- 8 minutes ago
Bobby Karalla joined the G-Bag Nation to break down the meteoric rise of Cooper Flagg and the complicated state of the Mavericks' front office. Karalla discussed Flagg's physical dominance, the ROTY race, upcoming NBA Draft lottery, and more.
Category
đŸ¥‡
SportsTranscript
00:00Bobby Cruella, All-City, joins you now here on The Fan, and a good afternoon, sir. How the heck are
00:04you?
00:05I am doing great. It is actually kind of a good time to be a Mavs fan right now, so
00:10maybe times are changing a little bit.
00:12Yeah, yeah. So what do you think of this Cooper flag thing? I mean, the conversation changed pretty good over
00:18the weekend, didn't it?
00:20Yeah, I mean, you know, after those two games, obviously they lost the first one when he scored 51,
00:25which is honestly better than the fact that they won the second game whenever he scored 45.
00:29But after those games, like, I found myself feeling kind of excited and kind of good again about basketball.
00:35And it's been a really long time since I felt that way. I mean, he is just, he's an unbelievable
00:40player, you know,
00:41and he was great two months ago. He was really good four months ago.
00:45But as this season has gone on, he has just continued to get better and better and better.
00:51But one thing that hasn't changed, you know, whether they've been, you know, winning some games early on,
00:55and losing a lot of games ever since then is, he is just a human battering ram.
01:00Like, he is so physically dominant already, despite barely being 19 years old.
01:05He's just big and strong and tough. And he's got will, he's going to put his head down
01:10and barrel his way into the lane and see if you can stop him.
01:13And there's just not many guys his size that can do that regularly for 30 minutes straight.
01:20You know, and he's going to get to the line a lot more. He's going to develop his jumper.
01:23But that thing that he already has is damn near unstoppable.
01:27And, I mean, I'm thinking, you know, he's already averaging 20 a game this year.
01:31He's been averaging about 23 a game ever since late November.
01:34We're looking at, if he develops his jump shot at all, you know,
01:38and is able to add some consistency there, he's a 25-30 point per game scorer.
01:43I mean, it is amazing how good he is already.
01:46Bobby, I don't have time for your feelings, but I'd like for you to tell me,
01:50who do you think is not telling us the truth?
01:53Kid or Cuban?
01:56Oh, man. I mean, can I say both, or is that a cop-out?
02:00Bobby, I don't have time for your feelings, and I need an answer.
02:04So, I think, I mean, hand to God, right?
02:08If I had to bet my life on something, I would say that Jason Kidd is partially telling the truth.
02:17I don't think that Jason Kidd would have, if you would have given J. Kidd all of the information,
02:23we're trading Luka today to the Lakers for Anthony Davis and all that stuff.
02:27I bet J. Kidd would have said, you should not do that.
02:31Yeah.
02:31But, I'm not entirely convinced that he was like, yeah, I'll coach Luka for the rest of his career.
02:37I think he's probably somewhere in between those two things.
02:40Does that absolve him of any of that?
02:42I don't know.
02:43That's up to you and to the fans and to everybody else.
02:46But, I do not believe that Jason Kidd was on board with the exact specific trade that was made
02:52at the exact specific time it was made.
02:55But, if it was, you know, that offseason or in an offseason to come, maybe the answer would have been
03:01different.
03:01But, all I can talk about is what actually happened.
03:04And, that's what I think happened based on what I've heard.
03:06But, I don't know if we're ever going to know the whole truth.
03:10When it comes to Jason Kidd, he got a lot of flack for his decision to put Cooper Flagg as
03:16the point guard early in the season.
03:18How much do you think that really has had a great impact on where he is now?
03:23Because, he seems so much more confident bringing the ball up the floor today.
03:29Honestly, I mean, he will say, Cooper will say, and has said many times that it has helped him.
03:35I don't really notice much of an improvement.
03:38You know, I think back to that game recently.
03:39They played the Warriors in Dallas a few weeks ago.
03:43And, he turned it over at one point in the fourth quarter three straight times bringing it up the floor.
