case and you’re going to proceed with that mentality then Cooper Flag needs to be your starting three and I you know whether that’s from day one or not remains to be seen I guess once he gets into camp and how comfortable he gets and how quickly um I personally think day one you could drop him down on an NBA floor and he’s going to be a very productive player because of his motor his defensive prowess his versatility defensively his passing um and it’s just athleticism like he can hang now and so if you got him at the three AD at the four Gaffer Lively at the five that is elite level frontline defense now offensively Cooper Flag you’d love the three to be more get alongside Anthony Davis and a rim running center you would love to have a three that can be comfortable out to 24 feet on catch and shoots and also get his own shot out to 24 feet off the dribble right now he’s got I think some mechanical issues that he’s got to iron out to get to that level he can make three-point college shots and he did enough that wasn’t really his strength and I don’t think the percentage was nearly good enough um for how good I think it can be but he it’s not going to fix itself i think he needs to work on some of his mechanics with his release his handle is good enough his athleticism is good enough to get that shot um and you’re going to need that guy in that spot to be able to make threes if you got AD and a big on the court with them it’s that simple so I think he’s your start he’s a starting player for you that means that he’s going to have to real work really hard this summer to improve his long-term efficiency because I don’t think it’s going to be there right away and that could create some offensive spacing problems for the Mavericks legs we’ve been told many many many countless times by Nico Harrison that defense wins championships now Cooper Flag is only 18 he’s got a very very very long career ahead of him but we’re all of the opinion right now that you can drop him onto a court and he can defend at least three positions if not four if not all five long-term what kind of upside does he have as a defender is this like an alldefense kind of guy is this like a defensive player of the year kind of guy or are we getting carried away by even thinking about that at this point no no I don’t think you are at all and I think I think let’s start with I think you know I think you got to see a little bit of a sample size to start talking defensive player a year down the road you know like I’ve looked at Amen Thompson enough to know now after two years he’s he’s that’s what his future looks like he’s going to be a perennial all league defender and he’s going to eventually be a defensive player of the year you got to wait and see it at the NBA level i think right off the bat not maybe not his rookie year but starting like year two I think he can be in that same category Thompson in terms of a guy that’s potentially an all league defender like pretty quickly he’ll get there defensive player of the year that’s another tier another level to get to down the road but I think clearly that’s the vein with which I see him and the reason is because number one he’s got about as much want to for a wing that’s a high-profile wing as anybody I’ve seen coming into the league as far as want to defender he loves it and if that’s the first thing that stood out to me when I started hearing about him in the AAOU circuit he started to become like mythical like the Cooper flag name i start hearing you know I’m really tied into guys in that community so I would hear the name at a young age and I saw him at 15 and I was like I could take this guy tomorrow put him on the court as a starter in a power five conference in college and the dude is going to hold his own at 15 because of how hard he plays how much he wants it the edge he’s got he’s tough he doesn’t back down from anybody and then the skill was there the the bounce the athleticism you know running the floor handling it his passing is very underrated i think people started to appreciate it more as his as the their tournament run went on at Duke the guy’s a hell of a playmaker uh the shooting is probably of all the things right now it’s probably the weak point of his game i think the perimeter shot and that’s got to improve the rest of it’s there the intangibles are there i think it’s a can’t miss um and I think most coaches in the NBA feel the same way that’s why it was frustrating for a lot of guys in the West to see him go to the West like you know you’re thinking if you’re one of those teams in the Western Conference you’re thinking well if we don’t get him at least you know let him end up in Washington or Charlotte or Toronto or one of those teams and instead he’s he’s right in the mix with a team that I think is going to be very relevant next year in the Western Conference so the West just got better well now I feel even better exactly no let’s go yeah really good about the upside for Cooper Flag you look at not just the skill set that he presents your time in the league and playing against a lot of tremendous defenders and offensive players what would be your best comp when it comes to Cooper Flag given the height the weight the skill set that he presents that you look at and say his game is comparable to this particular player uh that you look at a little bit of Fran Vagner I think in him you you know a guy that’s 610 that’s got a phys