COOPER FLAGG EXPECTATIONS 📈 ‘Rookie of the Year…GENERATIONAL TALENT!’ – Tim MacMahon | First Take

COOPER FLAGG EXPECTATIONS 📈 ‘Rookie of the Year…GENERATIONAL TALENT!’ – Tim MacMahon | First Take

first pick the Dallas Mavericks select Cooper Flag it’s
really amazing it’s a dream come true to be honest
ace Bailey headed to the Utah Jazz
this was not one of his preferred destinations the Utah Jazz selected Ace Bailey knowing that from crying to laughing to being happy everything man just feel everything
uh living Africa I had the whole continent on my back it’s a special moment
and that’s really what it’s about
the dream come true hey hey hey what’s going on everyone welcome into first egg round one of the NBA draft is in the books thank you for hanging with us shams Tim Bonteps Tim McMahon Mark Keith Morris all in the house gentlemen late nights early mornings but we’re ready to work
always all right let’s dive right in the Mavericks as expected officially took uh forward cooper Flag with the first pick of the 2025 NBA draft last night flag is in a unique position of joining a contender and not being a part of a rebuild earlier this week Stephen A said the Mavs are the biggest threats to OKC repeating let’s flash back a healthy Dallas Mavericks would be my answer to this question i’m looking at a Dallas Maverick squad we talk about Chad Homegrren and Isaiah Hartstein well what you going to do against AD Anthony Davis with Lively okay with Gaffford what you going to do when you got to deal with Kyrie if you Shay and Jay Will and a boy and Dort let’s not forget Dort and Caruso i understand how electric they are defensively
haven’t heard the other name they’re going to call tomorrow night
excuse me of course of course of course of course flag cooper flag hey Keith last time I checked you’re on the Lakers roster let’s talk about the West are the Mavs the biggest threat to OKC in the West at the start of the season no because obviously you don’t have Kyrie Irving and you have to see how that’s going to play out i’m going with the Lakers like like I’m confused like like before the playoffs started everybody was screaming Lakers Lakers Lakers Lakers Lakers and they didn’t even have a big so now if they go out and get a big how are the Lakers not contending with with OKC for the top spot i just don’t understand that because last year everybody was screaming them they was all over luca LeBron AR they they’re they’re they’re going to challenge for the championship now the year go past and it’s like uh oh we don’t know what we we’re going to get right they make this move and get and get the pieces that they’re supposed to get the big a backup forward to to defend they put themselves in prime position to compete for another championship
well if they go get prime Kareem as a big that would help but I mean look I think if you look at where Well they didn’t have him last year they didn’t have last year and everybody was like they was going to win and everybody said they was going to win
i also don’t think they’ll have prime care this year I would guess look I mean the Lakers had a nice regular season after they got Luca Donic but we saw in the first round lost to five games with the Minnesota Timberwolves who was not exactly a competitive series they have a lot of work to do to catch up to not just Minnesota but everyone Houston with Kevin Durant they just got significantly better i I think there’s a few teams that I would put in between the Lakers and the Thunder and you saw I think as the Thunder went through the playoffs for the Lakers to be a true contender next season they’ve got to get a lot more than a big they’ve got to get more defensive help on the perimeter they’ve got to get more shooting they have to find an elite defender at the center spot they got a lot of things they got to do
mcmahon
Marke you’re right you’re right Marke there was a lot of hype around the Lakers before the playoffs started and damn did those playoffs end early in LA so no we’re not putting the Lakers at the top of the list we can start with the team that bounced them in five games the Minnesota Timberwolves ascending superstar Anthony Edwards a team that’s been to back-to-back conference finals and frankly I think you got to go with the Denver Nuggets the team that pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games the team before the Thunder the last team in the West to win a championship and then oh by the way let’s look at the standings the Rockets a two seed oh they had a glaring void on that roster well they went out and filled that hole with a Hall of Famer in Kevin Durant the Lakers have glaring voids on their roster specifically at center let’s see how they fill the void and then we maybe can discuss them potentially being a contender in the Western Conference sean’s looking at you what are you hearing about the Lakers
the Lakers are making it abundantly clear what their goal is rob Pelinka has said it they want to go get a center whether it’s via trade whether it’s via free agency and whether it’s in free agency with a guy like Clint Capella Brook Lopez they’re there’s going to be options for them and so that’s their biggest priority they also have Dorian Finny Smithy he’s got a player option what market is out there for him because if they lose him they have to address that need with the taxpayer mid-level exception so their biggest the number one concern second concern third concern is finding a center a lob third potentially for Luca Don Lebron James and Austin Reeves
Keith well it’s it’s it’s a big question about all these teams right i think I don’t think nobody is really in prime position to just say they’re going to win but like I said about the Lakers again man it just don’t happen overnight where they go from contending for a championship and now uh eighth or seventh in the West like they are literally right at the point where it’s just one big they don’t need to move a ton of their pieces around to be able to get the big you just need a rim roller and a live threat somebody that you could depend on that’s gonna that’s gonna protect the run for Luca and be basically this this guy that’s gonna clean up all his misses but if if you want to look at it they have two of the best players in the league like they’re going to contend for a championship i can almost guarantee that
they might contend for homecourt advantage in the first round let you know let’s just start there again you got bounced in five games in in the first round so
