Why Cooper Flagg is More Set Up to SUCCEED Than Luka Doncic Was in his Rookie Year | Dallas Mavs

Why Cooper Flagg is More Set Up to SUCCEED Than Luka Doncic Was in his Rookie Year | Dallas Mavs

On today’s show, Cooper Flag is better set up to succeed in his rookie year than Luca Najic was and more takes on today’s locked on Mavs takeoff Thursday. Stop it. Stop. The number one pick will go to the Dallas Mavericks. Cougar flag will fly in Dallas. You are locked on your daily Mavericks podcast. Part of the locked on podcast network. Still can’t leave your team every day. going to get a city like back and welcome. You’re locked on to the Dallas Mavericks, your team every day. My name is Nick Angstan, medium member covering the Mavers for 10 years. Thanks for being here every day, making lock on Maps your first listen. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use that code, locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Joining me as always, my co-host, media member, coming for 10 years, right alongside me, the Takeoff Offspring, the One More Think King. What you got for me, Isaac Harris? Yeah, I just want to make sure everybody knew uh David Mamman from ESPN said that LeBron is closely monitoring Lakers moves um still this offseason. I if y’all didn’t know that he’s still monitoring the moves. So just make sure you uh get that down. Is this different than the monitoring he was doing a month ago or are we in a new stage of the monitor? He’s added a second monitor. Have you ever seen the the thing that’s like which monitor setup is yours? Do you have a6 monitoring? Bat Batman begins down in the bunker with he’s got all the screens. He’s really monitoring right now. The other voice you hear as always, the postgame prodigy from the great sly bias YouTube channel. What you got for me? Slightly biased. Feel a little depressed tonight. I can’t lie. Oh, went to McDonald’s for the first time in probably years cuz I used to love the snack wraps. Yeah. And I got them and wow. I also got them. Had the had a similar night as you. I was feeling down. Went to went to McDonald’s, got two snack wraps, got the spicy and the ranch. And I was like, you know what? Are they don’t hit like they I was about to say I’m depressed because of the snack wraps. I ate them. I literally thought to myself, I was like, either these got worse or I used to just be eating pure filth. Both are one of the two. But also, by the way, if you are going to order them, just know one order is two. So, uh, don’t order two. Get one by itself. I did. I said, “Yeah, can I get two uh two snack wraps?” They’re like, “All right.” I think they hand me the bag. I’m like, “Jesus.” I’m like, “What is What is in here?” Spicy. I was surprised. To get 10% off at McDonald’s, you can tell them that Locked on Mav sent you. Don’t go there. No, you don’t even need to put it in the app. Just tell them at the drive-thru. Yeah. Yeah. Just stroll right through. Today’s episode in NBA August, we’re going to break down our uh Takeoff Thursday. We got takes on all kinds of things. Mabs related, clay related. We’ve got NBA related takes where each of us bring a take to the table. We share it. The other ones don’t know what the take is going to be. And then we have to defend it to the other people. And let’s start with this. Cooper flag is set up to succeed better than Luca Donic in his rookie year. Okay. Define success. That’s my take. Success. He’s set up to succeed to develop faster and to be better and to uh to be better at the team’s gonna be better in his first year. And I don’t think it’s like close at all. You’ve got Jason Kid as a players coach known for development. Luke Gaj had Rick Carle who did not want to put the ball in Luca’s hands until like December or January. And we we like watched that like we were all there front row seats to watch like Luca have to like work his way to earn Rick Carlile’s trust to get to that point where he was giving him the off like the keys to the offense and he was like fighting against Harrison Barnes and Dennis Smith Jr. at at the time. Luca is coming in and Jason K’s already talking about putting the ball in his hands when Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis and all these vets are on the team already. I think that just even that change is significant for a player of Cooper Flag’s caliber to come in and develop and just look at the vets that that you know that Luca has compared to what you know Flag is going to have. Luca had 40-year-old Durk which is a great vet to have to like learn from but not necessarily to play with at that point. He had a 34y old JJ Berea. Same