Cooper Flagg expectations in the NBA, Will the Nuggets trade Nikola Jokic? | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Cooper Flagg expectations in the NBA, Will the Nuggets trade Nikola Jokic? | FIRST THINGS FIRST

Hi from New York. It’s the show that was not
invited to tight end University. You guys weren’t. Were you invited to
tight end University. I couldn’t. Listen, I can miss
a show to play cards I can’t go down to Nashville. There was a surprise concert
at tight end University. I don’t know if I would
have been invited to that. But, yeah invited to. If Taylor didn’t play, if I
go to a concert at tight end University and Taylor’s
not there in Nashville, I’m like, what am I doing. We’re starting
with the NBA draft. Cooper Flagg expected
to go to Dallas, and the people around him expect
his impact to be immediate. Article in the athletic
headline why Cooper Flagg should be a Rare Impact
player the first day he steps into the NBA. Here’s a quote from a trainer. Full package. Offensive skills, defensive
skills, basketball IQ. When you have all that,
you’re kind of unstoppable. He did it at the
high school level. He did at the college level. And I know for a fact he’s
going to do it at the NBA level. On the first day he
steps onto that court. Bruh how good will Cooper
Flagg be right away. Well, that’s some high praise. First of all, it is his trainer. So I don’t know. This is going to likely
or could I should say save Nico Harrison’s legacy. And I get it. It’s legacy. Yes because here’s why. We all know they would not
have been in position to get the number one pick
in the draft had they not made the trade right. So if he and I’m saying could,
if he becomes a legit superstar, then that’s going to make
up for losing Luka Doncic, especially if Luka
never wins in La. But even if he does
win, if Cooper Flagg is a legitimate
superstar, then this is going to save Nico Harrison. And I get it. It’s not like he
planned it this way, but it will in a mad
scientist kind of way. Even though it was a mistake,
it will have turned out to be a move that they’re
still a very good franchise and a very good position. So that’s number one. As far as Cooper Flagg,
I actually do think he’s going to be good right away. Like I think he’s going to
have a very good rookie season. I’m thinking 17.17 18 points. Yeah Four or five assists six
rebounds or something like that. Is that that’s what you got. I wrote down 18 points six
rebounds five assists which is exactly what you just I
mean like because the trainer’s right. He can do it all. Yeah like he can shoot the 3. He can shoot the mid-range. He can take it off the dribble. Finish at the rim. He’s athletic. He does defend which
is unique for a guy coming out of
college to right away be able to be a good defender. And he’s already
going to be ahead of a lot of the NBA players
because of his basketball IQ. A lot, not a lot of guys don’t
have a high basketball IQ. I think in today’s
game, because the way it’s played in a one man, two
man basketball type of game, when they grow up. He can play with the
ball in his hands and he can play
without the ball. He’s a smart player and I
think, Nick, I know we’ll get into this in a few moments. With Kyrie being out
at least until January. The ball is going to be in. He’s going to have a lot
of opportunities Yeah And he’s got enough
offensive players. Obviously AD Klay
Thompson can still shoot it that the defense won’t
be able to just focus on him. And I think that’ll
give him time before Kyrie gets back to really
get comfortable in the offense. So I’m expecting a
good rookie year. All right. Let me just quickly address the
Nico stuff because I I totally disagree because I don’t think
I don’t think people look at them getting Cooper
Flagg as part of Nico’s plan and write it well. I’m not saying I I
know you’re not saying. I’m just saying it will
have worked out that way. Yes, but that assumes that Nico
will still be running the team when they start winning. And I don’t know that
that’ll be the case. And I think that it to me, this
was a gift from the basketball gods to the fans of Dallas
that didn’t deserve to have their hearts ripped out
by their team trading away a generational, once
in a lifetime player. As far as what we landed on
similar numbers and I just I had Josh put together the
last seven rookies of the year. So Luka to Castle and what
they did because we all agree. He’s supposed to win
Rookie of the Year. You know what I mean. And so the the high end of those
numbers are Luka and Wemby. The low end of those numbers
are Castle and LaMelo. And the median is
basically John Paolo. Like that’s the. And what you see is all those
guys are fill up the box score typically because
as Brou was saying, they’re usually on really,
really bad teams that don’t have established they’re
not always teams that jumped way up in
the lottery to get them. But I think for flag, I know
we’re talking about right away, and I think right
away he’ll be good. I think that guys who are
future stars usually not always, but particularly American
players who are future stars, are usually pretty
damn good immediately. The the best
rookies of the year. Like as far as what their
careers were since from LeBron to now there’s LeBron,
