Cooper Flagg’s first impression, Bronny’s expectations & is LeBron still worth trading for | SPEAK

Cooper Flagg’s first impression, Bronny’s expectations & is LeBron still worth trading for | SPEAK

So Paul, can you describe this moment for Mr. Cooper? Hey, you know what’s so funny, Keith? Yesterday we was talking about how much money you’ll pay to go see right the floor seats was starting I think at 2500. That’s crazy, man. Last year. Think about this. You went you wouldn’t pay 2500 to see Bronnie get eight and Cooper Flag get 10. No, but I’m saying you know that’s what I’m saying. That’s why I think I think summer league should be free. Probably. It should be free. Probably. You know what I’m saying? You shouldn’t have to pay. They want to sell. I know it’s about marketing the players and and all that. Yeah, I understand that. But, you know, the thing I was impressed by, actually, I was impressed by Cooper uh Flag, you know, his energy. Uh, look, shots come and go, but I noticed one thing, you know, they had him at the point guard out there, you know. So, they trying to develop him maybe this coming year because of Kyrie not being out there to start at the point if they don’t want to go with D’Angelo Russell. I know they just signed him, but I love his aggression. I love the fact that he wasn’t scared. I love the fact that he was going for it. But he gave me great energy. He gave me four assists, one turnover. He rebalanced the ball well. He defended well, three steals, one block. Uh, six boards. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I loved everything. think he brought to the game. They won the game. Uh, and that’s what matters the most, but I know that the shots going to come and go at times, but he was he didn’t lack confidence. He wasn’t afraid of the moment. Think about it. This is his sellout. The NBA, this is kind of like his NBA debut. His first taste of NBA uh competition. Well, no, not last summer. He had NBA competition practice. This is like real refs, fans, popcorn popping, people paid for the seats, 2500, you know, it was like, right, you know what I’m saying? So, it was like, all right. So, some nerves was probably in there. It was anticipated because that’s all we talked about on these sports outlets all day or or coming up into it. So, he got that under his belt is out the way. I look forward for him to really start getting comfortable. I I wouldn’t put it past his next game. I think they play again on Saturday tomorrow. I think he’s going to go for like a good 20 and 10 cuz usually after that first game you get comfortable. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? You get it. All right. All this is it’s out the way. The lights, the popcorn, you know, NBA, they go whoopy whoop over there. You playing the league. All of that, you know, family and out the way. Okay. Now settle in. He’ll be all right. But I was impressed with the energy and and and aggressiveness and, you know, trying to see him be at the top working as a point forward. I was impressed. He’s going to be all right. Yeah, I mean I was impressed just overall he he displayed all the things he does well defending, handling the basketball, you know, being aggressive like you mentioned. I mean he shot 21 shots in 32 minutes which that was kind of that’s what’s going to happen. Like you said, people are paying 2400 like he’s going to get the shots up. They’re like look go to the point, be aggressive, do what you got to do, put on a performance with people that come here to watch you play. So overall just what he did, like I said, defending uh getting some great blocks, rebounding, great decisions, what have you. So overall with his play, I was impressed, man. So it was I think again it was as expected. You certainly could tell that he was pressing to some degree and all young players in your first start, whether it’s you, me, will in the NFL when we first took the field in our preseason games or Paul when you first took the court in summer league or preseason game. I’m sure there was you wasn’t hitting on all cylinders the same way. I had 30. Yeah, all sinners. But when you think about it, they asked him, J Kid asked him to be aggressive. Something that he at Duke, he wasn’t he was he was within the system. Right. Right. This was almost like AAU basketball. I’m just going to go out there and I’m going just shoot to the lights, come home. Then at the end of the day, you look at him up against his peer and Bronny James. So that was a matchup that was anticipated. Everybody talked about it. It was $2,500 a seat as Paul mentioned. So now he’s pressing on that to try to show him up. I mean that’s just that’s just the way the mind works at times. But I look at it and I say he’s going to be he’ll be fine. This is his first preseason summer league game. I mean that’s not really saying a whole lot about his performance. But he has some shots and at times where you can