to yourself. Same kind of Dirk is the greatest human ever ever ever that has ever existed. But he had a 30-year-old DeAndre Jordan, a 32-y old Wes Matthews. Like, okay, those are those are his bets. Cure Flags vets are Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, like in their prime still, or maybe just like just just past it. Klay Thompson, and he’s still playing he’s still playing well. And they’ve all won multiple championships. like the amount of champion the amount of Dwight Powell, the amount of championships on the Mavs roster right now compared to what it was then. I just think Flag and and then look at all the rest of the roster too. Look at the centers that he’s going to play with in Lively who he already has a connection with. That’s more than a connection that anybody else on the map did with Luca. And so I just think that he’s set up to succeed in a in a lot of ways both development and team success better than what Luca was. Yeah, I mean that I agree. I mean, this that that team was a mess that Luca saved essentially, whereas this team was not even built for a Cooper flag, if that makes sense. Like, that team was just desperate for a young guy to come in and be the face of the franchise, where this team wasn’t even really looking for that and then got it. So, I would definitely agree with that. Luck. I I think I I do think there there might be some people who might disagree because some people were in the camp of Dallas wasn’t a good fit for Cooper because it it wasn’t a Washington or somebody or Brooklyn to where he could come in and just take a million shots because Luca did get I just looked it up. He did get 16 shots a game his rookie season. Cooper’s not going to get 16 shots a game. So even though they’re going to put the ball in his hands and stuff, he’s not going to get that many shots with Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson if Kyrie comes out. DLO alone, uh, you know, it’s just he’s not going to get that many shots. So he’s going to impact winning and all of that. But if you are in the camp of, hey, I want my top draft pick to be at a place to where the ball is always in his hands and he gets a million shots a game and it’s just that, but they suck, then that’s not the situation. But I I still agree with you. Here’s the thing about that though is I don’t think Cooper Flag is that 20 shot a game guy even at his peak. Like I don’t think he’ll he’ll end up being that player necessarily. I think he’s the I think he has a chance to be a 20 shot a game guy where he’s like the 30 like 30 40% usage percentage. Like I just don’t think he’s that guy. Like not for a while but I could I could see it later on. I could see a situation but not right now. I mean how many guys even put up 20 shots a game this year? Not many. DL put up DLO is not a chucker like we like we think I’m just kidding you know I’m pro Christian Wood another thing it was it was seven SGA LaMelo Tyresese Maxi Kate Cunningham Luca Anthony Edwards Jason Tatum that would be that would be a little surprising if you got to Dan Caro and Giannis were like 19.7 so Christian Wood career high in shots per game 15 and a half they took 15 and a half shots Yeah. Another thing pro your point of that Cooper situation was better is he doesn’t have the awkwardness with like no matter how friends they were or in and are Luca and Dennis, it was still like we just spent a top 10 draft pick on a point guard the year before and Dennis Smith Jr. and he he clearly had the ball in his hands a lot. They ended up getting a top draft pick with him having it. I think Rick was Yeah, Rick enjoyed that experience there. And then, you know, bam, you bring in Luca, who obviously needs the ball in his hands, too. That was a little clunky, a little weird at first of like, what role is Dennis going to play? They got to commit to Luca fully anyway. Does that mean they’re going to trade Dennis? Can’t Dennis play off the ball? I remember that whole like debate thing of like, is he a good enough shooter and all this stuff. And now like I I feel like he should be in the league and his defense really improved. It would actually be kind of fun to think about back then. But yeah, so that was a little like weird and clunky for Luca and Cooper’s not going to have to deal with that with a another young piece playing the same exact position. I mean he like Luca’s team was transitioning from the Durk era to whatever era was next. And I mean, Dennis was good his rookie year, but it it was pretty clear and obvious that he might not have been what we were kind of hoping for, whereas Flag is coming into a team that