More NBA Thoughts/Expectations About Cooper Flagg’s Potential

Check out Avery Johnson

We’ve been tracking the reactions to and opinions about Cooper Flagg’s NBA potential and there is a pretty clear pattern with most of the skeptics being from the media and most of the support coming from people who have played, or still play, in the NBA.

Here are a few more, starting with Avery Johnson, who says something amazing: he says he’d take Flagg over Luka Doncic.

New teammate PJ Washington is pretty impressed too: “He can pretty much do everything at an elite level. At his age, that’s what separates him. He has great length, he’s tall, and he can play both ends of the floor—obviously what you want. I just think he’s a generational player.”

Finally, Gilbert Arenas, who has never been particularly impressed with Duke, not least of all after not making a Coach K-coached team, says this: “He gets to build and learn with his mistakes without being crucified because the winning is gonna shut everybody down. So, they win 50-something games, nobody’s gonna say anything about him… they’re gonna blame AD (if the Mavs turn out to be a bad team). Right now, AD is the Number 1 focal point, so whatever Cooper Flagg adds to it helps AD, but it also helps himself too,” Arenas said on his show.

“Now, if he averages 20 and 10 because no one’s focusing on him, you’re talking about Tim Duncan when he went to the Spurs. Everybody is like, ‘Hey, this motherf—er is whoo.’ By the time he’s gonna be by himself, he’s already established his confidence.”

That’s interesting because typically Arenas demeans Duke and Krzyzewski whenever he gets a chance. He doesn’t do that here, presumably because he thinks Flagg is going to be pretty good.

And that’s significant because Arenas really doesn’t like Duke, as in not one bit. But he has to accept Flagg is a high-level player. And that, y’all, says as much about Flagg as anyone.

Well, what Johnson said is more dramatic. But still, getting Arenas off of his Duke hating is pretty impressive.