Cooper Flagg’s debut ‘FAR FROM FLAWLESS, but fun’ – Tim MacMahon | Get Up

Cooper Flagg’s debut ‘FAR FROM FLAWLESS, but fun’ – Tim MacMahon | Get Up

We want to show you the debut of the night. First overall pick, Cooper Flag and the Mavericks taking on Bronny James and the Lakers. Summer league action. Early first quarter, you’re going to see Flag get the steel and he’s going to go coast to coast and finish with a dunk. Those are his first points. Big opening statement by the number one pick. Very next Dallas possession, here’s Flag leading the fast break and he’s going to hit a step back jumper. New teammate Kyrie Irving loving what he’s seeing. Eight and a half minutes left in the second quarter. Off the inbound pass. Bronny defending Flag. Flag backs him down. Bronny standing strong. Knocks the ball loose, but he’s called for the foul. He can’t believe it. He’s like, “Man, I’ve got got a year on this guy. I should be getting those calls.” Very next play, Flag gets the ball again with Bronny defending him. And Flag makes the turnaround jumper. This time getting the better of Bronny. About a minute left in the fourth quarter. Flag blocks. DJ Stewart pushes the pace on the fast break. Finds Ryan Nembard for the three. Check out this block again. Flag doing it all. Final seconds now of the fourth quarter. Lakers down by two. Ronnie shoots the three for the win. Does not go. Flag finished with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block. The Mavericks win 8785. Here’s Cooper Flag on his summer league debut. Not up to my standard. Um, you know, I’m going to regroup. I’m gonna be all right. Um, you know, it’s new feeling, new environment, new teammates. Um, but, you know, the guys held it down. You know, Miles, Ryan, they were amazing tonight. Max, um, all they were great tonight. So, you know, just, you know, they had my back. You know, I didn’t have my best game. Um, but I’m going just keep going, going forward. All right. Tim McMahon gets up early with us from Las Vegas. Tim, you were courtside last night for the big debut. What was your biggest takeaway? Howdy, Dan. It was far from flawless, but it was fun. I mean, Cooper Flag said it might have been one of the worst games he’s ever played. Obviously, he’s thinking about that shooting line. Didn’t shoot the ball well at all, but he did a lot of other things. You saw the athleticism, 6’8, 220, athletic, aggressive, pushing the ball in transition. I mean, zooming past cars on the highway for the dunk, making the right plays, and he made the biggest play of the game. It came down to a last minute onepossession game. Swoops in, swats away the layup, boom, he’s out in transition, doesn’t force it, makes a great read, hits Ryan Rimhard for Ryan Nimhard for a wideopen three. And that’s what Cooper Flag does. He finds a way to win. He impacts the game in a lot of different ways. And certainly that’s what he did in the summer league opener. No doubt that’s what we got used to seeing from him at Duke. Whatever they needed on that night uh was what he did. Five for 21 shooting though. That’s not that’s not outstanding. You attribute that to what? Opening night jitters. Uh well, also they’re asking him to to do a lot of different things. They’re asking him to uh bring the ball up the floor a lot to initiate the offense. They said, “Hey, be aggressive. Spread your wings.” He was uncomfortable taking 21 shots. He felt like there were some that he forced, but they again they they are challenging him there. And you can look at the five of 21 and and you can get concerned. You can also remember Victor Wimyama was two of 13 in his summer league debut. Trust me, a summer league uh shooting night does does not a career make. And you know, again, this is a guy he wasn’t the no-brainer number one pick because he’s such a brilliant scorer. It’s it’s because he’s such a well-rounded package. biggest question is can he be a primary scorer? But uh he’s a guy who impacts the game in so many different ways, finds ways to win, and that’s what we saw in Vegas last night.

On Get Up, Tim MacMahon joins to talk through the Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Lakers in NBA Summer League and assess Cooper Flagg’s Mavs debut.

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