yeah that’s matchup that’s matchup though Tim that was a matchup that’s a matchup that’s all about matchups that’s you know when the playoffs start it’s all about matchups we got a bad matchup because if we match up with somebody else it will go different it was it was a bad matchup but before that you were one of the guys that thought the Lakers were going to win a championship wrong
i don’t like to give a lot chance to contend
i don’t like to give McMahon a lot of backup but he did not think the Lakers are going to win a title last year i can tell you that and look you say there was a bad match up in the first round there’s also three matchups you got to get through to get to the NBA finals the Lakers aren’t going to match up very well with a lot of teams right now and look again let’s see what they do this summer to Shams’s point if they go out and get a center that fixes a lot of their issues they can add some shooting they can add some other pieces maybe it’s a different conversation but right now I don’t think the Lakers are a homec court team in the West certainly don’t think they’re
You can You can contend without a big last year you can contend be a contender without a big last year now you need a bunch of pieces what What are you shaking your head for people were could picking the Lakers to win the championship last year without a big
if if they were if people thought they were going to go on a run last year and now they’re able to get a big yeah why Why has that changed oh I mean go get a big then you desperately need a big rob Pelinka got to put on that Fonerelli leather coat roll those sleeves up and get to work he’s got a lot to work to do on that roster people also people are just well people are also just wrong a lot i would say they’re wrong about the Lakers
i’ll let you take us home before I push the conversation forward
by contrast I think what Nico Harrison has done in Dallas is that might be arguably the best front line in the NBA when you think about Cooper Flag now joining a mix with Anthony Davis Derrick Lively the second Daniel Gaver who just signed going to sign a three-year almost $60 million extension but the biggest question for Dallas is Kyrie Irving his return he wants to come back sometime in January or February the Maz will not be rushing him back next season and I spoke to Kyrie Irving uh the other night and he told me he really believes when he’s back in the lineup this team can compete for a championship and so they they from a talent perspective if they’re healthy and they’re whole they definitely have the pieces
tim McMahon coming to you on that was my main thing i’m sorry M
no no finish your point go ahead Keith
no that was my main thing about them being healthy yeah if if the the Dallas Mavericks are healthy I do see them as the biggest threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder i do but they just have to be healthy that’s something that they dealt with that’s big over there
all right uh McMahon coming to you on this what are your expectations for Flag in his first season his rookie year uh rookie of the year a top two rookie season in Maverick’s franchise history the kind of campaign by a teenager that makes it crystal clear this is a dude that you build around for a generation to come and never ever even remotely consider trading yeah i mean look Cooper Flag should be the runaway pick for rookie of the year he’s got a chance to be a generational player in the NBA like if you look over the past 15 20 years Victor Wyama I think is the only guy you’d say coming into the NBA is definitely ahead of Cooper Flag whether it’s Luca Donuch Zion Williamson Anthony Davis you’re talking about a guy who has a chance to be a two-way impact player on the wing a guy who can handle the ball a terrific defensive player has done throughout his career has played up at every level was great last year with Team USA playing against NBA players he looked like he fit right in was arguably the best player in a scrimmage that I was at like this is the kind of guy that Dallas can build around going forward and frankly in the wake of the Luca Don trade to immediately get a guy who could be a Lucaike player going forward it’s a remarkable boon for Dallas going forward and totally changes the direction what looked like to be a really questionable direction the franch is going in after that Luca trade
keith do you cosign or you think we’re anointing him too soon i think he’s going to be a really good player uh knowing him too soon generational talent like we going a little too far with that we have to wait and see how that plays out but he’s walking into the perfect position a perfect place to be able to be taught these things right to be able to find his game like I I’m not sure if he’ll be the rookie of the season just based off of what their team looks like and the players that they have right you get back a Kyrie Irving you you have an Anthony Davis you still have guys that’s in his position like a PJ watch and Naji Marshall guys that are established in this league so I don’t know if he’ll be the the the rookie of the year just based off of those things but his future his ceiling is super high i think he’ll be like I I said this before like a young Paul George in the Indiana when he came in was behind those guys but was able to find his game and be led by veterans i
I I have one word and that word is seamless i I don’t know about all the accolades but I think that fit is going to be seamless because of who Cooper Flag is as a person he’s selfless and I think when you’re coming into a team with Anthony Davis and Derek Lavia the second and Kyrie Irving eventually will be back that’s those are highpowered players these are players with a lot of aspirations themselves a lot of accolades themselves so to fit right into that team is going to be seamless because he is selfless so I do think he’ll be a natural fit there

Shams Charania, Tim MacMahon, Tim Bontemps and Markieff Morris join Molly Qerim on First Take to react to the Dallas Mavericks selecting Duke phenom Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 pick as well as the rest of Round 1 of the 2025 NBA Draft.

0:00 Draft Night 1
0:45 Mavs select Flagg at No. 1
1:39 Mavs the biggest threat in the West?
2:50 MacMahon stands on business
4:30 Los Angeles Lakers want a center
7:06 Has the Lakers’ narrative changed?
8:29 Flagg expectations
9:51 Markieff says hold your horses!

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