ESPN’s ratings for Cooper Flagg’s Dallas Mavericks debut were stellar.
Flagg wasn’t.
In an 87–85 win over Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers, the 18-year-old Duke product finished with 10 points on 5-of-21 shooting. He went 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, but also chipped in six rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block in 32.
“Uneven” might be the fairest way to describe it.
That’s the word Jason McIntyre used while filling in for Colin Cowherd on The Herd Friday. But even if Flagg’s performance was nothing to write home about, McIntyre also made it clear that anyone panicking over Flagg’s debut was missing the point.
“Now, I know everybody wants to draw dramatic, sweeping conclusions from a Summer League game in Vegas,” McIntyre began. “I’m just going to warn you: don’t do that. The 18-year-old Cooper Flagg had an uneven game. Listen, this is what happens. Remember, [Victor] Wembanyama last year came out in his first Summer League game and was kind of awful…He’s going to be fine. That was two years ago. But Cooper Flagg last night shoots 5-of-21 (0-for-5 on 3s) and all I hear is, ‘Well, I don’t know. His shot doesn’t look good, Jay. I don’t know — where is he elite?’ I’m like, guys, we saw him for a full season at Duke. He’s elite everywhere.
“I just thought the overreaction to Cooper Flagg’s shooting last night was goofy. Let me tell you what he does well. The guy’s a winning basketball player. Should I mention that with 70 seconds left, he makes the game-saving block on a layup attempt by a Laker guard? Just swats it out of thin air. And then guess what happens? He comes down on the fast-break and Cooper Flagg makes the game-winning assist to a young [Ryan] Nembhard — boy, did that kid look good — and the Mavs pull out the win over the Lakers.”
McIntyre wasn’t making excuses for the shooting line. He just wasn’t buying the rush to judge. One clunky night in Vegas doesn’t undo what we already know about Cooper Flagg. And when people start asking what he’s “elite” at, McIntyre thinks they’re asking the wrong question.
“And somewhere along the line in the NBA, mostly, we got to this if you’re a jack of all trades, but master of none, ‘I don’t know. It’s just — what are you elite at?’ Let me ask you guys, when Nikola Jokić came into the NBA at 20, what was he elite at?” McIntyre asked. “Anyone? Anyone? What about Giannis [Antetokounmpo]? He gets into the NBA at 19. This spindly young fellow from Greece. ‘What is Giannis elite at, Jay?’ Sorry, length. That’s not an elite trait. That’s not a skill that carries over. Giannis came into the league, he wasn’t elite at anything.
“Cooper Flagg comes in more advanced than those guys as an 18-year-old. Remember, a month ago, he should’ve graduated from high school. That’s when you usually graduate from high school… He completed a season at Duke, was utterly dominant, and now is in the NBA Summer League at 18 and a half. He doesn’t turn 19 until later this year. That’s crazy. And all of these people who are like, ‘Jason, he shot 5-of-21. Look at the form of his shot.’ Guys, take a timeout. Take a deep breath. He played 32 minutes last night. This guy’s been working for the last decade to get to this moment as a young guy, of course, he had butterflies.”
“He’s going to be fine,” McIntyre continued. “I just think the overreaction and the whole, ‘He’s going to be Andrei Kirilenko,’ can we stop with that nonsense? It’s just goofy. People forget when it comes to the draft, it’s not about what you are. It’s about what you can be. I’ve tried to hammer this home in the NFL. I’ve tried to hammer this home in the NBA. Nobody cares about what V.J. Edgecombe is as a rookie in Philly. He’s drafted super high because what’s he going to be in three, four, five years?”
McIntyre wasn’t dismissing the performance. He just wasn’t interested in pretending it meant more than it did.
One rough shooting night in Vegas doesn’t change the long-term view. Not for a guy who, in McIntyre’s eyes, projects something closer to a young Kevin Garnett.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.