see he got to his spots. He was able to hit the turnaround on Bronnie. He was able to get the transition dunk on the fast break. I mean, there was some things that he did well that you’ll see that could translate over into the National Basketball League with no problem at all. He wouldn’t be the number one overall pick if he wasn’t capable of getting it done, Paul. Yeah, abs. Absolutely. Like, all you want to do in summer league is just get some reps. Show me that you you can actually play as number one pick. Show just show me some signs of some things. And we definitely saw some signs. Now, shots, I’m not worried about the shot. He showed me great defense. looking transition, finishing over the rim. Terrific defense. That’s who he is. At worst, he’s going to be a terrific defender. Where was the summer league at when you played the summer league? Did you play in summer league? No, I didn’t play in summerly. My first year when I got drafted, it was a lockout, but the next year I played, it was You had to play the next year? Yeah. Long Beach. Damn. They You was a scrub. No, no, I wasn’t. Cuz look, look. So look, they just they said, “All right, I played like three games.” And they was like, and there was like 10 more games left cuz they was going from Long Beach to Boston. After the third game, I think I had like 46. They was like, “Just go home. Just go back home. You don’t have to fly back to Boston for the summer.” You know what I’m saying? Because I was already I a like 16. Usually if you I was runner up for rookie of the year. They was You don’t You don’t have to play summer league. You do all that key. That That was for the kids, you know. I was already grown. You was him? Yeah. I was already grown. That guy. Well, I mean, yeah. Yeah, I played in one preseason game, so I get it. I understand. I had an I mind player, fourth round pick. I was in every game. Yeah. Every drill, everything. Fourth, especially you get nervous that fourth pre fourth preseason game. You know what I’m saying? Hey, man. Everybody arrives differently and we all in the same spot right now. That’s all. Absolutely. Different destinations. Speaking speaking of arriving differently, Bronnie James had a chance to steal the win against the Dallas Mavericks, the lake for the Lakers, but he missed a potential game-winning three at the buzzard. He finished the game with eight points, two boards, and two assists. So, Paul, what are your expectations for young Bronnie James this season? Well, you know, I’m still he’s still in evaluation mode. You know, he was in evaluation mode all year long. He’s still in evaluation mode. That’s why he’s in summer league. So, you know, Barney has to show us he can do something consistently, whether that’s defend at a high level, can he knock down shots at a high level consistently, and and and until he’s able to do that, you know, my expectations for him are is going to be to continue to develop. You know, when you make it to the league, you have to show me something that’s consistent. Like, hey, I’m watching him. He’s consistently playing great defense. He’s consistently poking at the ball. is consistently locking up his man or he’s consistently knocking down shots. He’s consistently getting into the lane. So, my expectation for Bronnie is to continue to keep developing. Don’t lose his confidence. And like I said in a couple shows before this, show me the one thing you can do great. Cuz once you develop one thing and that’s you’re great at that, you can move on to the next thing. Show me you can be a great defender. Show me you can be a great shot maker. Show me you can be a great ball handler. So, it’s going to be one thing and and it’s it’s in steps. It’s baby steps. And so, he has to continue to play, continue to develop uh as summer league progresses. I hope he gets to play in in all the games cuz I think this is important in this stage of his career because he’s still young. And so, but the thing I’ve seen is he’s gotten better, you know, and as the G- League went on last year, you forget he got better. He was scoring the ball on a consistent basis, but that’s not what the Lakers is going to lead the contenders. They’re going to have to see what can he bring to the team that the team does not already have. Yeah. Can he be a lock down defender? Can he knock down shots? And that’s what I’m going to be looking for. You know, he looked he looked better than me. He looked more comfortable than he did this time last year, especially when you just point to the one defensive play that he made on Cooper over in the in the in the corner where he to me he stole the ball, but it was like a late foul right there. You going to see the little punch out. It’s kind of like a ticky tack foul. I thought he did well though. I thought he he just looked better, more comfortable in the situation. So, and that’s a much bigger player he’s going up against. I mean, that you