Chris Paul, Durant, Luka and all put Wemby
in there as far as like who they’re going to be. And then there is the next
group of guys, Dame Kyrie Towns. Jr. and I put Paolo in there
because I think he’s going to be quite good for flag. Like where are we
expecting him to land. As far as the type of
player he is long term because I feel like your guy. I don’t know who’s your guy. Celtics guy Brian
Scalabrine is comparing him favorably to LeBron. That seems too strong. Wait, wait.
I’m just. I’m just telling
you he loves him. Scalabrine, you
got to stop there. Explain that to me. Scal like scouts scouting
favorably to LeBron. Meaning no, like like that. Or I guess equivalent to
as far as the type of it might be a lot. I mean, it’d be great if
he was as good as LeBron, but my goodness. But I guess like his this is,
I guess a cousin of the Wemby conversation in that
what are people actually expecting him to be like? I feel like he is expected
to be sorry to be, I guess, a little crass with it. Certainly the best white
American player since Bird. Like, that’s a must. And I think that they
are expecting him to be a guy who is,
during his prime, a perennial MVP candidate. Like, that’s the
expectation for this player. And I don’t know if you guys
think that’s too much or not enough or unfair, but it does
seem like when like the number one picks to me, he is in line
of what I see as Paolo and Cade like, oh yeah, he’s got
to be better than well, that’s supposed to be
the flaw that like, he has to be better than those. So here’s what I had
Josh Paul freshman to win Player of the Year. And it’ll be mentioned
in the broadcast. He’s actually by the calendar
a senior in high school a senior in high school. So he reclassed up a lot
of people in youth sports now are reclassing down. So you get a physical advantage. He reclassed up. So freshman to win
a Player of the Year is Cooper Flagg Zion Adi Cade. KD so then I took their
first years because they all win Rookie of the Year. Zion went 22, 6 and 2, but
he only played 24 games. So he didn’t get it. But he came out strong. AD was only 13 8. And two blocks. He lost rookie of
the year to Dame. KD was 24 and 2. He played 82 games. They only won 19 for Seattle. I think he has to
have an immediate. This guy can be all NBA
within the first four years. Within the first a Wemby esque
him and Wemby on the same team. I think that’s too
hard, too high. Like, and I heard somebody say
he’s the best prospect in years. I think he is Wemby was the best
prospect in years and still, like, I don’t put
him on wimbiz class. You guys know I’ve said, but
I don’t put potentially class, are I think my I’ve
looked at it like I think he will at least be a
star, maybe a superstar, but maybe a superstar. Brou is pessimistic to where
compared to some people. Yeah, that’s that’s
the point I’m making. You go ahead. But I just look to LeBron
because I’m stuck there and I do think there
are similarities in terms of basketball
IQ does everything. He shoots it better at
this point than LeBron did. But I just think physically
LeBron was so and is so you know imposing and something
like like LeBron arguably the greatest athlete
ever to play in the NBA like arguably. And I don’t think that’s Cooper. Cooper Flagg as good of an
athlete as he is I think that’s. But I do see some similarities
in that he’s a smart player and he’ll fit in
fit in anywhere. So well. Do you think he’s supposed
to end up better than Anthony Edwards the way he’s profiled. So he’s supposed to so but that
so I guess I think Anthony is surprised some people
like Anthony’s playing better than the projections. But that’s not what I guess
that’s not what I’m saying. I’m not saying him versus
Anthony Edwards the prospect. No, I’m saying Anthony Edwards
where we look at him right now at 23 years old,
been to a couple Conference Finals,
fringes of the face of the league conversation. Been a superstar the
last couple years. A guy we think might
one day win an MVP. If you are saying like
I if we’re saying, hey, all time pyramid
rankings in 30 years, who’s higher and/or flag. I would say I bet. And it seems like the
general consensus is flag. That’s kind of what
you know what I mean. That’s so much evidence of Ant
and how he’s gotten better. You had a good point
after the finals Brou about why the Thunder
were going to repeat. You’re like,
everyone is so young. They’re all going to get better. SGA is going to be
to Bear all of them. So he is so young
that you view him as a high school senior
ready to play in the NBA. Dusty pulled the video of him
against LeBron and Team USA. He looked like he
belonged there. Granted, it’s just a scrimmage
and everybody’s in you pennies. But still he looked
like he belonged. If he’s a senior in the senior
in high school at that point, he would have been a
junior in high school. Again, I’m doing the math. He’s 17. He was 17, 17 playing
against the best that we had, the gold medal team. And he looked confident. He was balling out. Or at least there’s been a
lot of like this scrimmage has really you made people
very high on and I get it. He did play well
I saw some of it. But it’s one game. And we all remember the
Dream Team getting beaten by a bunch of college players. Chris Webber knows guys. Webber was Bobby