03:49You know, Draymond Green was double-teaming.
03:50The Mavs were trying to set high screens for Coop to get him going downhill, you know, way up atop
03:55the arc.
03:55And, Draymond was just blitzing him.
03:57And, Coop literally turned it over three straight times.
03:59And, it was very frustrating for me to watch that because, you know, yes, one-on-one, he is much
04:05more comfortable handling the ball.
04:07But, you know, he hasn't faced pressure like that very often this season.
04:10And, for him to cough it up three times in a row, like, I felt like that was kind of
04:14leaving him hanging out to dry a little bit.
04:17What is he going to learn after the second mistake that he didn't already know, you know, after the first
04:21one?
04:21And, what is he going to learn after the third mistake?
04:23So, I think that sometimes they ask a little too much of him.
04:27You know, these last two games, he's been playing off the ball a lot.
04:30Now, granted, he's getting it in some ISO situations, sometimes on the wing, sometimes at the top of the key.
04:35And, you know, his handle is maybe a little tighter.
04:39I think that's going to be like a multi-year process for him, tightening that up a little bit, developing
04:43some counters, you know, getting a little more shifty, a little more decisive, and maybe turning his back to his
04:48defender a little less often.
04:50But, you know, in these two games against Orlando and against the Lakers, he was catching it on the move,
04:55coming off screens, you know, getting the ball where he's already moving downhill to where he doesn't have to make
05:01a decision.
05:02He doesn't have to break anybody down.
05:03Like, they just made it so much easier for him.
05:06And, you know, spinning that forward a little bit, once he's on the floor with Kyrie next year, well, Kyrie
05:11can handle all the pressure in the world.
05:13Like, he can dribble his way out of a quintuple team if you ask him to.
05:16And so, if Kyrie does that hard part and then gives it to Coop on the move, then, I mean,
05:21you're really cooking at that point.
05:23Because Kyrie is also a great shooter when the ball isn't in his hands.
05:26And that's something the Mavs really need.
05:28So, I think his return and then a little more development for Coop is going to make that a really
05:33smooth, dynamic pairing to watch, no matter who has the ball.
05:37But I'm just not totally sure that the point guard stuff at the beginning of the year was super beneficial.
05:42Granted, I could be wrong.
05:44You know, the thing that's been so impressive for Cooper Flagg to me is his ability to finish in what
05:49appears to be relative ease under pressure.
05:53Like, it's not bad defense that's allowing to get the scoring rampage that it's on.
05:58It's him scoring against good defense.
06:01Yeah, absolutely.
06:02I mean, he is.
06:03He's not.
06:04It's not like he's just blowing by guys and getting a bunch of open layups.
06:08I mean, he's driving into traffic.
06:09And in the Mavs, you know, there was this graph that someone posted earlier today.
06:13And the Mavs have the worst wide-open three-point shooting percentage in the league.
06:18Like, they're below 35% on wide-open threes.
06:21These teams are just leaving these guys open so that they can load up on the paint, in part to
06:26stop Coop,
06:27and also in part because why would you guard a guy that's a bad shooter?
06:30It just doesn't make any sense.
06:31And so, you know, Coop is arguably scoring in traffic more often than guys like Luka, Giannis, you know,
06:37the guys that you really do want to gear up and stop just because he doesn't have a lot of
06:41help from his teammates,
06:42you know, in the form of three-point shooting.
06:43So if the Mavs can add some more of that, it's going to make his life a whole lot easier
06:48next year.
06:49But in the meantime, you know, the thing that's really impressed me about him so far is that he's been
06:55great finishing around the rim almost in clumsy ways.
06:58Like, once he gets a little stronger and once he gets a little more decisive and a little more explosive,
07:04these kind of off-balance running floaters where he's having to kind of fade to his left and throw it
07:09off the glass,
07:10he's really good at that shot.
07:12But a dunk is easier than that.
07:14You know, and I think he's going to turn some of those difficult seven-foot floaters into much easier two
07:21- or three-foot layups.
