Cooper Flagg vs. Kon Knueppel: NBA Rookie of the Year DEEP DIVE | Mavericks x Hornets
Jason breaks down the NBA Rookie of the Year race between Dallas Mavericks star Cooper Flagg and Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel. He discusses the odds of each player winning the award before doing a thorough breakdown of the rookie season each player has had.
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Timeline
0:00 – Start
0:55 – Rookie of the Year odds
7:23 – Cooper Flagg deep dive
26:11 – Kon Knueppel deep dive
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39 Comments
First đ
The fact Duke failed to win a title with both flagg and kon
difference is that cooper has the entire sports media and the city of dallas behind him. Kon has been consistent and having a historic season himself. he;s also on the fkn HORNETS. and ballin with GREAT efficiency. Kon deserves it.
you talk about the long twos being a problem and i agree. But being a dallas fan, with the severe limited offensive help those long twos are often the only look we get. Add to that I and the coaching staff would prefer a cooper long two than anyone but max and klay shooting an uncontested three even if it is less efficient. Great breakdown nonetheless. Looking forward to watching cooper with competent guard play and legitimate spacing
Kon for me
I dont think I've been this impressed with a rookie since Luka.
Great stuff per usual . Likedâ & Hypedâ
Kon is playing great but not better than Flagg. Kon isnât Kon without Miller, Ball and Bridges because he needs spacing, screens and picks to get open shots. Put Cooper on Charlotte and yes he wouldnât score more points but he would definitely get a lot more assist and rebounds and have easier shots. Kon on the Mavs would be a disaster because they have no spacing or even call plays. The Hornets arenât even a .500 team and they play in the East.
For like 2 years pre pandemic me and my friends would record park runs, largely because we all sucked at keeping score. It led to some pretty interesting analysis of shooting efficiency when we looked into it. There were just as many people that were better shooters off the dribble as there were players that were better spot up shooters. And the gap was pretty significant for both groups. I'm pretty sure watching that 'film' really did improve our play over time. It's funny how much your more analytical approach to discussing the game makes me want to go play as opposed to the normal talking head takes you get with basketball media
Every time i watch Cooper play i have multiple moments where i think "this guy is special." Every time I've watched Kon play I've thought "he's a shooter." Not a knock and every team would love to have him. But he doesn't induce many wows
2 sides to the court.
Cooper is head and shoulders above him defensively.
The Spurs donât wish they drafted Kon lol, stop that stupid narrative. Harper still has more potential to be a star, heâs just playing in a smaller role than Kon because he has better teammates
If weâre going to use impact as the standard, then letâs really define it.
What has Cooper Flagg impacted that directly translated into winning?
Kon stepped into a Hornets team that won 19 games last year with basically the same core. This year theyâre pushing toward 40 plus.
Kon Knueppel changed how the team plays: Better spacing, smarter shot selection, more discipline, more consistent execution.
Thatâs cultural impact.
Heâs been consistent all year and is nearly 50/40/90 as a rookie.
Heâs on pace to set rookie three-point records and is just two threes behind the league leader in total makes.
Cooper had Olympic exposure and a Hall-of-Fame level point guard mentoring him behind the scenes, thatâs a head start.
Kon started from scratch and helped establish structure in a locker room that needed it.
If youâre arguing impact, consistency, efficiency, and wins Kon should still win ROTY or at least dual ROTY.
Mailbag question love the show my question is why does everyone form the 80s to 2000s look like there on roids even though in the nba back then they didnât have the best diets or workouts
Kon being that good of a shooter and not being able to attack him on defense is damn near unfair lol
Dylan Harper has the best Net rating among all rookies! He should be ROTY. He impacts winning more than any other rookie in his draft class so he should be judged by that and that only.
He doesnât start because he plays on one of the better teams in the West and he is being asked to backup an All-Star PG in Fox yet heâs helped us win in clutch time all season by making huge plays at critical moments.
Do they make the shot? Does that in return create better spacing..? Itâs called THREE level scoring… âLong 2âsâ is such a made up âproblemâ.
One thing about Tatum's jump shooting that I think deserves more credit is the difficulty. Especially when he is trending up, defenses overplay his jumper so heavily that it opens up the court for the entire team. Would love to see him come back and focus on his catch and shoot more, especially with JB so effective as a driver this year.