wants to win a championship. So, and that’s good for him. I agree with everything else said that like I never agreed with the well, this isn’t actually a good landing spot for Flag. I thought the exact opposite. I like the idea of him being somebody who his ideal is a I mean, we talked about like Scottie Pippen, right? Like that’s a that’s a big- time comparison where it’s he can play off ball and then play on ball and help you defensively and be like a Swiss Army knife. Like this is a perfect opportunity for him to develop like that. Who do you who do you think has more pressure on them to be good right away? Flag for sure. Luca compared to flag their situations moving up giving giving up the unprotected pick to move up to get Luca giving the ball giving him the ball over Dennis Smith Jr. early on. You’re hyping it up a lot getting Luca the Euro hype and all the stuff. I think all that even said, I think Flag still has more because his number one pick. He’s like talked about as the best prospect, you know, college prospect since Anthony Davis, right? Like that that hype is more than I think even if the Mavs got like the 10th overall pick, I think like I we’d be like Casper’s Jakotus has probably more pressure on him than Luca. But okay, my only counterback my only counterback is this Mavs team has has such like bigname players that if they come out and Anthony Davis is like top five player in the league ad dominating, they’re winning a ton of games, Clay’s hitting a ton of threes top 100, like those are big names to where if they’re playing really really well and Cooper is struggling some, like the whole spotlight won’t be on Cooper as much like there’s other big bigger names that could keep him winning and all this stuff. So that’s my only counter. I think I still agree with you though. I keep talking about Anthony Davis is the human meat shield of pressure for Cooper Flag this year. He is going to stand right in the because it’s all going to come on Anthony Davis like like he’s if he’s out injured it’s all going to be on him like well what is Cooper Flag supposed to do this you know top 10 player is out all the time and Anthony you know so Nico too. Oh yeah. Well then then obviously yeah it’s tough. Coming up, Klay Thompson a take on him that I don’t know what it is. I can’t take I can’t I was waiting for Isaac. I was not my take. I was waiting for Isaac to tease it and we’re we’ll talk about Clay Thomas. Today’s episode of Lifs brought to you by Open Phone. If you’re running a business, you got to know that every missed call is money left on the table. Think about the last time you had an urgent need maybe for a plumber service or something else. You know that the first person didn’t answer. You know that you’re like, “All right, skip them. I’m going to call somebody else.” You can’t waste that opportunity as a small business owner. So, Open Phone is the number one phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or computer. No longer do we have to like pick up the phone off of a receiver and that’s the only way you get your calls. Open Phone is offering our listeners 20% off your first six months at openphone.com/lockdown. NBAba. That’s O P E N P H O N E.com/lockdown NBA. If you have an existing number with another service, Open Phone will port them over at no extra charge. Open Phone, no missed calls, and then you’ll get no missed customers. Shut it down. Let’s go home. Thanks for hanging out with us on Lockup Maps, being part of the show, part of the raccoon squad. That’s what we call our listeners. Listening every single day throughout the off season. Tomorrow we’re doing the number one picks since 2005 draft. I’m very excited for it. We haven’t we haven’t recorded it yet. We’re going to today. And uh we’re going to draft a team of number one picks. Is Cooper Flag the best number one pick. Curious what people say about that. But right now we’re doing Takeoff Thursday where each of us share a take. Isaac Harris, share your take. I’m ready. Um I’ve been looking into a lot of Clay stuff for next season. I think he’s getting overlooked some. I think Clay the Stallion will average I think he will average more points than Cooper Flag until Kyrie comes back. Interesting. So, here’s my thing. Last year, Klay Thompson averaged 14 points a game. He had 12 shots a game. Uh, roughly seven threes attempted. So, until Kyrie comes back, who’s going to be the second leading scorer? So, that’s basically the the question here. If we assume Anthony Davis is the the top one there. Um, one of the things too when you think about Clay is I don’t know if there’s still camp that thinks