Hurley and stuff. Chris Webber was good. And Chris Webber was just
showing you it was what I mean. Anything can happen. And this is why I.
There’s two reasons. Then we move on to the
other piece of this that I am you guys joke
about me being like, a wimpy, wimpy
skeptic or whatever one was flatly the the
guys who are 7.5 and above. I get worried about injury risk. So like there was that. But the other one was I
just felt like the comps were setting him up. Like, I’ll take the under
if the Comp is GOAT, I’ll take the under know
what I mean on those things. And I feel similarly
like Chris Webber just got thrown out there. If this guy ends up having Chris
Weber’s career, given how he’s it would not be a disappointing,
it would be a massive and that’s no slight to correct. That’s the point I’m
making the way he’s right. There’s no slight the
way he’s being discussed. If he ends up
being Chris Webber, then it’s like what happened. And I feel like
that’s so like that. That is typically wildly
unfair, you know what I mean. Like, we always do
that with the draft. You read these draft profiles,
and there’s a guy that’s going to go 18th and
they’re like compares favorably to Khris Middleton. And I’m like well then he
shouldn’t go 18th in the draft. If you’re like oh he’s going
to be a multi-time all-star and second best player
and a champion, then I don’t think he’s the 18th pick. But we. So it just feels like a lot. It’s going to really
be interesting. LeBron weighed in on
Cooper Flagg, who he played in the Olympic scrimmages. In the latest episode
of mind the game, James says Cooper is
at a distinct advantage because he’s on the Mavs with
AD, Kyrie and Klay reaction. Well, there’s only been a
handful of guys who have walked into the situation
LeBron’s talking about and it’s worked out pretty
great for all of them. Now it’s not apples to apples,
but number one pick in 1979 is Magic Johnson. The Lakers already have Kareem. They win the championship. Who was it. They win the championship. Then oddly in 1981
the number one pick of the draft was James
Worthy to the Los Angeles Lakers, and they
win the championship and it works out quite well next
year or a couple of years later. Hakeem was the number one pick
now that wasn’t a ready made team, but it did
have another Hall of Famer, a young Hall of Famer,
already there in Ralph Sampson. Two years later, they were
in the Finals in the 90s. The magic got Shaq and
then got the number one pick, Chris Webber. They traded the pick
for penny and two years later, they were in the finals. And Duncan goes to the Spurs. And in year two
they’re in the finals. Now, I do not think
Anthony Davis at this point of his career and
Kyrie coming off a knee is equivalent to
you know Kareem, you know at that point or
young Shaq in those situations. But there’s not any of those
instances where like oh maybe I guess some would argue
penny didn’t love it. You know what I mean
that penny didn’t get to be the show because of Shaq,
but Penny’s career is more about injuries than otherwise. I think it’s a net huge positive
to go there where there’s going to be playing meaningful
games and they actually want to win rather
than oh, go win 15 games. We’ll figure it out in
the next couple of years. Yeah, I tend to agree with that. And look, if he had gone to
say Charlotte or Washington, those are losing
cultures Correct And you are in that
culture and LaMelo like and I like LaMelo probably
not as much as you. Definitely not. He is a fantastic talent. But I think if he
went to Charlotte, I don’t think lamelo’s
thinking he’s the best player. LaMelo still thinks he’s the
best player, like Darius miles when LeBron got to Cleveland. He’s here to help us. I mean, no doubt. And Ricky Davis Ricky
definitely was like thinking he was better than LeBron. He was out of there
in short order. And so you’ve got guys that
think they’re better than you. You got guys that aren’t
necessarily looking to help you become a great player. And so I think in
Washington would have been the same thing with
Jordan Poole and those guys. I know he’s gone now,
but this situation, he kind of has the
best of both worlds. And I alluded to it earlier. Yes This is yes, he’s
got talent around him. And AD and you know the
role players Gafford and Klay PJ Washington like
they got some good role players around him. And if Kyrie were there and I’m
not I wish Kyrie were there. Nobody wants to see him hurt. But rush or I keep
calling him Cooper. Rush flag would have
to grow as like he would be the third player
right behind Kyrie. And now he’s the primary. He’s right. He’s going to handle the ball. He’s the number two guy. And so he will. By the time Kyrie gets
back he will have developed and gotten really comfortable. And if he really comes
out the gate playing well, then Kyrie may stay off
the ball to a large degree and he could run things. We’ll see. But I just think look
you go to a culture where they’re about winning
like LeBron said Jason Kidd. You got all these champions
and Hall of Famers around you. And I think it’s it’s
always great to go in there and play winning
basketball right away. So you don’t pick up bad habits. That’s the thing. You go to a Charlotte
or Washington, you are picking up
