Inexorably, Cooper Flagg’s rookie education blurs onward.
He’s played 10 games. He’s had electrifying moments. He’s endured hard knocks, the expected and unanticipated kinds.
All things considered, including the 3-7 Dallas Mavericks’ injury and offensive woes, 18-year-old Flagg’s progress report merits a solid B.
No doubt some fans regard Flagg’s modest averages – 13.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists – with some disappointment. But the most fair way to evaluate Flagg’s play is to look within the numbers, with nuance.
Mavericks
“I think it’s just trying to impact the game,” Flagg said. “That’s all Coach really wants me to do, just be myself out there and impact the game in a lot of different ways.”
Coach, of course, is Jason Kidd. Coach Kidd views every game as a learning opportunity for the Mavericks’ No. 1 overall pick, and in Kidd’s opinion, Flagg is passing exams and pop quizzes alike.
Saturday night’s win at Washington was the first road-road back-to-back in Flagg’s young career. He responded to the Mavericks’ lopsided loss in Memphis and 4 a.m. arrival to their Washington, D.C. hotel with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The night in Capital One Arena also served to remind Flagg that as difficult as this Mavericks’ start has been, he could have had it worse: Washington, now 1-9, had a 14% chance of drawing the No. 1 pick in the lottery, but it was Dallas at 1.8% that prevailed.
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See? There are silver linings if Flagg looks hard enough. The same goes for Monday night’s home game against Milwaukee, when Flagg on occasion will find himself matched against two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Daunting though that challenge is, Flagg can take note of Antetokounmpo’s early-career arc. After averaging 6.8 points and 4.4 rebounds as a rookie in 2013-14, Antetokounmpo the following season found himself having to adjust to a new coach who had an audacious plan for 20-year-old Giannis.
Kidd put the ball in his talented young Buck’s hands as much as possible, in much the same way Kidd has done with Flagg this season. Certainly, 6-11, 242-pound Antetokounmpo is bigger and a superior athlete to 6-9, 205-pound Flagg, but Kidd’s philosophy for coaching both young talents is similar.
Take, for example, Kidd’s outlook about Flagg’s turnover average (2.3).
“I think we’re going to live with the turnovers because the intent is right,” Kidd said. “And so we talk about trying to make a play for a teammate. He is trying to do that at a high level at the age of 18, and so we’re fine with the turnovers.
“We believe the process that he’s going through is only going to make him better as time goes forward.”
During the 3.5 seasons Kidd coached Antetokounmpo, his turnover average rose to 3.0 per game, but his scoring average climbed to 12.7, then 16.9, then 22.9, then 26.9. The year after Kidd got fired in midseason, Antetokounmpo won his first MVP award.
Kidd also remembers what it was like as a young NBA player, going to a losing Mavericks organization as the No. 2 overall pick in 1993, after taking Cal to two NCAA Tournaments. Last week, Flagg mentioned that the Mavericks had lost more games than his NCAA championship finalist Duke (35-4) team did last season.
“I think you learn really fast when you play 82 games with the best players in the world,” Kidd said. “It’s not high school. And it’s not college. And so you’re going to lose more than four games. But they’re all lessons to be learned.
“That doesn’t keep you from becoming a champion or one of the best players in the world. So you have to adjust and understand that you’re going to lose, but you learn from losing each time you take the floor.”
Flagg and the Mavericks did not envision losses becoming such a regular part of his lessons. Dallas is a veteran-laden team that regarded itself as a Western Conference contender to start the season, but big men Anthony Davis and Daniel Gafford have only played five games apiece; Dereck Lively II has only played three games.
The presence of those players, and later this season Kyrie Irving when he returns from ACL surgery, was supposed to take pressure off Flagg this season. Instead, through 10 games he’s often found himself guarded by opponents’ best or second-best defender.
The Mavericks are hopeful of returning to full strength in the interior during this week’s four-game homestand. Davis (left calf strain) and Gafford (right ankle sprain) are listed as questionable to face the Bucks, while Lively (right knee sprain) is doubtful.
Kidd noted that when Davis is in the lineup he’ll draw the top interior defender. When Irving returns, he’ll get opponents’ best perimeter defender.
But so far, Flagg has faced a mixture of defenders who are bigger and stronger than he is; or rugged wings that are quicker than he is.
“That will make it all the better as time goes on, when those two [Davis and Irving] are back and being able to play with those two again, it will be a lot easier for him to do the things that we all know he can do,” Kidd said.
“But that being said, he still is able to score against some of the best defenders in this league.”
Without the Mavericks being at full strength, the hard knocks are more painful, but wins are all the more gratifying. The latter was the case Saturday at Washington, when the Mavericks broke a four-game losing streak and Flagg, as Kidd put it, “took over the game” during a stretch of the fourth quarter.
Flagg also played with more physicality than perhaps any previous game. He said playing alongside Naji Marshall (30 points) and P.J. Washington (14 points, nine rebounds) was a lesson in itself.
“Two dynamic wings that use their bodies so well, getting into the rim and using that physicality,” Flagg said. “I’ve just learned so much from them already in those areas.”
Young Flagg quickly is earning veteran teammates’ respect. In the first quarter Saturday, Marshall hit Flagg with an outlet pass that resulted in Flagg knifing through defenders in the open court for a highlight dunk.
“Unbelievable,” Marshall said of Flagg. “Big. High frame. Can finish. Strong. And he’s got a lot of bounce, so him in the open court is scary. So the more we can get him in the open court for plays like that, the better our chances of winning the game.”
Statistics don’t yet reflect Flagg’s abilities, especially shooting, where he’s 40% from the field and 27% from 3-point range.
But take it from the only NBA coach whose team has faced Flagg twice this season: The kid’s rookie education will reap rewards sooner than later.
“Obviously a great player,” Washington’s Brian Keefe said. “I just love his energy and how he plays. His competitiveness. His unselfishness. And how he passes.
“Obviously, everybody can see the shot blocking and pushing the ball in transition. He plays a winning style of basketball. I have great respect for his game.”
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