know, you you you looking like you’re about 5’11 up against Cooper right there. So, I expect for him to to if he continues to play the way that he played this this last night, the rest of the summer, and into the preseason, he gonna steal some minutes, Paul. Yeah. If he can do that, he gonna steal some minutes. Yeah. The But the is before you go Well, sorry. He going he’s going to be able to do that anyway. But to consistently hit the rotation. Yeah. But if he if he if he does that the rest of the summer and into the preseason, they going he going to take the minutes. No, he got he got minutes last year when they moved him. He got some minutes. But when in order to hit the consistent rotation where you know Ronnie going to play every night, you have to give me something that’s consistent and that’s that’s what he’s trying to develop into. Yeah. The one thing that that’s undeniable is is how athletic he is. Like that’s you saw that him, you know, dribbling the ball down the court. You saw him taking off for dunks, seen him playing defense and all that stuff. And I agree, like what is the one thing that he can provide for the team that’s going to allow him to get additional minutes because we talked about earlier he’s 6’1. Like he’s my height. I saw him in Vegas. We’re the exact same height. And so not being a taller, you know, I guess defender or wing, whatever you that’s something that can lack in his regard. So he’s going to have to provide something great. I look at I know he’s a little bit tall but like Avery Bradley how he was for the Celtics. Someone who came off was a really really really good defender athletic athletic and can get you some buckets. So yeah, what can he provide overall? I think you mentioned he’s improving, right? He can be a three and D guy and he’s looking more and more comfortable. If anything, I think he could be in a situation where possibly 10 minutes, you know, a game if he gets into the rotation, you know, this season. LA last year, you know, when we evaluated him, watched him, whatever you want to call it, he didn’t look like he belonged in the summer league. He just didn’t look like he belonged in the NBA at all. Just watching him last night, I’m like, “Okay, he looks like he’s more comfortable and he actually belongs.” He was having fun. I didn’t walk away from it, Paul, saying he just there cuz his daddy. I didn’t walk away from it last night. Last summer, many people walked away at times saying, “Oh man, he didn’t he didn’t deserve to get drafted where he got drafted at.” Now that he’s got a year under his belt and he looked like he looked last night. You can’t say that about him at all. You can’t say it at all about him. Yeah. He’s got a lot of reps. You could tell uh as far as a confidence standpoint, he’s a lot better in that aspect. That’s that’s what I thought from him. I thought he just lacked confidence. Yeah. Because you know, you It’s a tough spot. Yeah, it is a tough spot. It It’s a very tough spot. You know, you go into a situation, you’re the son of one of the greatest players ever played against and his health first of all from last year with his health. Yeah, absolutely. It’s just like, you know, he was taking shots. He I think at some point he missed like, I don’t know, 10 15 straight threes at one point in summer league or during the season, I forget. And that was just a confidence thing. You know, once you start seeing those things, those shots go in and you get the reps in practice, it’ll come. But like I keep saying, what is Bronnie gonna hang his hat on like consistently in order to get in rotation? And it can’t be he’s going to go out here and get the shots up. He’s not gonna get the shots. You know, we they got the scoring. It has to be knocking down shots consistently open or being a tear on defense. He’s going to have to hang his head on one of those two things. I believe for him to get consistent minutes in the NBA. We can’t go a day without mentioning the Lakers and LeBron James. The Lakers are in a transitional time as the team shifts from LeBron to Luca as his main star. One Eastern Conference executive was reportedly convinced LeBron wanted out of Los Angeles despite picking up his player option and there were a handful of teams including the Golden State Warriors that reportedly consider making a major offer for him. So Paul, should teams want to acquire King James? That’s a good question, Keith. I mean, you’re talking about this is LeBron James here who’s still actually playing at a high level. Played a lot of he played what he played 75 games, averaged 247 and eight. And like if you just take the age away from it and you be like, damn, do I want a player that gave me 25, eight rebounds, eight assists, 51% from the field, 37? Absolutely. But you got to understand what comes with that. When you when you when you try to trade for LeBron, you have to say to yourself, are can we possibly get into