By Avi Tyagi
Good rim finisher on self-created attempts, even if he’s not an elite vertical athlete for his size and position (still above average hops). Deceptive with his speed. Loves spins and spinning pivots and has the footwork and balance to get those shots off in any situation where there’s limited help defense.
Will easily punish teams as a spacer for going under or sagging off him in the corner or on a switch, adding the pull-up 3 as a go-to feature of his diet is the next step.
Improved over the back half of the season. Can comfortably bring the ball up the court in transition, and prefers his right hand, but is dexterous enough that teams can’t comfortably sit on his preferred hand.
Absolutely loves to spin back to his right hand. Got pickpocketed for that tendency a few times early in the season, but developed better awareness of when he had the space to execute the maneuver. Averaged 2.8 turnovers per game in the first 19 games, only averaged 1.4 the rest of the way, including the tournament run. Will make the right play out of ball screens and push the tempo forward in semi-transition if surrounded by cutters. Will make every pass a coaching staff could expect out of him (including 4-5 lobs), but ideally wouldn’t be asked to be the primary distributor of an elite offense.
A hungry player for defensive rebounds and closeouts, Flagg brings competitive fire. He lacks the end-range ability to be a true play-to-play switch option on speedy elite guards, but that’s the case with almost every 4 or 5 in the whole league, and teams won’t have to do much to protect Flagg in those situations. Very switchable on the whole 1-4, might even be able to challenge 5s for stretches. Agility testing at the combine isn’t everything, because sometimes technique, or lack thereof, on the drills can influence times. It’s still telling that Cooper Flagg, at that size, had a top-20 time in the shuttle run and top-10 time in the lane agility.
Fantastic at moving his feet with small steps and staying bouncy on his toes at all times. Let’s him react quickly to whatever’s in front of him. It’s a small detail, but it makes a great difference. A flat-footed, static defender is an advantage waiting to happen for offenses. You want your back line 4 to have a great motor and remain focused and ready to change direction. Mavs are walking in with the best defensive depth in the league at the 4s and 5s. Defends like a 4, scores like a wing, brings the best of both worlds.
Flagg is everything you’d want out of a modern 4 and a future team leader for a contender. Two-way superstar whose effort cannot be questioned on the court and set the tone for how he plays with teammates. The Mavs lucked into the number 1 pick in the right season. A Flagg-led team seems likely to have a higher sustained ceiling to me than a Luka-led team with the way the league is shifting to emphasized two-way team play, excellent shot selection, and pushing pace. The Mavs might have made the right call with trading Luka and been extremely fortunate it worked out this well, while also still bungling the actual trade (multiple firsts and Knecht were still available) and many of their other 2024-25 moves. Whatever the next era of Mavs basketball is, in the house that Dirk built, at least they have a guiding light (at power forward too no less) once again.
