00:00Chuck Cooperstein on Sean, RJ, and Bobby. Good morning, Chuck. How are you?
00:05Fellas, how are you?
00:06Doing well. Not going to ask you the low-hanging first-take-fruit question.
00:12I'm going to alter it a little bit because I think it was Jeff Teague or someone else who was
00:16saying,
00:17look, Luke is great, magnificent, Hall of Fame, all that MVP,
00:20but Cooper could have a more exciting game than him in terms of his style of play and what he
00:27does on both ends.
00:28Is that a fair conversation?
00:32Yeah, I mean, I think it's kind of apples and oranges just because Luka is so dominant on the offensive
00:41end.
00:42And, you know, like last night against Portland, and certainly Sunday against Utah, he made it look ridiculously easy.
00:49But where Flag can affect the game in different ways, not just with his scoring, mostly on drives,
00:57not really a great shooter yet, but his ability to just play off of people.
01:05Eric Spolster was talking about this before the game on Monday.
01:09He's saying, you know, he is unique for a 19-year-old for his ability to see the game in
01:16such a mature way.
01:17And thinking that Eric Spolster is going to be coaching Team USA in the Olympics in 2028,
01:25and then he watches Cooper do this, I'm thinking, you know, Cooper's pretty much an Olympian right now.
01:32Where are you right now? Are you out for the morning walk? What's going on?
01:35Wait, golf? What are you doing?
01:36No, no golf. I have a 40-pound dog.
01:41I have a dog on command. It's like hitting a damn drop button. It's like hitting a drop.
01:48She understands. She's very smart.
01:50That was very good. Early observations of Dusty May so far in terms of rotations, style of play, temperament, interviews.
02:00Dusty May after his first week.
02:03I think he's been terrific. You know, like we were talking about last week, because college basketball and certainly his
02:11team last year
02:12was as close to a pro team as you were going to find without being in the NBA,
02:17that the adjustment for him was not going to be as severe as it might have been for some others.
02:24And, you know, as he says, the only thing that is really different for him is the fact that the
02:29game is so long,
02:31that it's a 48-minute game versus the 40-minute game, and everything that can happen in those extra eight
02:36minutes.
02:37As far as, you know, drawing up plays, I mean, goodness, you know, we saw, you know, plays even that
02:44he ran in preseason
02:45at the end of the New Orleans game that got a wide-open three.
02:49Guy kicked out and wound up being an offensive foul.
02:52But, yeah, you're not going to get a better shot than that.
02:54And even, you know, the other night against Miami, he calls that timeout with 20 seconds to go
02:58because things have been so hairy.
03:00And just, you know, let's settle down and let's make sure we get the best shot we can get.
03:06And usually the best shot results when your best player has the ball.
03:09And he put it in Cooper's hands.
03:11And, I mean, Cooper just blew past Wiggins.
03:13I mean, and Wiggins, he may not be able to score very much anymore, but he can still defend.
03:18He can still defend.
03:19And Cooper just blew past him.
03:22So that was really impressive.
03:24I think, you know, he's not afraid to use his bench and sort of see who's got what during the
03:32game
03:32when you see that, you know, Marcus Sasser had it going against Houston.
03:36De La Rea had it going against San Antonio.
03:38Walter Clayton had it going against Miami the other night.
03:41And he's willing to ride that horse.
03:42He's not a slave to the rotation.
03:45He'll do what he has to do in order to win the game.
03:48You know, he sees who's playing well, who's not playing well, and makes the adjustment accordingly.
03:53You know, as far as interviews and things like that, I mean, I hope you listen to our pregame.
03:59Of course.
03:59I'm part of it.
04:00We're part of it for three minutes.
04:01Yeah.
04:02For three minutes.
04:03Is that you tonight, by the way?
04:05No, we're Friday, I believe.
04:07You make the schedule.
04:08You tell us.
04:09You make the calls around here.
04:10You tell us.
04:12I did not.
04:13Hey, there are people above.
04:15I just made the suggestion that you guys can help yourself.
04:18That's all.
04:19I'm not telling you when to help yourself.
04:22I just made the suggestion.