bad habits because of the culture that they have. So I do think this
is best we’ve seen. Look, ultimately, if he’s
as great as people think, some people think he will be, it
really won’t matter because you mentioned the guys and Magic
that was perfect for Magic because he was a passer. But LeBron lifted Cleveland
to contender status. Jordan went to Chicago. Turns him into a champion. We’ve seen other people
turn, you go somewhere and turn a Steph goes to Golden
State, turns them into a champ. A dynasty eventually. So if you’re that guy, I really
don’t think you know football. We hear it a lot
with quarterbacks. Oh, it depends on where you are. If you’re that good, he’s going
to turn a franchise around. If he’s that good in this
case he doesn’t have to turn. It can. Yeah I think that part’s
important because you’re right. Jordan did it eventually. If Jordan had been
drafted by a different team the Rockets
who had the pick. They take Hakeem maybe the
first three years of his career. They’re already contending. You know the the LeBron got them
as far as he could get them. But if it was somewhere member
Memphis could have gotten the pick with Jerry West. And they end up losing it. Like maybe that’s
totally different. Anthony Davis is top 75 guy. Great player. He lifted it. New Orleans as high
as he could like. So there’s some things are. Yeah And hell. Shaq with Orlando. Yeah you know what I mean. Like so if you’re
that guy you’ll do it. You’ll do it. But you could do it quicker
Yeah Do it quicker is the thing. Denver Nuggets owner
Josh Kroenke was talking about the second apron. Always a good topic and
contemplated something he never wanted to contemplate. Trading Jokic yikes. He said he doesn’t
just never say that. You never say that. And in the same
press conference he did say I’m going to
offer Jokic who’s got three years left on his deal. But he’s eligible
for an extension. He’s going to offer
him the extension. If Jokic rejects it
then we got a story. I think this was
just I don’t want to say a slip of the tongue. It was just a bad answer
because there’s no way he was thinking about trading Jokic. It wasn’t really an answer
like the question had nothing to do with trading Jokic. He just volunteered it. So do you think there’s
something to that. I think there’s nothing
to this whatsoever. So here, first of all,
unless it upsets Jokic I right I want to also be
fair because he he said, we’re going to offer
him the extension. And he said he’s like listen
he might not accept it because it might
financially make more sense for him to wait a year. And so he’s like we’re going
to show him both things. So I don’t even think it’s
necessarily a big Warning sign. If he doesn’t. If he doesn’t sign the
extension as early because he wants more money later. I just I think that this
is nothing when it comes to the Nuggets plans
for Jokic in the future, and massively something when
it comes to the Nuggets doing Damage Control with Joker. Because if I’m Joker I I
need to hear from them. Hold on real quick. Just so I understand are you
saying like, there are scenarios where I want to be here
and be a Nugget forever, but you guys think because
of contracts and finances, the best thing for the
franchise is to trade me. Because that’s not
what I thought. The deal here, I never
want to contemplate. You know what I mean. Like, I know where
I would have to. And so because that that you
understand what I’m saying. Yeah the answer is like,
we’re never trading. We’re never trading. Joker what. No matter what, where he’s
going to have a statue here, there is like the. And yeah, you wouldn’t even want
to say that we’re not trading. I don’t. Because that would have
been exactly before you ask. We’re not. It’s hard to do it on the fly. But which is why you just don’t
all of a sudden offer it up. Like you could have just been
like, which brings us to things we never want to
have to contemplate. And then he like, paused. And he’s like, if you didn’t
know what I’m talking about, I’m talking about
trading Nikola Jokic. Like, we don’t ever want to
have to move the franchise. What word is he
flew over to Serbia.

Cooper Flagg is expected to go 1st overall to the Dallas Mavericks. Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes discuss the expectations on Flagg, and if the Denver Nuggets would consider trading Nikola Jokić.

#FirstThingsFirst #NBA #CooperFlagg

Download the FOX Sports App: https://tinyurl.com/y4uouolb

► Breakfast Ball’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastBallonFS1
► First Things First’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstThingsFirst
► SPEAK’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/SpeakOnFS1
► The Facility’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFacilityonFS1
► All Facts No Brakes with Keyshawn Johnson YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AllFactsPod

About First Things First:
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, and Kevin Wildes team up on First Things First. The trio offers their take on a bevy of sports stories alongside special guests from across the sports world.

Cooper Flagg expectations in the NBA, Will the Nuggets trade Nikola Jokic? | FIRST THINGS FIRST
www.youtube.com/@FirstThingsFirst