about the injuries and stuff for Clay a lot or like, hey, he’s hurt different things. He’s been pretty healthy the past like few seasons since the injuries. Last year, yeah, the last three seasons he played in 72 games last year, 77 games the year before that, 69 games nice the year before that. That’s That’s a pretty good I mean I wish you could guarantee that for Anthony Davis. So, you know, I I just say like he averaged 14 shots a game last year. I think those shot attempts are going to go up, especially with Kyrie out to begin to like to begin the year. I think I’m just kind of in on like him having a a really good efficient season. I think he’s going to chuck up the threes. like I think that seven threes a game is going to go up to like 9 or 10 a game for him, especially at the beginning of the season. He’s also like he becomes the de facto end of game free throw shooter. Uh compared to like Kyrie, which both of them were good guys to have at the free throw line at the end of the games, but Kyrie and him both shoot a high percentage. Now it’s they’re going to try to get the ball to Clay every single time at the end of the game if they need free throws. He’s a 90% free throw shooter. So that’s my hottest take there. I think he edges out Cooper. I think they’re hand in hand, but I think he What? Edges out Cooper. What’s wrong with that? Your head out of the gutter, man. You naughty brain. You just because you um he edges out Cooper and the points per points per game. Uh, I think it’s close, but I I think he uh Yeah, there you go. I’m just not sold that that Clay’s not gonna have a reduced role this year. Oh, sorry. Are you back now or are you still cleaning the gutters? I sat out for a second, cleaned my gutters, and now I’m back. I would never think like that. You’re a pastor and a father. I have neither of those titles. So, I’m just Can I be that guy say I don’t even understand it? Like I think I get it, but I’m not like fully sure and I don’t want any confirmation. Please. So here’s the thing. It might it might cut into my hot take. Slightly like I don’t think anybody should get edging. Is it better? I was looking at the roster tonight and I looked back through the last four years. Jason K has been the head coach of the Mavs. And I went through I was like, “All right, who is who is the average?” What does this have to do with Clay? Hold on. I’m It’s a long journey. I’ll get you there. I don’t freaking care how many players he plays. And he’s played an average of nine players 10 minutes or more in in games. And so somebody’s getting squeezed. Like somebody is getting squeezed where they’re they’re not going to get as many minutes. And yeah, you’ve got to I think they’ve got to figure out a way to get It’s not Clay. Well, but it’s not going to be Clay. He’ll play in the rotation. The problem is you’ve got those top eight guys with Naji, PJ, Gaffford, Lively, you know, the starters and all that. And then you’ve got Max Christie, Caleb Martin, Dante Exom, Brandon Williams on the outside looking in for that rotation. I’m not worried about them taking shots from Clay whose minutes But whose minutes are going to go down? I think a 36-year-old Klay Thompson’s minutes could go down because of that, but that’s that the reality of this team is they’re they’re going to be injured. Like this team will be injured on and off throughout the season. Like that’s just who this team’s going to be. Like you look at the players on the team and that is I I looked at his game logs and yeah, like I guess you do kind of think injuries when you think of Clay a little bit, but outside the two catastrophic ones, I mean, he’s been healthy his whole career. Like I I was surprised just looking at his game logs. Why is it not D’Angel Russell in a contract year? I was thinking DLO, but I’m thinking with Clay. It’s not a not a take that I’d like argue with because I could see it, but I’m saying like who’s going to set him up though? Cuz that that would be my question is it’s like flag deal flag dowo, right? Cuz I I would maybe if if Klay was super self-generated offense, it’s like he’s just going to have the ball more. I would be like, “All right, yeah, I can see him being a second leading scoreer, but I feel like so much of his offense has to be created by others.” Yeah, he was Bradley Beal instead. Yeah, actually. Yeah, I know. We wouldn’t like that. Wouldn’t be good. But I I still think he’s going to get a ton of open shots. I think with Anthony Davis, I think he’s going to command like help and stuff when he gets it uh there in the mid-range or on the block. I think Coop they’re going to put the