This should be our only tanking season — we won’t control our draft picks moving forward so no incentive to lose!

No doubt Cooper is good enough to start building a contender asap.

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Kingston Fleming would be perfect next to Coop. Probably go top 5 though so would have to move up in the draft.

Mavs bout to trade cooper flagg for AD and one first round pick that will turn out to be the #1 pick for that draft

I would choose both. Let them get their first ring together in 2028. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Next superteam is going to be Kai, Luka, Flagg, 2026 FRP, and D-Live with Naji, Christie, PJail and the corpse of Klay Thompson off the bench!

Will be interesting to see how it scales as the team improves and whether the team starts winning the way it did with Luka.

Yes Luka is a bad defender - but the Mavs still made multiple deep playoff runs with him doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Hopeful Cooper can do the same - but thats far from a given. Think its pretty premature to be doing the “would you take him over Luka” conversations when hes been putting up stats on a team with no prospects of playoffs and without any other (significant) talent around him

It will come down to defensive value (which Coop has), vs Luka’s all world playmaking and half court mastery. I think Coop will develop his ball handling and playmaking, but he will never be the all world ball handler and playmaker Luka is. I also think Luka’s ability to dominate and manipulate half court defenses as lead ball handler, he is basically 1 of 1 at, and no one else really compares to, and it doesn’t necessarily show up in the stats. But it’s maybe the most valuable commodity in the playoffs which we’ve seen when he’s taken the Mavs on deep runs with rosters full of mostly garbage.

I think it’s evident now Coop will enter that vicinity in terms of MVP candidate in his prime which many questioned coming out of college, but there are still many questions about how exactly he develops in each area of his game, as the small nuances will make a difference in a comparison like this. Luka for example, even though it was clear he was gonna be a bonafide superstar after his rookie year, still developed things in his game he didn’t initially have, like his mid range and his 3pt shooting.

We expect Coop to develop his ball handling, passing and 3pt shooting, but how much he develops it will determine the answer.

I would point out that those player you chose are among the best pure offensive talents in the league this season. A bit optimistic to just assume Cooper gets there in a couple seasons. Teams will adjust and he’ll need to adjust in kind

Cooper is generational

Cooper might be a better fundamental basketball player at that age but he does not and never will have the physical abilities LeBron had. Physically, LeBron is one of the most impressive humans to ever exist

Even Wemby, I realize his physical stature is unreal, but that attitude is something Flagg already has that Wemby is currently developing himself.

Wemby’s work-ethic and competitiveness are the stuff of legends, to be clear. Both Harrison Barnes and Lou Williams said his level of focus and discipline are among the best they’ve ever seen. Williams even called him the most impressive teenager he’s ever met. Tyrese Maxey mentioned that he trained with Wemby and Wemby just wanted to play defense against him. When the Spurs practice, he’s forced to guard five players on one end, sprint to the other side, and guard five other players. Over and over again.

I don’t think he has anything to learn from Flagg, in terms of attitude and mental toughness

And he just turned 19 two months ago

Mavs received plenty of hate after they got reverse karma gifted Cooper Flag despite doing the worst trade deal in nba history

And fans would still be like ‘we’re just a really well run organisation’

I wouldn’t call Dylan Harper a spawn of satan lol but I get your point

Respectfully, Dylan Harper is not on the same level as these other two guys.

The Mavs fans were the victims though. This happening was probably conflicted karma from the gods, because I don’t think there’s possibly ever been an NBA fanbase as depressed as Mavs fans post trade. All the bad karma needed to be geared purely towards the devil in disguise Nico Harrison.

Coop did hit the wall but Kidd had him touch it, rub it, and hold it

He did have a slow start

Coop hit the rookie escalator

DarkGOAT

Eh i think dc deserved cooper more lol. Look what they have to deal with.

you guys got wemby and then i thought we were gonna compete for two decades

then we traded luka

then we got white jesus and now we get to beat each other up for 20 more years - im so happy 😭. if we didn’t have cooper i probably wouldn’t watch the nba any more because of nico

Granted, that IS Wemby’s defense in effect. Cooper just made some tough shots and you gotta tip your cap

He’s basically Luka, but replace the ball handling and playmaking with defense and athleticism.

Type shit Kerr said with kuminga, thankfully coop is mucho better

you can’t be a superstar and drive play unless you have the ability to play as a PG in today’s game. He was always going to need those reps

Yeah,you got a lot of young players playing wing then becoming midfielders, forward to wingers… Interestingly Flagg was a good striker when he used to play soccer(cool to see American nba players playing and liking soccer) and played as a quarterback too so maybe his real talent is being good at learning athletic skills ,the PG experiment was perfect for him.

You can’t do that in the premier league when every game matters and not competing for european spots is damaging for top clubs.

This is only possible in the NBA where teams are incentivize to lose

that’s why Mourinho doesn’t play youth players. doesn’t care if young players can’t develop under him.

I always liked his outlook on that.

“You pay for the education of young players with points. If I play a 20-year old centre back, I know he’ll cost me points during the season & I have to stand up for that. A less talented 28 year old would cost me less points. However, by ²³⁄₂₄ you have a player.”

I’ve been really critical of Kidd but not when it comes to giving the ball to Coop as much as possible.

He is actually good bringing the ball up and being the initiator as long as there’s another PG on the floor. The issue was him being the only possible initiator

The people that doubted him offensively simply weren’t knowledgeable about him. He averaged nearly 20 in high school with 4 other 5 star top 15 recruits also putting up shots. He was prolific at Duke while being a ¹⁷⁄₁₈ year old, broke the EYBL scoring record with 52 points, and was averaging nearly a 25 point quadruple double in said EYBL dragging a bunch of his friends from Maine to the finals

That is such a myth. His offense was great all along, it just didn’t generate the stories of legend that his defense did.

true but he still kinda looks like he doesntt trust his shoot, he always hesitate, could be way better for sure even you are right, percentage is good

He’s an 80% FT shooter. The 3 pct will come, not worried at all

Nah MVP race is so stacked rn you gotta be averaging like 33 across the whole season on good efficiency to even have a shout. Also be on a winning team

It’s loaded at the top. Just ask Wemby

Jokic isn’t getting 3 more rings and even if he did defense still matters for GOAT. There’s also the longevity, Jokic didn’t make his first all star appearance until he was 23. Cooper has the chance to join LeBron making his first all star team and all nba team in his age 20 season. I think Jokic will probably finish top 10 all time but he won’t be close to LeBron or Jordan

Sadly I don’t think Wemby will play enough. He hasn’t made all nba or all defense yet and is very very close to missing it again this year.

coop more likely to remain healthy

I think bigs get a built in natural advantage in a lot of advanced metrics over wings and guards just by virtue of their position, which has an effect. Also think it’s easier to stand out as a very talented big, compared to very talented wing players, as theres a lot fewer of the former.

they are big men, kinda separate role wise, coop is white bron​