The Prince That Was Promised: Cooper Flagg Looked Terrific In His Mavs Preseason Debut, Showing Exactly Why He's Considered The Next Franchise Savior

Stacy Revere. Getty Images.

It should go without saying until we get to October 21st, but I'm going to say it anyway. Everything you're about to read in this blog, and really any basketball blog until that date which discusses things that took place during preseason should be taken with a GIANT grain of salt. These games are for giving your fanbase hope, players getting into game shape, teams trying different concepts to see if it makes sense to use them when the games count, and things of that nature.

HOWEVER

That does not mean what you see in these games is meaningless or has no value. False. Every dribble matters, from Summer League in July until the final game of the NBA Finals. Every rep, especially for young players, is valuable. This is a step up from the level of competition we saw in Vegas, and not quite the level we'll see in a few weeks, so these fake games are a good measuring stick to see where players/teams stand as we enter the regular season.

For the Dallas Mavericks, that means the debut of their new franchise savior, Cooper Flagg. The last time we saw Cooper play any sort of NBA basketball, he had himself quite the Summer League performance

before immediately being shut down by the Mavs for the rest of the week in Vegas. It's always a good sign when your prized draft pick shows enough right away in Summer League that he gets the early shutdown. I would argue it's the one thing you hope for as a fan as weird as that sounds. You only get the early shutdown if you've proven to be way too good for that level of competition. 

That's why I was excited to see Flagg's debut. While this may not exactly have been the same Thunder team we just saw breeze through the NBA on their way to the title by playing historically dominant defense, you have to remember what makes the Thunder such a wagon is the fact that even their prospects are awesome. When you think of the "deep teams" in the league, the discussion starts with the Champs in my opinion. So even with the majority of their rotation sitting, we still were going to see how Cooper handled the ball pressure of say, Cason Wallace. 

How'd things look? Well, you be the judge

Flagg only played 14 first half minutes, and as you can see above, his debut was pretty fucking good! Right away, he gave us a glimpse of his all-around game, most notably Point Cooper. Considering he's very open about how he models his game after Jayson Tatum, how Cooper Flagg develops as an offensive hub and point forward is one of the things I'm most excited to see about his career. 

How can you ignore the way he handled Cason Wallace guarding full court, never panicked or rushed for a second, and made a GREAT pass to a cutting Dwight Powell? Even if you think Wallace was only going at 60%, that's still impressive as hell. I just watched an entire season of Cason Wallace breaking opposing players' spirit by guarding full court, and Cooper had no trouble whatsoever as a rookie. To me, that's impressive.

He also gave you the rim protection, the floor spacing, work on the glass, you know, everything you could possibly want to see from your next franchise player. While it was only 14 minutes in his first preseason game, you can already see the signs. As a Mavs fan, given the absolute hell they've been forced to live through since February, this would have me over the moon. Who gives a shit if Adam Silver rigged the Lottery? That's not their problem! Given what we've seen up until this point, Cooper Flagg seems very much to be the real deal, which is pretty significant. 

When the Mavs first announced that they'd be playing Cooper at the wing, I wasn't sure how to feel. I wasn't sure he'd be quick enough. But you know what? I see the vision. Cooper on the wing, double bigs with AD and Lively, that has the potential to be a problem, especially if Cooper is going to be able to initiate offense like this right away. Imagine a Flagg running a P&R with either of those bigs? Lively and AD are already elite lob threats, and if you're getting that type of offensive initiation from a player with that kind of size, now you're cooking. I just saw Jayson Tatum win a title doing that shit while also helping Luke Kornet secure a $40M bag in free agency. 

The point is, everything we've seen from Cooper Flagg up until this point has checked the box. Show you're a cut above at Vegas Summer League? Check. Come out and immediately have a great debut, showing that you really do have all the makings of being a two-way monster? Check.

Now comes the hard part. Repeating this level of play. For young players, it's not about doing it once. It's about doing it every single night. That's what separates guys, and the true franchise level players are able to be consistent. We'll see if that's the direction Flagg is headed, but he sure is off to a great start.