07:22But he's already really good at those two.
07:25You know, it's almost to the point now where if he gets both feet in the paint at any point
07:29during a possession,
07:30I feel pretty confident that he's going to score.
07:32And again, the list of guys that make you feel that way in this league,
07:37it's like maybe 10 or 15 players.
07:39You know, and Koop is already one of them.
07:40So are you snuggling up to the generational idea, the Hall of Fame talent?
07:47I mean, there's so many Wilt and Jordan statistical comparisons here.
07:51It's hard to make a leap from, wow, we think he's probably going to be Rookie of the Year
07:55and have a really nice career, and the Mavs have lucked out here,
07:58to, wow, could we be in for a GOAT candidate conversation?
08:02Man, see, I'm so anxious to take a stand one way or the other.
08:07I mean, I've been kind of playing it safe all year thinking, like,
08:11yes, I think he can score 30 or 35 in a game if he's got a good matchup and if
08:16you really need him to.
08:17But over the course of the season, I really like the idea of him playing with a guy that is
08:21also going to score 25
08:22so that he doesn't have to every single night.
08:25That if he wants to go off for 27 or 31 or whatever, that's great.
08:30But also, give me some rebounding, give me some transition, give me some defense,
08:33you know, get some big blocks, big steals, like save some of your energy for the defensive end.
08:39But, I mean, these last couple games, like how could you not get carried away
08:43and think that he is going to be the next one?
08:45I mean, he's the only, zero players in the league this year have averaged 23 points,
08:50six boards, five assists, one block, one steal.
08:54Zero players in the league.
08:56Coop is averaging that since late November.
08:58So, like, for almost four months now, basically four and a half months,
09:01he is averaging a stat line that no one else in the league is doing.
09:05I mean, he affects the game literally in every single way imaginable.
09:08And he's still barely, I don't even think he's been to every arena yet.
09:12Like, he is that good and that far ahead.
09:15And so, I mean, I don't know what a ceiling is.
09:18I don't think I want him to have to score 35 for the team to win.
09:23But, I mean, he's so physically dominant that he might score 35
09:27without even having to try it that hard.
09:28Like, I really don't know what a ceiling is.
09:31You know, and then to that point, I'd love to know what you think
09:35their approach will be with him tonight on a historic type of scoring spree.
09:39Do you feed him?
09:40I did not think that he was being fed Friday night early.
09:44A lot of that happened in the third and fourth quarter
09:46as he just got hot and kind of ran away with it
09:48and was scorching by the end.
09:50And then maybe we saw him set up a little bit more on Sunday.
09:55What do you think the approach is tonight for this Clippers game?
09:58Why not?
09:58Why not see if he can do it again?
10:01Yeah, I think they're going to feed him.
10:03You know, I think they're going to feed him basically every game.
10:05I mean, you can make the case that beating the Lakers the other night
10:08was actually really bad for the draft chances.
10:10So, like, maybe he shouldn't play any more games.
10:12Shut him down.
10:13That's what I'm saying.
10:14Yeah, I mean, they got to feed him.
10:16If he's going to play, I'm literally just chase stats, dude.
10:20Just go out and try and score 40 as many times as you can.
10:22But here's the thing.
10:24Tonight, they're going up against Kawhi and Derek Jones.
10:27Like, that is tough.
10:28You know, that's a really tough duo for him to break down.
10:30And then tomorrow night, assuming he plays,
10:33I know he's been kind of in and out of the lineup lately,
10:35it's Dylan Brooks.
10:36Like, these are some really, really, really tough wing defenders
10:39he's going up against.
10:40And so, it's one thing to bully the Lakers.
10:43I mean, you know, they're really going through it right now.
10:45If he can have even 30 or 35 against Kawhi,
10:49like, that is going to raise a ton of eyebrows.
10:52And if he can do the same thing tomorrow against Phoenix,
10:54and, you know, Phoenix has a lot of rangy younger guys, too,
10:57you know, on the defensive side,
10:59he can really, I think he can win the award
11:01if he has a couple more good games against these two teams.
