Duke NBA Draft Update

Lots of good tidbits here

Now that the draft lottery is over (and no, it was not fixed because that would end in federal charges including fraud and possibly RICO violations), we can start to get an idea of what’s going to happen.

Obviously Cooper Flagg is going to be the first pick, whether it’s Dallas or someone who trades for the rights. We could see Milwaukee offering an unhappy Giannis along with a boatload of goodies, but San Antonio is in a better situation to pull off a big deal and Dallas has apparently said they’ll be keeping the pick and therefore Flagg.

Not everyone is sold on Flagg, however. Jason Whitlock, who has moved from sportswriting into more political commentary, still talks sports at times and about Flagg, he said this: “I know he had a good freshman year, he’s a national player of the year. But college basketball’s so watered down. I’m just not sure if he’s ‘can’t miss.’”

He also said this on X: Cooper Flagg is really talented. I just don’t see the “can’t miss” prospect value that many believe he possesses. What skills does he have that are elite? What does he do really well?

As Duke fans know, he does a lot of things very well, but his greatest talent may be that he finds what his team needs to win and does it.

We think Whitlock is wrong, however, some guys do look like can’t-miss and in fact do and other than someone like a young LeBron James, we just have to wait and see.

Two minor Flagg stories: first, someone asked him who he thought the most underrated NBA player was and second, he made a nice post about his Duke teammate Khaman Maluach.

This is not a minor story, not really: Flagg is hitting the memorabilia market in a major way.

Speaking of Maluach, he has gone from a fringe first-round pick to a highly likely lottery pick. He could always fall - people always do - but things are looking good for Maluach. Jonathon Givony thinks he could be a Top Five pick, or possibly taken by the New Orleans Pelicans with the seventh pick.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks, with input from former Blue Devils Quin Snyder and Grant Hill, have interviewed Kon Knueppel at the NBA Draft Combine. He was also interviewed by (at least) the Chicago Bulls, the Charlotte Hornets, the Brooklyn Nets and the Orlando Magic. Although as noted some guys fall, we expect Knueppel will be gone well before Atlanta picks at #13.

There’s not a whole lot of news about Tyrese Proctor, but he has made one crucial decision.

Finally, here’s a good story about Sion James and his odds of being drafted.