04:24Yeah, we're Friday.
04:24We're Friday.
04:25Okay, but in any case, you know, the fact that, I mean, you ask him a question, and hopefully it's
04:32a good question, and if it is a good question, he gives you a hell of an answer.
04:36And you really do learn things, and that's the thing that, you know, I always felt, you know, when I
04:42was...
04:43Carlisle.
04:44Carlisle especially, you know, because he suffered no fools.
04:48And Dusty may be a little less brusque when it comes to stuff like that, but at the same time,
04:55you know, he's so smart.
04:56He clearly is so smart that if you ask the right question, you're going to learn a lot about basketball
05:04and certainly learn a lot about your team.
05:07Coop, you mentioned, you know, he likes to use his bench.
05:09He's still figuring out some of these things.
05:11Has he settled on, and that's probably a work in progress, you know, like how many minutes per game he
05:18wants these guys to play?
05:19Because, I mean, like, you know, Flag was at 40 minutes the other night, and P.J. was at 41.
05:24Has he kind of settled on a rotation from a minute standpoint for a lot of these guys?
05:30Well, obviously, listen, Cooper's going to play about 36 minutes a game.
05:33I mean, I would anticipate that.
05:36You know, again, I think he does what the game demands.
05:40It's kind of like Ron Washington back in the day, right?
05:43What did Ron used to say about the Rangers?
05:45You know, he'd say, you know, you do what the game demands, what the game that's out there that night.
05:49The game that was out there that night demanded that flag be on the floor for that long.
05:53I don't think it's ideal.
05:54I don't think he wants to do that, certainly the fourth game of the year.
05:57But I think he's okay.
06:00I think he's going along.
06:02But, again, remember, there are two other players that have yet to play that figured to be in the rotation
06:08at some point,
06:08and that's Santi Aldama and Tariq Baberevich, and they're closer to coming back.
06:14And, you know, Aldama may be back by the end of the week.
06:17I mean, I know on the injury report yesterday they were both listed as doubtful for tonight,
06:21which tells me that within the next week, maybe as early as Friday against Houston, that we're going to see
06:27them.
06:27And then what does that do for everybody else?
06:30Coop, how do you feel like the combo of, because obviously before the season started,
06:34a lot of people were talking about Kyrie Irving being a potential trade piece down the road,
06:39if the Mavericks, you know, if things turned for them and saying, all right, hey, they're in a kind of
06:42rebuilding mode.
06:43But part of that factoring into the equation was how was it going to look when Flagg and Irving got
06:48to play together?
06:48What do you think about how that combo's gone so far?
06:50Because it seems like both of them are playing really efficiently with each other.
06:54I think it's okay.
06:56I think it's been harder for Kyrie.
06:58I think, you know, Houston kind of put a blueprint out there that Miami definitely went to.
07:05And, you know, Indiana did to a certain degree the other night.
07:08And that, sorry, school bus just went by.
07:13And that's to really blitz Kyrie, you know, the old Dean Smith run and jump.
07:19You know, just get up into him.
07:20And that has, I think, really affected Kyrie a lot.
07:23I mean, Kyrie's shooting is fine.
07:25And his defense is fine.
07:27And he's working at that.
07:28But he's not able really to initiate and create the way that I think ultimately, you know,
07:34he'd like to and certainly what we've seen before because teams are trying to take him out of the game.
07:39And the Mavericks, I think, and especially tonight when you're playing Oklahoma City,
07:43even in their diminished state, you're going to have to find a way to, you know,
07:49to help him because, you know, they're going to hack, they're going to whack,
07:52and they're going to force turnovers.
07:53And that's, you know, one thing the Mavericks have just had, you know, too many of here in the first
07:58week of the season.
07:58If there's been any real downside so far, it's that, you know,
08:03what the fewest turnovers they've had in the game so far this year is 16.
08:08And Jussie May may look at that as sustainable because they're playing as fast as they're playing.
08:13I don't know that I necessarily want to see them create extra opportunities for the opposing offenses
08:19and especially the teams that they're playing right now because the schedule is so difficult here at the start of
08:23the year.