similar physical profile that’s good athleticism and have really high motor doesn’t quit on plays he might be quicker laterally than France Vagner right now to switch out onto guards and high level ball handlers that can change direction like that’s a different level of of you know defensive prowess the one thing I’ll say and you had mentioned you think he can guard three positions three four five the reason I think he can guard a lot of twos is because the nature of the position has changed to such an extent that most of those guys are three-point shot hunters and they’re not as creative in breaking you down off the dribble by you know shifting weight and get getting you off balance and going by you they’re they’re looking to hunt step back threes they’re looking at catch and shoot threes like that’s the nature of the position now that’s going to be easier for Cooper Flag to guard even that position you know point guards it’s a it’s a little different because of the number of ball screens they get it’s a lot of ball screen action you’ve got a guard and and most of those are switched so I don’t even know how much you know all of that ball screen is going to matter that Cooper flags on somebody that’s a highle player because of one ball screen and he hands them off to somebody else where it comes into play his impact is the number of guys he can switch on to in a given possession and the amount of ground he covers as a weak side defender like that backside defense and that weak side coverage the amount of ground those guys can cover as a help defender but also close out length that is where you’re going to notice a tangible difference and when you put him on the court at the same time with Anthony Davis you know those are two guys that check that box man they can provide help as a rim deterrent but they also have the length and want to to get out and contest three-point shots it could be really special yeah that part’s really important the close out part yeah and Dererick Lively is another one of those guys i mean he he just plays right into that yeah it’s super important too Legs because the Mavs right now like we all kind of agree offensively they need some more playmaking but defensively they need a lot of help at the point of attack and I don’t know if Flag is just that guy right now and anyway there’s so many switches and so many mismatch hunting in the NBA going on that it’s hard to even have just one of those guys and be okay but having AD and Flag who can both kind of swoop in and then also close out and help should help kind of cover up that weakness but do you agree if if the Mavs have enough ammo to make let’s say one big swing this summer to try and cover up for Kyrie’s absence and make a run at it next year is that the thing they should be targeting and and if not what is the thing that the Mavs should be looking to improve at yeah I mean I do I do think you know as an insurance policy for now I mean everybody expects Kyrie to come back from this um you know the time frame I’ve heard was kind of surprising i thought it was a little bit short uh time frame for a guy of that caliber you know that’s on the shorter end of what I’ve heard you know for an injury like that i And I got experience i I got a matching set of um ACL reconstruction so I you know I’m I’m kind of It’s different though obviously the the the surgery itself procedure is less invasive the rehab is much better from it i get all of that stuff it still seems kind of short for me to think about him coming back like you know February i It seems like maybe later so you’re talking about you know most of next season not getting a lot of time under his belt and then getting ready for the most intense part of the year and we all know typically ACL’s Achilles those are typically the following season when you start to see guys look normal again so yeah as an insurance policy another ball handling scoring type of guard yeah I mean those guys don’t fall off trees i mean if you have one that’s that’s good as long as he’s not a narcissist you usually you want to keep those guys so I’m not sure you know who that could possibly be i haven’t started thinking about teams yet how they’re going to rebuild because I’m still working finishing this season with these final four teams um but yeah I think as an insurance policy for next year and beyond getting some help there uh would be good for them because they are a little bit thin in that regard tim this was tremendous stuff we have enjoyed your work throughout the course of the year obviously covering the games and calling the games throughout the NBA playoffs as well and of course doing your thing with Adam Mars on the AllNBA podcast we appreciate you taking out some time with us here on the DLSSM podcast sir and we’ll talk to you next time we appreciate it anytime guys thanks for having me

The Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Draft Lottery and the rights to select Cooper Flagg from Duke. ALLCITY and ESPN analyst Tim Legler breaks down why Flagg has the potential to be a game-changing defender very early in his career. He also discusses how the Mavs can continue trying to contend around Flagg and Anthony Davis while Kyrie Irving recovers from his torn ACL, and what Nico Harrison and the Mavericks can do to build a roster able to compensate for missing Kyrie in the meantime.

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