Is Duke freshman Cooper Flagg worth tanking for?

 

                                           (Credit: Rob Kinnan) 

One of the most talented prospects in the 2025 NBA Draft is Duke freshman forward Cooper Flagg, who is averaging 19.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. Listed at 6'9", 205 pounds, Flagg has a great blend of size, skill, and athleticism. He's really the whole package out there, which is why many mock drafts have him going number one overall. 

Having watched Flagg play a bit since I cover Stanford for Rivals.com and thus am tuned into ACC hoops, I have to say he looks like the real deal to me. The most impressive aspect of his game is what I said at the beginning, namely his combination of size, skill, and athleticism. He is capable of playing multiple positions on the floor and with the NBA really valuing guys who can play a variety of spots on the floor, that makes Flagg especially exciting. 

The other thing about Flagg that shouldn't go unnoticed is the fact that he's the go to guy on a national championship contending team. Duke is on pace to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and in my opinion should be favored to win the NCAA tournament. The fact that Flagg is doing all that he's doing while playing winning basketball makes him all the more impressive. It's one thing to put up big numbers on a bad team. But to produce like he's doing while having your team in the national championship conversation? That's a whole different matter. 

The final thing that stands out about Flagg is his efficiency. He's 49.1% from the field, 37.5% from 3-point range, and 82.1% from the foul line. Those are very solid shooting percentages. He is averaging 2.9 turnovers per game, so that's something he can improve, but aside from that he's playing clean basketball on both ends of the floor, averaging just 2.6 fouls per game. 

If you are the Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans, Washington Wizards, and Charlotte Hornets, you should absolutely feel vindicated in stinking it up this season if it means you end up with Cooper Flagg. He's undoubtedly a player worth tanking for. It'll be fun to see who wins the sweepstakes for the Duke superstar and how deep he'll guide the Blue Devils in the NCAA tournament. 

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Mock Draft Monday: Zion Williamson would be foolish to return to school

                                          (Credit: NBAE/Getty Images) 

I'm kicking off a new segment on NBALord.com that I hope people will find entertaining and informative. The NBA Draft is an area I would like to explore more on here. Especially since I already do a lot of prospect evaluations for NBADraft.net and also recruiting coverage covering Cal basketball for Rivals.com. With that said as a brief intro into this new segment, what better way for me to kick things off than some discussion on Zion Williamson?

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know who Zion Williamson is. I really shouldn't need to tell you who the Duke superstar freshman is. He's been all over ESPN and Sports Center for the past nine months and is projected by virtually every NBA Draft expert to go #1 overall in the upcoming draft.

The only "drama" in the whole thing is will he spurn the New Orleans Pelicans and return to school in hopes of landing with a better market. While none of us expected the Pelicans to win the lottery, they won it fair and square and deserve the chance to draft Williamson, making him their main franchise piece for the future. Don't get me wrong. If I was Williamson, I would have also been hoping for Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles. But the downside of going to New Orleans instead doesn't outweigh the risk of returning to school for another year (remember his shoe blowing up?)

Furthermore, while New Orleans isn't as exciting of a landing spot as those major markets are, it's also a better landing spot from a pure basketball standpoint: David Griffin is a well respected basketball executive leading the front office while Anthony Davis is also there as one of the top players in the NBA. Putting aside the drama surrounding Davis and his future, assuming Griffin can convince "The Brow" to stay in New Orleans, the Pelicans could really be cooking with gas should they draft Williamson. They could be looking at a playoff appearance next season and before long find themselves competing with the Trail Blazers, Nuggets, and Warriors to come out of the Western Conference.

If Williamson were to return to school, he would have nothing to gain other than possibly going to a better city in 2020. On the flip side, he would risk injury, not developing his game as well as NBA scouts would hope, and perhaps even going to a worse situation than New Orleans (E.g. Cleveland). It would be a stupid move to return to Duke and even he knows it.

As much as New Orleans may not excite him, Zion Williamson should be excited about the chance to put on a Pelicans uniform. He'll get a chance to convince Anthony Davis to stay and help put a relatively new NBA franchise on the map. All in all, it's actually a pretty good spot for him.

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Fadeaway Friday: Quinn Cook has the Canton Charge heating up

The Canton Charge are the hottest team in the NBA Development League right now, having won five straight games to get themselves a winning record (11-8). The player who has been leading the charge for the Charge is Quinn Cook, a 6'2", 175 pound guard in his second year out of Duke. During this winning streak, Cook has averaged 28.8 points on 50-108 (46.3%) shooting from the field, shooting pretty efficiently and doing a good job at carrying the scoring load.

In terms of whether or not this will lead to a 10-day contract for Quinn Cook remains to be seen, but if he keeps putting up numbers like this, odds are good he'll get a 10-day contract at some point in the season. One of the things that is important to understand is that while he is playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers' D-League affiliate, he is not actually property of the Cavaliers. This means he is free to sign with any NBA team that is interested in his services.