11:04How big of a deal is the difference between 6 and 8 in the lottery?
11:09To me, it's huge.
11:10Because, you know, you only have a marginally better chance
11:14at getting the number one pick.
11:15It's only like a 1.5% difference.
11:18It's like a 6 or 7% difference to move into the top four.
11:21And most importantly, if no one in that bunch jumps up,
11:27the Mavs are still picking behind two teams that are in their conference.
11:31Granted, New Orleans' pick is going to go to Atlanta, most likely,
11:33or either Atlanta or Milwaukee.
11:35But Memphis has two picks in the lottery right now.
11:39And Memphis is one of the teams that the Mavs should absolutely be better than
11:43next year and for the years to come.
11:45If Memphis is able to get lucky and move up,
11:48that suddenly turns them into a bit of a problem for you for the next few years.
11:52And the same could be said for the Jazz,
11:53who the Mavs almost passed in the tank standings a few weeks ago
11:57before they rattled off a couple wins in a row.
11:59And the Jazz are looking like they could be pretty nasty next year
12:02once they get all those guys healthy and playing.
12:03So, you know, I think it's not devastating to lose a 1% chance
12:08at the number one pick, but it is pretty rough
12:12to win a couple pretty meaningless games, you know,
12:15to put it a little harshly, whenever I look around and see,
12:18okay, these teams at the Mavs have to leapfrog next year.
12:21The Clippers have a 50% chance to get, like, the number four,
12:24number five pick in this draft.
12:25Like, it is pretty dangerous if these teams get lucky and the Mavs don't.
12:29And so that's why if it were me,
12:31I would have lost every single game since January 1st.
12:34I'm being extreme about it, but that's what you need to do.
12:37That's what Utah's done, and, you know,
12:39that's how it has to be, unfortunately.
12:41I like your style.
12:42What are you and your buddies at DLS hearing about this GM search?
12:47That is a tough one because, you know, Mark Stein is probably,
12:51for my money, the preeminent guy, or, you know,
12:54if not number one, then he's number two reporting on the Mavs.
12:57And he has said that the Mavs are waiting until after the season
13:00to do a real search.
13:02But Rick Welts recently had a lunch with media,
13:05and I was lucky, you know, fortunate enough to be able to be there.
13:07And he said that the Mavs want to hire this person before the draft.
13:12So if you're waiting until after the season ends,
13:14but you hope to wrap it up before the draft,
13:17that's what, a month and a half?
13:19You know, to do a wide-ranging search,
13:22including guys that are like Brad Stevens, Sam Presti.
13:25These teams are probably going to be playing in the finals.
13:27So I don't know.
13:28I mean, I've heard that they really do think they have a shot
13:32at some of these top guys.
13:35But I've heard all sorts of wacky stories over the years
13:37that haven't turned out to be true.
13:38So I don't know.
13:40I would be, what I can say pretty confidently,
13:42that I would be surprised, very surprised,
13:45if they hired a president of basketball operations
13:47that was already working on the staff.
13:49I think it will be an external hire.
13:51What I don't know is if they will, you know,
13:54a lot of teams do this now.
13:55They have their president of B-Ball Ops,
13:56and then they have a general manager working beneath them
13:59that kind of handles some of the more day-to-day logistical things.
14:02The president of B-Ball Ops is like the big idea person.
14:04You know, so maybe they hire someone from outside the org
14:07for that job,
14:09and then they promote one of Michael Finley or Matt Riccardi
14:12or hire somebody else to be the GM.
14:15So I would just be shocked if the lead shot caller
14:18was one of those two guys,
14:19even if I think they're pretty deserving of that opportunity
14:22at this point in their careers.
14:24Love it, Bobby.
14:25Enjoy the rest of the season.
14:26Thanks for the insights, as always,
14:28and we'll try to catch up with you soon.
14:30Thank you, guys.
14:31I appreciate you.
14:31You got it.
14:32Bobby Corrella, All-City Mavs here with you
14:34in the GBAC Nation.
Comments