Penton: Flagg touted as can’t-miss NBA star
By Bruce Penton
Even if you’re only a casual fan of U.S. college basketball, you’ve probably heard of Cooper Flagg, who will be the No. 1 selection in the June 25 National Basketball Association draft.
Just as golf fans had heard of a young Tiger Woods prior to his big splash on the PGA Tour in 1996; just as Canadian hockey fans were well aware of the junior hockey exploits of Wayne Gretzky in the mid-1970s; just as basketball fans knew all about Michael Jordan before he hit the hardwood in the NBA in the 1980s, the name Cooper Flagg is as famous as any North American amateur athlete these days.
Still only 18 years of age, Flagg graduated high school a year early, enrolled at Duke University as a 17-year-old and dominated the U.S. college hoop scene like no other in his rookie season.
He won every major national player of the year award, and led the Blue Devils to a 35-4 record and a berth in March Madness’s Final Four. (They lost 70–67 to Houston.)
“His highlights, his statistics, the ways he impacted the game on both ends of the floor, really in every category, was off the charts — as good of a freshman season that a guy has had here,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer told the Associated Press.
Dallas Mavericks, who made major headlines during the season by trading their superstar guard, Luka Doncic, to the Los Angeles Lakers, had the bingo balls bounce in their favour in the NBA draft lottery and give them the No. 1 pick. Naturally, it will be Flagg, team officials said.
Flagg, who grew up in Maine in a basketball-crazy family (both his parents played college hoops), averaged 19.2 points per game with Duke this year, grabbed 7.5 rebounds per game and had 4.2 assists.
While being selected No. 1 is no guarantee of success, most analysts who study the NBA are expecting Flagg to be a star. “His ball-handling, playmaking and ability to function as a finisher are far superior to Risacher's skill," wrote Morten Stig Jensen of yahoo.com, referring to last year's No. 1 overall choice, forward Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks. He’s slightly inferior to the 2023 No. 1 pick, Frenchman Victor Wenbenyama, of San Antonio Spurs, but power forward Paolo Banchero, another former Duke player who went No. 1 to Orlando in 2022, isn’t as good a prospect as Flagg, wrote Stig Jensen.
The draft is often a crapshoot. In 1984, Jordan didn’t get picked until selection No. 3, waiting while Akeem Olajuwon went to the Houston Rockets at No. 1 and 7-foot-1 Sam Bowie was picked by Portland Trail Blazers at No. 2. Olajuwon went on to have a starry career in the NBA while Bowie, plagued by injuries, averaged only 10.9 points per game in 10 seasons.
History tells us Cooper Flagg being picked No. 1 by Dallas is by no means a slam dunk, but the Mavs are expecting their top pick to be more like Jordan, less like Bowie.
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