ball in Cooper’s hands. I think Cooper’s going to hit him whenever he drives. I think D’Angelo’s going to I just think for him, I think they’re going to ask him to shoot it a little bit more. I think he’s going to see this at the beginning of the season as hey somebody’s got to pick up the offensive slack and just to say they’re they’re not going to say to DL you’re going to replace Kyrie Irving the exact role. There’s a lot of shots to go around now with Kyrie out and Cooper’s not going to get 20 a game. So it’s that that’s where I just I think Klay’s going to be a little bit extra green light um especially the first like few months of the season. And I think here’s my other question to you too. Does it make it awkward going into the trade deadline? Let’s say Clay has an incredible first like 3 months of the season. He’s just on fire and it’s like, whoa, here here is our second like offense behind Anthony Davis helps Cooper a little bit and all this stuff. Does do they like entertain anything? Especially if Kyrie’s coming back and they’re like, well crap, like we really need more defense or whatever it is. Like do you do they try to sell high on Klay’s first like few months of the season? I don’t know. I just I I wonder if there’s a way that Yeah, there’s an awkward situation that’s created. See, I think that Nico Harris would go into that trade deadline and be like, you know, bringing Kyrie into this is like adding somebody at the trade deadline and then he Oh, yeah. They’ll be saying that for sure. Like that’s on the big We got our big trade. We got our big trade addition deadline. That’s Kyrie. Imagine if we could add a player of Kyrie’s caliber at the trade deadline. That’s exactly what we did at this trade. Yes. 100%. That’s what’s going to be said. Can we can we Oh god. Well, no. I was just going to say in regards to trading, have they ever done that in the Nico era? I’m trying to think like selling high on a player like I can’t. Well, I guess you couldn’t sell high on KP. No, that was sell like when he was in the toilet. I will say I was really high on that trade though. I mean, I was happy K I I was literally celebrating that trade because I wanted KP gone so badly. Did they sell high on Quinton Grimes? Well, I would say kind of, but the only he got he got hot and played he’s higher now than he was then. That would have been like selling Bitcoin in like 2017. He did not sell high on Grant Williams. There’s there’s another one. That’s what I’m saying. You think about all of their trades and it’s like they’ve they’ve improved at the deadline every year but one. But because it’s always a piece that doesn’t work, right? That’s what I’m saying. Piece that doesn’t fit. Yeah, that’s that’s Nico picks to do it. It’s always a reaction. He he targets the piece that doesn’t fit except for the the train which I guess Luca was hurt. They attached a pick with Reggie. They did not sell high on Luca. I’ll tell you that much. Jesus. Well, that’s the thing. Like they attached a pick with Bullock to get Grant Williams, then attached another pick to turn Grant Williams to PJ. It was like a trickle down. But anyway, I’m high on Clay’s next season. Bons. Yeah. Uh if they if they if if Klay gets traded at the deadline, he it’s he’s not playing well would be my guess. I’m I’m with slightly on that one. I hope he doesn’t get traded at all. I like Clay a lot and I think his um his spacing is will be big for Cooper flag at the same time too. So I just think C I think Klay is going to he’s like one of my Mavs predictions that he’s going to start the season really really well. Do you still think you think he starts? Yeah, I do. I think he I think he almost has to. I think he has to too. Yeah, I think if you’re super confident in Christy, then I could see an argument for him, but like you need some shooting. Yeah, you do. You do. All right. Coming up, slightly has a take. Anything can happen on takeoff Thursdays. Coming up, today’s episode of Locked on Apps brought to you by Oh, it’s game time. One of our favorites. I love game time because if you’re deciding to go last minute to like a Dallas Wings game, which is what I go to a lot, you can get your tickets on game time. Sometimes I get them. I’m not driving of course, but I am getting my ticket on the app as I go to an event. You can get tickets right now. Saturday’s game, Phillies at the Rangers Globe Life Field. 29 bucks. And I click on it right here and I can go see the view from my seat. I can go see exactly where I’m going to sit for this $29. And I know that $29 includes the fees, which is awesome, too. Great stuff all the time from game time. And you can look at see all the different kinds of events going on across DFW. I love that you can uh use the zone deals. You can pick the best seats in the section for you, which is awesome. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem the code len NBA for $20 off. Download Game Time today. Low last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. Shut it down. Let’s go home. It’s takeoff Thursday. We’re each sharing a take. Isaac talked about Klay Thompson, second leading scorer. I talk about Cooper Flag being set up to win in his rookie year. Slightly biased. Take it away. All right. My unpopular opinion, hot take. Uh throwing green dildos onto a WNBA court. Not funny. The funny topic on takeoff Thursday. No, I’m just I’m just joking. That’s not my That’s not my actual topic. I did say anything can happen on I did warn you. No, my my actual take is kind of ESPN type, like a type of hot take, first take style, but you know, I think when you look at other sport leagues and baseball used to be really bad about this, but I think they’ve gotten better and I am kind of an outsider with baseball now. I don’t really watch that much, but the way the basketball gets talked about is despicable in my opinion. And I think it is a actually plays a huge reason into why people feel the way they feel about the league at times. And I think our lives would be just so much better. It’ll never happen, but our lives would be so much better if we all just came together and just agreed with the cold hard truth that is the league is so much better and more talented now than it has literally ever been. And that’s not even up for debate at all. Like I think you sound stupid even debating it. So instead of doing this moronic debate where it’s like now I’m having to say the ‘9s are better than the 2010s and in the process of doing so I’m like tearing down either the 2020s or tearing down the ‘9s. we could just celebrate the different eras of basketball for being the different eras that they are and uh we don’t do this moronic debate because it’s not even it’s not even up for debate. Have you like I in the summer I will put on NBA TV when they’re doing hardwood classics. You cannot watch one of those games and tell me the league was the league was as talented then as it is now. You cannot with a straight face begin to tell me that. There was this clip of like the I was really gonna bring it up. the first three minutes of the Jazz Bulls Jazz Bulls finals and it’s a finals so there are like you know there’s nerves and all that but like they get a wide open dunk in the f the first like couple seconds cuz nobody’s really playing defense and they’re just all kind of standing in this zone looking defense and you’re just like it’s all so slow and you’re just realizing man the the fast decision making and the athleticism that is in today’s game is just so different and I think if if a lot of the players back then had the like resources that players have now that they would be, you know, that they would be better in and all that and they could they could play like there’s so many players that could play in this era. Jerry West, LGB, you’re gonna make me beat Devil’s advocate here. Wilt could Wilt could play in this era for sure. But I think though like the league as a whole, like your role players, your your end of the bench guys are so much better than the role players end of the bench guys. That was my next question. Do y’all do you take it as far as Yeah. Do you take it as far as like, hey, the you hold it against the top players back then or do you It’s more about like, hey, the role player today or the bench guys today are just light years ahead of the I kind of answered it. But also, did Dr. J like have a jump shot? See, like I don’t hold it against anybody hand slander on Dr. J. I I don’t hold against anybody because it was different times the games were were played differently. Like the league requires more out of you as a player today. Like that’s just the reality because the floor is more spaced. It’s more skill oriented. Uh defenses are schemed differently. Like you know, uh they’ll take you out of a g they will for the the defensive schemes are so advanced now. They will take you they will do everything they can to take you out of a game as a superstar. So you have to develop as a superstar. You have to grow and advance. And as you know it What about the physicality though? I think the league is I I think there was a bad stretch physicalitywise, but uh I mean why was it more physical? Because you had guys like Charles Oakley that that’s what they did. I I agree with you. You