                                        (Credit: NBA D-League on YouTube. Click here for source) 

It is my personal belief that Quinn Cook is definitely in the mix to sign a 10-day contract, but due to his lack of size, it's hard to see him sticking with an NBA team for the rest of the season. Typically, guys who don't immediately stick in the NBA after their rookie seasons have a tough time finding a permanent home in the NBA. That's just the nature of the league. However, guys who can score and shoot like Quinn Cook definitely catch the eye of NBA scouts and give themselves a shot at getting signed.

As far as the Canton Charge are concerned, they are really benefiting from Quinn Cook's stellar shooting. His hot hand has got them right back in the D-League playoff mix. While Duke fans would obviously love to see their guy get another shot in the NBA, they better enjoy watching their guy heat up and carry a team on his back.

Going forward, the Canton Charge have a lot more work to do. They've clawed back into the playoff conversation and now they have to stay here and gain more ground. So long as Quinn Cook plays like he has been and other guys find ways to step up, the Charge could very well sneak into the D-League playoffs. They are certainly a team to keep an eye on.

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Bear Territory Thursday: Looking back on Cal's NCAA Tournament victory over Duke in '93

     I thought that with the Sweet 16 starting today, it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and revisit Cal's huge upset over Duke in the 1993 NCAA Tournament. The 82-77 victory propelled Cal to the Sweet 16 and the loss ended Duke's hopes of winning three-straight national titles. The heroes for Cal were point guard Jason Kidd and forward Lamond Murray who combined for 39 points, 28 of which were scored by Murray. As for Duke, point guard Bobby Hurley, a senior, scored 32 points and dished out 9 assists.

     What struck me the most about this game as a result of watching it in its entirety, was how Cal dominated Duke for almost the entire game. Yes, the final two minutes were nerve racking, but for the vast bulk of the game, Cal was the better team. Cal took a 47-37 lead into the half thanks to a 13-0 run sparked by Jerod Haase and Monty Buckley. In the second half, Cal had a lead as big as 55-37 and continued to dominate Duke, going up 70-53.

     So while Jason Kidd referred to this win as a "miracle" in the "The Players' Tribune" earlier this week, it shouldn't be forgotten that Cal dominated Duke for much of this game. The biggest reason why Cal dominated Duke was that Cal played a much cleaner game. 11 of Cal's first 29 points were off of Duke turnovers while at that point of the game, Duke had scored just 4 points off of Cal turnovers. Cal simply took better care of the basketball and as a result, they took a 47-37 lead into the half.

     The only thing that Cal didn't do a good job of in the first half was keeping Duke away from the foul line. Duke shot around 15 foul shots in the first half, and made almost every one. If it weren't for Duke's ability to get to the foul line, Cal would have probably taken a 20 point lead into the half.

     What got Duke back into the game in the second half was Cal showing the signs of a young and inexperienced team. 11 players on Cal's roster were either freshman or sophomores and their star Jason Kidd was a freshman. As for Duke, they were captained by Bobby Hurley, a senior who still is the NCAA's all-time leader in assists. Cal's youth and inexperience caused them to turn the ball over a lot in the second-half (9+ turnovers) and Duke, being the veteran team that they were, made Cal pay.

     However, it took Duke quite a while to eventually get the lead, and when they did, Cal took it right back thanks to Jason Kidd hitting a miracle shot in the paint which lead to a three-point play. With Cal up 79-77, Duke wasn't able to take the lead again, partly due to some luck for Cal and also the law of averages, which states that when you go down by double-digits against a really good team, you aren't likely to come back.

     Some of the lucky breaks for Cal in the final two minutes include Duke forward Grant Hill traveling, Cal getting the ball back after Jason Kidd missed a free throw, and Cal retaining the ball after it appeared to go off of Jason Kidd on a no-call near the basket. In addition, Cal was lucky that Lamond Murray was able to play in the second half after suffering an ankle sprain while Duke center Cherokee Parks sat out the second half due to an ankle sprain of his own.

     There is no doubt that the basketball gods smiled on Cal on March 20, 1993, but make no mistake that Cal was the better team that day. They dominated Duke early in the game, and held on for the win. In many ways, the game was won when Cal went on that 13-0 run in the first half. While it is true that Duke did eventually take the lead, it was only for a brief moment and they appeared to be gassed down the stretch.

     When Cal basketball players, coaches, and fans look back on this game, they shouldn't take inspiration from the fact that miracles can happen. They should take inspiration from the fact that Cal dominated Duke. Cal didn't win that game because they got lucky. Cal won that game because they were better than Duke. It's that simple.

(Note: If you want to read Jason Kidd's write up about the game in "The Players' Tribune", click here)

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord for NBA news