contention? Like Houston traded for Durant? They said he can put us in contention. I’m wondering why did Houston go after LeBron? I was just about to I was literally about to ask you that. I was going to say, do you make that same trade like for LeBron James if of Houston? Yeah, maybe. So cuz if he was available at that time I I mean you got to make the call right but it wasn’t only reason why didn’t they get into didn’t email LeBron get into last Yeah they Oh yeah it doesn’t mean anything that doesn’t mean nothing at all but the only reason why this conversation even come came up about LeBron is cuz his agent Rich Paul spoke about where he’s at in his career winning a championship all that. So many people think that the Lakers aren’t in championship contention and No, we don’t. We know. We know. We don’t. What you mean, you know? Well, there’s rumors about trading LeBron. So, if you’re in champion contention, that’s because Rich Paul said that and everybody just ran to the water trying to find some fish. Also, the Sun situation was different. They were ready to move on in general. Yeah. Stop it. You mean you he don’t will he just But going back to the question I tra teams I’m from New England. I can’t say nothing. You know I’m not sure which team makes sense. There’s probably one team that actually makes sense to me and I was thinking about this on the elevator coming up. Golden State Warriors. It could be a situation where you try to team up Curry and LeBron for one last run. So who you going to move? Well, I think the only move there is like you want to team up Curry, Draymond, and LeBron. So, the only thing is giving up Jimmy Butler, which they contracts match in a straightup trade. At least you’ll probably be getting a better fitting piece next to Luca if the Lakers are going in that direction. Uh, a guy who could play off the ball a little more than LeBron and start building for the future for the Lakers. Uh, that makes the most sense for me if anybody wants to trade for LeBron. Yeah. I mean, in this in this case, you’re thinking one for one. I’m looking at the the New York Knicks. Like, if you’re going to take anybody, maybe Carl Anthony Towns, he’s making almost 50 and and plus two, if you if you do that that straight up swap, you’re not really touching anybody else on the roster. Like, you don’t have to move anybody else. Lakers might have to give up maybe a second round pick or maybe a future first or something like that as well. But just straight up them two, I can see that being a viable option. LeBron to the net. It’s New York too. Like LeBron, he wants to go to a big city. Look, everybody could use it, right? All teams. But are you a LeBron? No, not necessarily. It has to make sense. It has to I was going to say it has to make sense. But what am I giving up and what are you giving me in return? Like what what are we getting from the Lakers? Mike and I and some chips. No, that ain’t Yeah, we Yeah, we Los Angeles Lakers. Understand? Nobody’s going to mortgage their future. I understand. Unless there’s a sure shot. So, while we gonna give up, we just we literally just signed DeAndre Aiden, right? Because we felt that a year ago, had we got our big that we tried to get and he passed his physical, we might have been in better position. So, we went out and got the one thing in a lob threat and DeAndre Aiden Feluca with LeBron on the team. If you’re not giving me something close to what a LeBron James can do for us this year, then go pound sand and kick rocks. There’s nothing to even talk about because I’m not taking your trash. I’m not getting ready to get you. I’m not taking your trash. Why would I do that? Yeah. I mean, that’s true. But you got to understand LeBron can probably give you one year or two at the most. So, you got you got to be ready now to go. And I think I think the Knicks are ready to go now. Yeah. What you giving us though, cat? That may not be what we want. Brown go back with Mike Brown. That may not be what we want though. That look It may that may or may not be. You know what? It would be good for the league though to just having Braun in New York and and Luca in LA. That would look good for the league. But you always trying to sabotage the Lakers. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music]

Keyshawn Johnson, Paul Pierce, and Will Blackmon react to Cooper Flagg’s debut against the Los Angeles Lakers’ Summer League squad, sharing their takeaways from his on-court showing. They also discuss the expectations for Bronny James after facing Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks in Summer League. The panel closes by debating whether teams should still want to trade for LeBron James heading into next season.

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Cooper Flagg’s first impression, Bronny’s expectations & is LeBron still worth trading for | SPEAK
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