can’t have a player like that anymore. You had less skilled players that relied on physicality a lot more. But again, I’m not using that as like I’m not saying that as a bad thing. I’m just saying that’s how it was. And go watch these games. They are they are out there and readily available to anybody in the comments who might be typing up a storm right now. No, I I I’m with you in a in a lot of it. I will I do find myself defending the older generations more than not because I think it is like a thing for here’s here’s a statement that I stand on a lot. Just because a player didn’t do something doesn’t mean they couldn’t do it. Um I feel like people go to like the Steph Currys and and and things today and like well look he these guys shoot all these threes. look at, you know, MJ or Drexler or whoever it was and it’s like they couldn’t shoot threes. No, no, no, no, no, no. Reward that. It’s I guarantee you that Clyde Drexler could shoot three-pointers if he played. Just because he didn’t do it then doesn’t mean that he wasn’t a shooter he couldn’t shoot or MJ if MJ played right now, he would be an incredible three-point shooter and shoot a lot more three-pointers. So, I’m with you on like, hey, the the like average median of player today is way better than it was like back then, but I’m also in the camp that I think a a ton of players that were at the top of their games throughout the years. Elijahan, Wilt, like so many of those players would be just as dominant in today’s game. Yeah. Keem would be like the best player in the NBA right now. I think amazing. He would be so good. And I think even you could look at like some of the average like I was going back and looking at the the Triple Js in Mavs history with Jim Jackson, Jamal Masher, and Jason Kidd, Tony Brown. Man, those three those three right there like they would be so much fun in today’s game and I think that they would be really good in today’s game. So that’s my that’s my thing of like I’m not like full JJ Reic of like, hey, they’re all plumbers, they all sucked. Um, but but also like I think the bench player today is so much better than like the bench player back then. I can’t believe the coach of the Lakers would have that take. No, I mean you that that is basically what you said is basically my exact take. It’s just I don’t I the era cross era debate thing doesn’t make any sense to me and it’s why it’s just let’s just accept that the league is more talented now. That’s how all leagues are like that these things advance and develop. sports. When you’re a young kid, you become like becoming a like a specialist as a seven-year-old where I’m only playing this sport from here on out. That’s a relatively new phenomena. Like that’s in the last 20 or so years and that’s become a real popular thing. So, it’s just natural that these players are better and I like wasting time on this debate of actually it was more skilled and better in the ‘9s. It’s like no it wasn’t. I I can watch it. But like to your point though, it’s like that’s not to say those guys couldn’t have done it or anything like that, but it just wasn’t what was required back then, you know? Yeah. Or one of my pet peeves too with these debates on ESPN, whatever it is, is when, you know, they look at a player in today’s game like a role player and they’re like, “Put Lou Lou Dort in the 80s and he would be magic.” I hate that. I hate it. I hate that it’s like just because you take like I get that it’s like the skill and athleticism in today’s game, but you couldn’t take the average role player today and all these situations that people want to name and put him in a past era and say, “Dude, they would be a top five player because the league is so much better now.” And just the same as like, hey, if you take horse Grant and put him in today’s game, he wouldn’t even make a roster. And it’s like, no, I don’t believe that either. Like, no. Come on. Peor Por would be on a roster. Good. I agree. Would definitely be on a roster. It’s those extremes. I mean, we could talk about people love to debate extremes all the time. Those extremes are like very hard. And that’s why I I hate doing the whole like even when you look at like Bill Russell and the amount of teams that were in the league and people want to diminish his rings and all that stuff. It’s like okay I hear the I hear the argument for that cuz there wasn’t that many teams in the league and he won 11 rings and all this stuff but it doesn’t mean Bill Russell sucked or he he’s not one of the best of all time because of that. Doesn’t mean that he couldn’t win all, you know, win a bunch of rings like I don’t know. I