Cooper Flagg’s RAPID development during Summer League 🔥👏 ‘SO much better in Game 2’ | SportsCenter

Cooper Flagg’s RAPID development during Summer League 🔥👏 ‘SO much better in Game 2’ | SportsCenter

This is Sports Center AM. Welcome to Sports Center. Scooby McGa here with Tyler Fulgum. Happy Sunday. And heads up America, we got some flag content for you to start this show. But wait, wait, wait, wait. Don’t be alarmed. The kids can still stay in the room. I didn’t know if HR was going to get involved at 700 a.m. But that content, it’s going to be the new kids on the block in the NBA out in Vegas for summer league. Not quite yet old enough to enjoy all the trappings of Sin City, but they’re young, they’re rich, they’re doing fine. It’s Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper. Top two picks in the NBA draft this year. Let’s start with Cooper Flag, who was absolutely hooping the pull up three, then driving with the left off glass. Then Dylan Harper showing not his offense, but first his defense. Oh, getting up to reject Ryan Nimhard. It was a fouron-one break and Harper playing defense, but this is why he was drafted number two overall. You know, Scooby, he’s a lefty. Kind of reminds me of Jaylen Brunson when he gets in the lane. Good point. In hoops like that. Look at the euro step off glass from Hart. He had 16 points in just 20 minutes. Then Flag catching the lob and throwing it down in the second half. Now, they were trailing at this point, but I mean, it’s summer league. We want to see individual performances. flag absolutely delivered in the fourth. How about a catch and shoot triple later? He knocks down another three. Spurs would get the win 7669, but Flag had a huge game. Just feels different. Um I think, you know, it’s a it’s a new environment, new setting. You know, they want to see me be aggressive and do that type of stuff. So, um I was trying my best to just be aggressive and assert myself early. Um get to the line and I think I did that a lot better today of just getting to the line and that helped me to get comfortable and get that. All right, Mavs lost. Who cares? Cooper flag looks solid. Everybody cares. He had just 10 points in his Thursday debut against the Lakers, but then rebounded for 31 last night against the Spurs. That’s high for the most in a game by a number one overall pick in summer league history, tying the mark set by John Wall back in 2010. On Saturday, we saw the NBA’s best rookies face off. The top two picks of the 2025 NBA draft, Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper, and it lived up to the hype. Flag exploded for a game high 31 points, showcasing some electrifying dunks. Meanwhile, the number two pick, Dylan Harper, made his long-awaited debut after a minor groin injury, scoring 16 points in just 20 minutes. The two will play each other a lot for the years to come, and this is only the beginning. So, to break down this one versus two matchup, we bring in our NBA front office insider, Bobby Marks. Bobby, what stood out to you the most about Cooper Flags second summer league performance? How much time do we have? I think what stood out is how much better he got from game one to game two. And I think there’s certainly a comfort level what you saw for Cooper Flag. The the one thing I wanted to see with him is the ability to go left. And as you see right here, that’s the one concern scouts had. And it felt like he made an admission for every one of his drives to go left. Once he was able to go get downhill like we saw in this game, it kind of just opened up everything for Cooper. He was able to make some shots. Certainly getting to the rim here. But as Summer League know, as you know, it’s it’s about experimenting. It’s about getting each better each game and I think we saw certainly saw that with Cooper Flag in game two. Yeah. And and to your point, Flag said after the game that they want to see him be more aggressive aggressive. So eight for 13 at the free throw line is reflective of that, but he wasn’t happy about his missed free throws. He said his mom is going to be upset with him. So you got to love that about him and his mom. Now you mentioned the improvement of Flag from game one to game two. So outside of that, who is one player that impressed you the most so far in the summer league? Well, it’s the one player we talked about a lot last year and we haven’t really talked about this year. It’s Bronnie James. And you’re going to look at his box score the last two games and it’s 7418 and he scored 22 points. What’s impressed me the most is his defense. And I think we saw that last night against New Orleans where he had he had two steals, he had a block here. and and that’s going to be his calling card as far as for him to get into the NBA is from a defensive angle here as far as in a thin Laker backcourt. So, I like what I saw with Bonnie James. I like what I saw with Terrence Shannon Jr. who Minnesota is going to rely a lot on uh this year, especially with the loss of Nikquille Alexander Walker. Yeah, and that’s what’s so fun about summer league. We get to watch these young players get a lot of run and improve throughout the summer. Bobby, we appreciate you waking up early with us. I mean, it is early in Las Vegas and here you are up. I hope you can get a nap in. Appreciate your time. Thanks. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On SportsCenter, Bobby Marks joins Tyler Fulghum and Skubie Mageza to discuss Cooper Flagg’s second Summer League game for the Dallas Mavericks against the San Antonio Spurs.

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