The Dream: Cooper Flagg, Toronto Raptor
The chances are slim, but they do exist. The Raptors finished their season with the 7th worst record in the NBA, and have a 7.5% chance at the #1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft. I’ve watched film on a handful of prospects to this point, and I am of the mind that Cooper Flagg is the deserving and runaway best prospect in his class.
Flagg has officially declared for the 2025 Draft, so on the off chance that Flagg ends up as a Raptor? Let’s learn about his game.
There’s some teambuilding questions that have to be asked if the Raptors get the #1 pick — including both the styles of play, the positional logjam, but also the tax implications of a #1 pick’s salary — but we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.
So, the broad strokes are that Flagg is a jumbo forward who can be a buffer at the point of attack defensively against a healthy amount of players, and he can also sweep the backline as a secondary rim protector and blow up actions while off-ball. He elevated and improved his jump shot quicker than most expected, and he is a bit of a do-it-all offensive player who plays direct when on-ball (not too much catch and hold stuff) and is completely willing to use his frame and athleticism to make plays off ball as a cutter and screener.
Flagg isn’t exactly as flashy as some top prospects we’ve seen in the past, but his game is all killer, no filler.
Awards:
- National college player of the year (2025)
- Consensus first-team All-American (2025)
- Lute Olson Award (2025)
- Julius Erving Award (2025)
- Wayman Tisdale Award (2025)
- NABC Freshman of the Year (2025)
- ACC Player of the Year (2025)
- First-team All-ACC (2025)
- ACC Rookie of the Year (2025)
- ACC All-Defensive team (2025)
- ACC All-Freshman Team (2025)
Stats:
19.2ppg / 7.5rbs / 4.2asts / 1.4stls / 1.4blks / 48/38/84 shooting splits / 59.3% TS
Advanced (if you like them): 30.4 PER / 8.4 Win Shares / 16.3 BPM
If you prefer audio/video analysis, I did 30 minutes on Flagg back in February.
Let’s start off by talking about the shooting. The 38-percent he shot from downtown is better than many expected to see from him as he headed into his first collegiate season, and even more than that, Flagg was able to introduce a lot of different types of jumpers that weren’t just of the catch-and-shoot variety. He’s perfectly capable of forming up as a spacer and hitting open looks, and while he didn’t succeed often as a pull-up 3-point shooter, his willingness to continue getting pull-up reps in, helped him navigate the middle of the floor and cramped spacing.
The middy, the touch shots, they’re a huge deal for Flagg, because he’s a two-foot jumper, so when he’s driving the basketball and feels resistance from his defender, he often plants off of two and settles into the short middy area. As the heat turned up in the tournament, he went to these shots more often as they faced better defenses and his team looked to him for more creation. With his size, his jump stop in the lane opens up a lot of possibility as a playmaker and a scorer going forward – provided that he gets more and more comfortable with the physicality and claustrophobic aspect of the paint.
There’s quite a bit of potential for how Flagg can continue to improve and create looks for himself and others off the bounce. As pointed out by professional scout Josh Codinera, there are similarities in how Flagg operates in the middle of the floor (using his mid-range pull as the go-to option there) to Brandon Ingram.
What Flagg is very naturally gifted at, currently, is the garbage-manning stuff. The Raptors currently have an All-Star who is far more impactful as a cutter, filler, putback machine, and his name is Scottie Barnes. Both Flagg and Barnes have spent the last season (at different levels, and with different efficacy) trying to elevate the more limited parts of their offensive game. Flagg is absolutely tremendous catching on the move towards the cup, be it as a roller or as a cutter. He can pressure the offensive glass to create extra possessions or putbacks. Without having any plays run for him, he can find the game flow and score the ball.
It might sound a little too Raptors-y to highlight the similarities in style between Flagg, and both Ingram & Barnes, but it really helps highlight the floor and ceiling of his offensive game. Any team that drafts him will have a lot to build off of in how they incorporate him into an offense.
Defensively, Flagg is the man. He is really, really special.
Not only is Flagg very naturally gifted with size and relatively great mobility and athleticism at that size (or any size, for that matter), but he’s exceptional at making reads on defense, and he is more active on that end than most players ever will be. He never shies away from an on-ball assignment, and will pre-switch into those actions constantly to protect weaker defenders.
Duke would use Flagg similar to how a night club uses a bouncer, posting him at the entryway, and having him buffer people away repeatedly. What does that look like on a college basketball court? Well, Flagg basically switches everything at the top of the defense for long periods of time. If teams try to turn the corner with Flagg one pass away, boom, he’s lurking in the gap. If you screen him specifically and try to turn the corner, he ducks under and meets you on the other side. If you try to pull over the top of the screen, he stab steps, and lunges back out with his absurd wingspan to provide a good contest. He is athletic, yes, but he already understands the angles quite well to let his length do the work defensively. He absorbs players repeatedly and forces heaps of resets.
Now, that’s just at the top of the defense. Flagg is a terror, a true terror at the bottom. His size, length, and awareness allow him to be extremely disruptive. On a smaller college court, his range was virtually limitless as he ate up gobs of space. It should still be extremely impressive on the larger NBA floor. Whether he’s the low man, who gets to time up players for sweeping back-line rotations to block and alter shots; or, if he’s the big wing-bastard showing up repeatedly in the gaps and jumping all over your pass attempt back out to the wing – he is present.
You do not come by 2.8 stocks per game easily, and it’s even harder to do when you aren’t a risk-heavy defender constantly taking chances. Flagg allows a defense to exhibit control, but he’s also capable of overwhelming players and providing defensive playmaking within that control. He’s also extremely vocal on defense, and quarterbacked the Duke system for long stretches at a time.
Flagg is probaby going to be good enough defensively to do all 3 of these things:
- Take the most difficult wing matchup across from him for years.
- Provide impactful back-line defense that matches some centers in impact.
- Completely dismantle offenses as an off-ball roamer, if the other team doesn’t have a scoring wing to occupy him.
The future of the Defensive Player of the Year award belongs to a healthy Victor Wembanyama, almost assuredly. However, Flagg will likely provide a similar level of impact to winners of the past in multiple seasons. He is a whale of a defender. He also helps out on the glass, because of course he does.
He is the home run, utterly resounding number one prospect.
I hope he ends up as a Raptor.
Have a blessed day.
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