Kon is so fundamentally sound!! They need to move dribble happy Ball elsewhere as they move the ball at an elite level when Ball's not on the floor wasting energy dribbling and launching off balance 30 footers!
Cooper Flag put up 32 points against the Spurs recently but the MAVs still lost by double digits.
As usual the media focuses on scoring, rebounding, assist stats rather than impact.
Just look at what Harperâs done during the Spurs current 6 game win streak:
GSW – Spurs win by 13, Harperâs +/- was +17
LA Lakers – Spurs win by 28 points, Harperâs +/- was +27
MAVs (@ SA)- Spurs win by 13 points, Harperâs +/- was +14
MAVs (@ Dallas) – Spurs win by 12 points, Harperâs +/- was +8
OKC – Spurs win by 10 points, Harper didnât play
Orlando – Spurs win by 9 points, Harperâs +/- was +9
You could keep going but more often than not when he plays, the Spurs are winning.
Contrast that with Cooper Flagg. In that same game at Dallas where Cooper dropped 32 on the Spurs outscoring even Wemby, Cooper Flaggâs +/- was -19!
Itâs one thing to have your team lose ground in an game when youâre on the bench but when youâre in the game and Flagg played 39 minutes that night, and your team is losing ground on the scoreboard in a big way, youâre clearly not making an impact.
You might as well just say Cooper should win bc he scores more points instead of making roundabout arguments about offensive responsibility and his defense (which is highly overrated and theoretical at this point). 0 impact metrics favor Cooper and these monster scoring performances have mostly ended in losses. He has a -0.6 epm vs Kon's +2.1(!!!!!) And has a record of 2-5 when he scores over 30 points.
Cooper should win the award bc ROTY is nearly always about who scores the most. But just say thats his case, because when you actually dive into the numbers, Kon is just leaps and bounds ahead of him right now.
How did duke not win the chip last year. Lol.
What's missing in Jason Timpf's resume? Coaching! đ
KING KONNNNNN
Coops dawg meter is off the charts. He's the type to play you in pick up and go full out to embarrass you. He's a winner.
For me, usually, when I try to decide which ROOKIE is best, between such different situations, and as close a race as it is: I ask myself, who would perform as well or even better if they switched teams.
Usually, there's a no brainer
Coops 3pt game, has been getting better with almost, every game.
I think coops floor is TatumâŠ
Keep the hornets content coming đ„
Very much comparable to Lebron vs Melo, Lebon and Flagg have the historical records, more glimpses of HOF potential, Kon and Melo are more efficient, more big game ready, more team success.
A rookie is putting up 19 ppg on 65% TS and he somehow wonât win ROY. Absurd.
Just for me Kon remind me Klay?
Ball-handling, quick first step and getting low. Cooper gets lower than seems possible and once his shoulder is under the defender you can cancel Christmas, he's going downhill in a hurry. Cooper will not allow himself to have a weakness. Future MVP
11:28 Coop's ceiling is higher than Tatum in my opinion. His rim attacking is vastly superior already just with frequency. Coop balls like he and Wemby are gonna be fighting for MVP for the next decade. Tatum is much more passive at attacking, although a better shooter. If Coop gets up to 37-40% on 3's it will be terrifying.
Is it not crazy that Cooper and Flagg have close numbers despite Cooper being the #1 option on a bad team vs being #3-4 on a potential playoff team.
I think in terms of player itâs probably cooper but in terms of real value, itâs Kon. These numbers are dope but heâs not good enough to win
The more I listen to these sports podcasters the more I realize they donât know wtf theyâre talking about đ€ŠđŸââïž primarily bc they donât actually watch the games but only going off stat lines. Theyâre no better than tv sports analysts.
Cooper already has ROTY rapped up unless he gets hurt. His stats will keep going up because he will be the number 1 option on offense. Kon is phenomenal too but isn't the engine that runs his team right now because he has better talent around him
If the Spurs took Kon, he still would come off the bench. Dylan Harper would have better stats if he got more minutes. Kon wound up in right position to maximize his shooting skills
@mailbag
Hi Jason big fan from Israel!
I wanted to ask if you noticed Jaylen Brown on off numbers this year?
The Celtics defense is 10 points better with him off the floor, and their offense is 5 points better as well.
Is he one of the most overrated players in the league these days? If not, how this phenomenon can be described?
Thanks in advance!