Is Cooper Flagg a Better Fit Than Luka? Paul George & Jim Jackson Weigh in

Is Cooper Flagg a Better Fit Than Luka? Paul George & Jim Jackson Weigh in

The Dallas Mavericks got Cooper flag last week. They’ve put together a nice roster. They just signed DLO. Kyrie’s gonna be returning in the spring. And just a couple months ago, you know, Nico was getting a ton of flak for for letting go of Luca. I mean, that was one of the craziest, you know, moves we’ve seen in a while. So, from a players perspective, Pete, with the roster that they have now, I want to know, do you do you think that the Mavericks got better? That’s that’s a tough question with what they gave up, right? Like you don’t minimize what Luca Yeah. has done has been for that franchise. Um but when you think about a team being constructed with what Cooper can bring with a healthy Kyrie coming back probably more later second half of the season. DLO’s pro proven to be a veteran point guard. You still got one of the best elite shooters in Clay. Um and then one of the most efficient bigs that we’ve seen in Gaffford. Um not to mention a top five player in AD. So, um, and with that, their bench is is pretty strong with Naji, with, uh, Washington, um, Lively, like they they have a really good roster when healthy and everybody is kind of clicking and I and what I love most about it is as good as Cooper is, he’s not asked to come in right away. And you know what I mean? Like, he gets to it’s so many like we that’s one of the best things I think a young player can have, right? regardless of where you’re drafted skill set is good vets around you. He’s coming in with some of the best vets that that knows how to win who have won and it’s a culture I think there with Jason Kid being the coach. So man, I I like I like what Dallas got. They do got everything. The young, the old, everything. They do. I like it from this perspective is that like you said, Cooper doesn’t have to come in and kind of the weight of the world is on his shoulder to have to be able to be a rookie, understand the league, and win games and get this Mavericks team to a playoffs or wherever it may be. But it’s a couple things, too, though. If you backtrack and look at the history with Luca and the Mavericks, it always been it’s been some tension a little bit with with Nico and upstairs. And when when when it hit, everybody’s like you can’t do that. Mhm. But you got to see you got new ownership. That’s not Mark Cuban. Mhm. Right. You know, that’s a this whole different family. Their background is is casinos. Okay. Mhm. They’re making money in a different way. They’re looking at from the holistic business side and they they’re like, “Hold up. Are we paying 350 million for somebody we can’t trust?” Mhm. And that’s that’s their Nico can’t make that decision, you know, p in and in in his world by himself. Ownership got to sign either they go sign off on if if Nico goes to him and say, “Listen, we really need to sign sign him for 350.” They got to make a decision. Right. Right. Okay. And it goes both ways. So I think he got unfairly criticized for it, but he’s the GM. So when you made the Gaffford trade, when you made the Lively trade, when you got Clay, they patted you on the back. Mhm. When you got Kyrie, they patted you on the back. So when Luca come, you got to take that side of it, too. Mhm. Now you got a a player like I think Cooper Flat, I got a chance to cover him in college. So I got a chance when they played at U Madison Square Garden in St. John’s and I got him in the tournament. So, I got a chance to really watch him play. Oh, bro, he nice. But you know what it is? He got a motor. Yeah. And I think that’s what separated him and Ace Bailey when we was talking about who’s like kind of the best. I think skill set wise they’re right like this can go. But Cooper’s motor is a different level and he don’t need to rock. Yeah. You know, he was John Shrider coach was like, man, he’s too unselfish. I got to gold him to have to shoot more and be selfish. Mhm. Cuz he’s just his ment. So I think he his mentality is not like that. Which is why I think he’ll fit in perfectly with AD, with DLO, with Clay, with those guys because he’ll just add I think another layer of playmaking. He can shoot it. He can spread the floor. He can run. He’s athletic without trying to go out there and be rookie of the year. Right. Right. Right. So you’re because I’ve never seen Cooper Flag play, but you’re you’re No, I’ve never seen him play in person. Oh in person. And I just think that we haven’t had, you know, maybe Zion was touted, but he was more like an athletic freak. Like do you think when’s the last time we’ve had a player entering the draft of Cooper Flags caliber? I’m curious on your take on that. You know, it’s I I I I liken him to a lot like Keith Van Horn, athleticism size, but a lot like Jason Tatum, too. Like a combination between the two. Okay. Because the people forget how good Keith Van Horn was at Utah coming out of college. They forget about that. Athletics, 610, can run the floor, can shoot it, and now you combine kind of footwork with Jason Tatum, step backs, pivots, and then making plays. To me, I look at that combination and I’m trying to think of who came in at his size at 610 that in the last, let’s say, 10 years. You know, Brandon Ingram is a little bit different. Brandon is not making the same kind of plays that Cooper is making. So, that’s why you it’s it’s really hard to compare. Jason Tatum, he’s 68. Well, JC might be 6’9, right? Yeah. Yeah. T JT up there. Yeah, he up there, right? So he may be as close, you know, with regards to that, but I think the motor in which Cooper has is just different, man. And would you say he’s just as good on the defensive side of the ball? Because when I’m looking at it, it it’s it’s the NBA is a different beast. Of course, there’s there’s better athletes. Everyone more ski is more skilled. And I think the comparison or the the pros and cons of getting rid of Luca has been, look, Luca’s an offensive juggernaut. There’s no question about it. But a lot of people have their doubts on the defensive side of the ball. And here comes Cooper Flag where he’s a two-way player. Do you think that he’s going to be a two-way player in the NBA given how talented everyone in the league is? I I’ll say this, talking to John Sh, head coach at Duke, when they played St. Johns, this had to be maybe December, January maybe. And a lot of it was him learning his defensive principles at that time as a as a, you know, freshman. Okay. Learning those principles. By the time he got to the tournament, the conversation wasn’t the same. He was a better defensive player. Mhm. Because his IQ and how he played the game, how he analyzed it and the work he put in. To answer your question, I think you’ll be just fine because he’s surrounded too. You think about it by Gaffford, by Lively, by AD. Okay, now you going to have to and even Clay is not the two-way player he was, but still it’s just not like Olay. So, he’s going to be surrounded by guys that can cover him until he gets his bearings straight on how to play def cuz how you play defense in this league and you were one of the best two-way players in the league. You had to figure out little nuances of how to play not just your guy, but different guy. Mhm. You know, and different and the way the league is now, you’re switching everything, right? So, how you guard a a power forward in the wing is going to be different how you guard a point guard. Mhm. So, all those nuances he’ll learn, man. [Music]

Is Cooper Flagg actually a better fit in Dallas than Luka Doncic? Paul George and Jim Jackson dive into the aftermath of Nico Harrison trading Luka Doncic and then getting dealt Cooper Flagg in the NBA Draft. They then break down what makes Flagg so unique explaining why he’s a great next to Anthony Davis & Kyrie Irving.
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