just I hate the I’m with you. I hate I hate like I hate the debates too. I wish you could just talk about like eras and stuff, but that’s not how sports media works. Well, I mean, I don’t even I don’t even mind the goat debates, but it’s like these discussions always end up in just the league looking worse at the end. Like that everyone it’s just like the two people debating it. It’s just like do you even like the sport in any capacity at all. Like that’s how I always feel after listening to it. And it’s on like ESPN, it’s on like these major it’s like what goes viral when you’re talking about the NBA. It doesn’t make any sense to me why the NBA is so driven like this. And dude, like the NFL, they’re talking about like you turn on ESPN, they’re talking about the Chargers training camp. It’s like, would we ever turn on ESPN in September and see a te them talking about well the Timberwolves training camp this summer? Like they really like what they’re seeing out of Rob Dillingham. You would never in a million years see that. No. No. Yeah. I mean, there’s so many NFL shows now. It’s like, all right, hey, let’s turn this on. It’s like Herbert out routes, you know, 20 20 yards out to Manki. Like you look at those and it’s like this is cool. Like I I like hearing about this stuff. But it’s also like what’s sad too is like it’s so much of it is by views and like what like ESPN just leans so much into that. You look at why Kendrick Perkins gets paid as much as he does compared to Zack Low getting left like laid off. Like that just tells you everything in in the book right there that Yeah. I mean cuz Perkins to say say anything crazy and then it’s getting aggregated. It’s getting clicked by NBA Central. People wanted to say, “Well, oh, what’s Perk about to say?” Like, “This is gonna be ST.” It’s like, “Dude, no, we don’t. I don’t care.” But it gets clicked and it gets views on YouTube and you get money off that. We know it. It’s got to be We capitalize stuff in our titles just for people to watch. So, yeah. I mean, that’s true. But the Kendrick Perkins thing has to be bots. I don’t I can’t for the life of me get it. I I try to see like, oh, I can see why some people would like this that stuff. I’m like, I don’t what is the appeal here? Or Arenus like Well, he’s his own separate thing entirely. People are just watching cuz he owes them money. No, he’s like he’s not even m I don’t even I don’t lump him in with the other basketball type cuz he’s not on a network, is he? He’s got his own like podcast. Not a major one. No, not a major one. See, Kendrick Perkins is on ESPN on the halftime shows. So, it’s like there’s pe people in the same department that don’t have jobs because they’re paying people like that. And that’s Barkley and Shaq are doing the same thing and they they say stuff all the time that’s like not right. But they they present themselves as an entertainment like you know jokey type of show whereas people still respect them. That’s true. And they were you know well I was going to say and they were players. train Perkins as a player, but like it they come off genuine in what they say in my opinion. And I I they grade on me sometimes, but they at least are genuine and you can tell they’re having fun where Perkins it’s just like it comes across so disingenuous and it’s just like, you know, feels so forced and they try to present themselves as this like we are the worldwide leaders of sports talking about the NBA. So you should listen. Let us know in the comments section if you got the if you got the joke that earlier. There’s all kinds of different things. Tomorrow we’ll do the fantasy draft of the top picks, the number one picks from the last 20 years. Guys, thanks for watching to locked on Mavs. Peace out. Boom. Kendrick Perkins.

Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks are set to take on the NBA with a roster including Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. Will Klay Thompson be the second-leading scorer for the Mavs until Kyrie returns?

Nick Angstadt, Isaac Harris, & Slightly Biased @SlightlyBiased discuss Cooper Flagg’s potential rookie season with the Dallas Mavericks, comparing it to Luka Doncic’s first year. They analyze Klay Thompson’s role, Anthony Davis’s impact, and debate the evolution of NBA talent across eras. The hosts also mention Dereck Lively II, PJ Washington, and Naji Marshall as key players in the Mavs’ rotation.

0:00 Cooper Flagg vs Luka Doncic Rookie Year
10:30 Klay Thompson’s Role Next Season
22:39 NBA Talent Debate: Past vs Present
29:29 ESPN’s NBA Coverage Criticism

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