08:24Chuck Cooperstein, voice of the Mavs, 8.30 tip tonight at the AAC with the Thunder visiting.
08:30By the way, that's probably like 8.45.
08:32Oh, cool.
08:32Let's be honest.
08:33Let's be honest about that.
08:34I should have lied.
08:36I know.
08:36How is this this late of a tip?
08:38I thought OKC plays 6.30 games.
08:40I thought we were doing some 7 o'clock.
08:41What's going on?
08:43No, because it's an ESPN game tonight and ESPN doesn't start their first game until 15 past the hour.
08:50You know, it's like it's 6.15 tonight.
08:53And when you're in the central time zone, like we see during hockey in the playoffs,
08:57and obviously the Mavericks have had this too, you get yourself in the central time zone and you're done.
09:03Right?
09:03You're just totally messed up.
09:05Or it's stepchild.
09:07Chuck, I thought, personal opinion, I thought OKC,
09:11would have beat San Antonio last year without the injuries.
09:14And this year, you know, I would say the same thing.
09:18Obviously, devastation with Jalen again.
09:22How are you looking at them with the injuries that they've suffered now and then at the end of the
09:29season when they match up against the San Antonio's and whoever else?
09:33They're still really good.
09:35They've still got one of the three best players in the world.
09:38And he's still really hard to stop.
09:40And it did.
09:41Listen, Shea was incredible in game seven of that series.
09:44I mean, he was all they really had.
09:47And San Antonio knew that.
09:48And it took everything to stop them from winning that game.
09:52So, I think that A.J. Mitchell is a player that, you know, people didn't get to see a lot
09:59of last year.
10:00Again, because he was hurt.
10:01But when he played, he was really good.
10:02And he just had a 30-point game the other night against Phoenix.
10:06They're going to be right there.
10:08The one thing we know about Oklahoma City, they have created depth for themselves.
10:13Sam Presti is ridiculously good at it.
10:16And I have a feeling that there are going to be some moves made.
10:20They've got three different huge trade exceptions.
10:23They also have seven first-round picks and 21 second-round picks to sell.
10:28So, they're going to wind up doing something.
10:30Chuck, Holmgren has turned into kind of a whipping boy.
10:35Has he done anything to improve his game for this season?
10:39And do you think he's an overpay with what he gives you?
10:46Well, he still gives you fantastic rim protection.
10:49I mean, really, other than Wembenyama, there's nobody better defending at the rim than he is.
10:55You know, him, Wembenyama, Rudy Gobert, you know, you put those guys together.
10:59But I think last year, only Wembenyama was better than Chet Holmgren was.
11:03Yeah, three blocks a game this year.
11:06Yeah, and he had 17 rebounds in the Denver game.
11:09And he's, you know, the thing that I don't like is, you know, he sort of takes himself out of
11:17games.
11:17He doesn't like necessarily to get roughed up.
11:20And I think that was, the San Antonio series was so physical and so emotional.
11:26You know, I don't know that you can sustain that over 82 games in a regular season.
11:30But I do, you know, that was always the question about him.
11:33And how would he stand up to the physicality of the NBA because of his frame?
11:38And, you know, I think we're always going to have that answer.
11:42Because there are things that clearly he is able to do that are really good and are winning things.
11:48But in the end, when it gets really rough, you know, and are you taken out of your game and
11:55he can't play?
11:56I mean, you can't have a game where you take just two shots in a game in like 30 minutes,
12:01which he did in game seven against the Spurs, which was just unacceptable.
12:05Great pick and roll with you and the dog out there.
12:07Be safe and we'll hear you tonight.
12:10The dog is on his way to the basket right now.
12:13Well done.
12:14Do you have a poop bag, though?
12:16How many poop bags do you go out with?
12:18We only need one with this one.
12:20All right.
12:20There you go.
12:21Sometimes you've got to have a roll.
12:22That second surprise, that's devastating.
12:24That's devastating.
12:24Because then you've got to make sure no one looks when you run away.
12:27Thank you, Chuck.
12:28All right.
12:28Be good, guys.
12:29Take care.
