{"id":341978,"date":"2025-10-30T00:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T00:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/341978\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T00:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T00:59:13","slug":"the-waiting-game-for-mavericks-cooper-flagg-is-the-only-one-dallas-can-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/341978\/","title":{"rendered":"The waiting game for Mavericks\u2019 Cooper Flagg is the only one Dallas can play"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the Mavericks weren\u2019t struggling enough with a 1-3 start<\/a> after four home games, the news came out Wednesday that Cooper Flagg ranks fourth in the first Kia Rookie of the Year standings.<\/p>\n

Maybe you aren\u2019t overly alarmed at this. Maybe, like me, you didn\u2019t know such a thing as a weekly Kia Rookie of the Year rankings even existed. But I do know the basketball world marveled at the Mavericks\u2019 luck<\/a> in securing the first pick after having just a 1.8% chance to win the lottery last May. And I know there was never a doubt in anyone\u2019s minds that that pick would be Flagg, so maybe we need to give him more time \u2014 10 games maybe? \u2014 before casting too many harsh judgments his way.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the season\u2019s done, you\u2019ll see everything out of him,\u201d visiting Indiana Coach Rick Carlisle said before Wednesday\u2019s game. \u201cHis versatility, size, dynamic, the fact that he\u2019s playing point guard is a strong enough statement. He shoots the ball, and he\u2019s making kind of off-the-fly plays in real time, seeing things in a split second\u2019s notice. That\u2019s pretty amazing.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Flagg was averaging just 13 points per game before the Pacers\u2019 contest, partly a function of scoring two points in 31 minutes against Oklahoma City Monday night. The Thunder, of course, are the defending NBA champions and, rather clearly, the best defensive team in the league.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

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\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) throws down a fourth quarter dunk against the Washington Wizards at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, October 24, 2025.<\/p>\n

Tom Fox \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all agree that wasn\u2019t his best game,\u201d Coach Jason Kidd said, \u201cbut this is new to him and he\u2019s got to work through all that. I think for him to work through a back-to-back [he had his best game, 22 points in 29 minutes, against Toronto Sunday] with the mindset of getting better is something. There\u2019s a lot to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack-to-back [games], being able to run the show [as a point guard], being on tape now, you know he just has to go through it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The learning curve is topped by the fact that Flagg is younger than those who might contend with him for the Rookie of the Year (and might not, depending upon how the season plays out). Flagg is 18 and doesn\u2019t turn 19 until December. He may have looked like a polished pro in leading Duke to the Final Four last spring, but he\u2019s just a kid, the youngest guy in the gym night after night.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s V.J. Edgecombe<\/a>, who happened to carry the distinction of that No. 1 standard in those Kia rankings, is averaging 22 points a night for the Sixers. He was a good player at Baylor last year and turned 20 this summer. Lake Highland\u2018s Tre Johnson<\/a> (by way of one high-scoring season at Texas) is scoring 14.8 per night for the Wizards and had 17 here in a win over Dallas on Friday. He and the Spurs\u2019 Dylan Harper are 19, closest to Flagg in age, while Memphis\u2019 Cedric Coward, who was ranked second this week and has the highest points per minutes average, turned 22 last month.<\/p>\n

These additional months and years make a world of difference for those just beginning to understand the challenge of the NBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important because when you\u2019re a little bit older [than Flagg], you\u2019ve seen a little bit more,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cYoung players are counted on now in this league to deliver, and they are playing at a high level. The rookie class is pretty good when you look around the league. Some might be a little older than Cooper so they\u2019ve seen a little more. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think Cooper\u2019s up for this challenge, and I think it\u2019s all right to fail because you\u2019ve got another day to come to work to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the games pile up, the experience starts to add up, and maybe, just maybe, if Kidd allows D\u2019Angelo Russell to carry more of the point guard burden, Flagg\u2019s numbers will rise. Through four games he was shooting just 38% from the floor and 26.7% from the foul line. That\u2019s not what the Mavericks expect from the first overall pick, but sometimes a little history lesson allows us to see the bigger picture.<\/p>\n

It was 26 years ago that the Mavericks added a highly touted rookie from Germany named Dirk Nowitzki to the mix, hoping he could turn into some kind of scoring threat along with being 7 feet tall.<\/p>\n

He was almost a full two years older than Flagg when he joined the NBA. He scored two points in his NBA debut against Seattle. He averaged 8.2 points per game for the season, made 40% of his field goals and just under 21% from the 3-point line. And he wasn\u2019t even a second-team all-NBA pick at the end of that 1999 season.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if Dirk ever slipped into the top 10 of the Kia Rookie rankings that year. I\u2019m not even sure they made Kias 26 years ago, now that I think of it. But his career turned out just fine. There\u2019s a street outside the AAC with his name on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember in Dirk\u2019s first few years, there were a lot of comparisons to other guys,\u201d Carlisle said. \u201cAnd you know, it\u2019s just that that is a rough way to go. So [Flagg] is a great young player. I mean his disposition, personality, effect, all that stuff is, like, you know, serious business. And it\u2019s pretty, pretty cool.<\/p>\n

X:<\/b> @TimCowlishaw<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Mavs\u2019 Brandon Williams issues apology for \u2018being a distraction\u2019 amid arrest at DFW airport<\/a><\/p>\n

Williams was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Dallas officials say city should intervene in Mavericks, Stars legal battle<\/a><\/p>\n

Several council members said there\u2019s room for both sports franchises in the city<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Dallas Mavericks\u2019 Brandon Williams arrested at DFW Airport on Saturday<\/a><\/p>\n

The 25-year-old guard is in his third season with the Mavericks.<\/p>\n

\"American<\/a>Timeline: How the Mavericks and Stars\u2019 relationship unraveled<\/a><\/p>\n

The Mavericks allege the Stars are in breach of a clause in their 1998 franchise agreement.<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the Mavericks weren\u2019t struggling enough with a 1-3 start after four home games, the news came out…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":341979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,11890,2494,1596,3139,6650,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-341978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-commentary","10":"tag-cooper-flagg","11":"tag-dallas","12":"tag-dallas-mavericks","13":"tag-mavericks","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115460412073395449","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}