Rashad McCants doesn’t care in the slightest bit for Cooper Flagg, or any young NBA player in the modern game, and he believes the former Duke Blue Devils basketball star is undeserving of a spot in Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd’s lineup.
McCants ripped Flagg for not having to work for his position, unlike Kobe Bryant.
“I’m not really big on the freshmen coming out and the young guys because they’re underdeveloped. They’re so underdeveloped and so overhyped. They have to now get to the league and find their way,” McCants said to RG Media’s Lorenzo Reyna.
“Flagg doesn’t have to work for his position…He’s not proven, though, at all. I mean, Kobe Bryant had to sit two years under Del Harris based on his head coach not believing in playing first or second-year guys. But it helped him a lot.
“Yet, when you come in with an expectation, there’s going to be disappointments. You can exceed those expectations, or you cannot. That puts more pressure on young kids than they expect themselves to just come in and not have any restrictions or road blocks.”
The Athletic’s Law Murray is part of the hype train that's setting those high expectations.
Murray called on Flagg to pick up ball-handling responsibilities until Kyrie Irving returns from his ACL tear because of D’Angelo Russell’s decline.
“Jason Kidd, when he got to go to Milwaukee and get the Bucks job, he put the ball in Giannis’ hands and accelerated his [potential]. They’re gonna have to [do the same to Cooper Flagg], because you can’t ask D’Angelo Russell [to be primary ball handler]. D’Angelo was legitimately awful last year,” Murray said.
We’ll see if Flagg can remain in the mix for Kidd’s starting five. Training camp could certainly change things if anything drastic happens in Dallas’s frontcourt.