Neither is no Maravich, averaging 44.2 points during his four years at LSU.
Cooper Flagg
- Thread starter IUNorth
- Start date
First off I love Larry Bird, probably my favorite pro player ever. His numbers are staggering, but it was against far less talent he played at ISU and I'm sure they didn't play the caliber of team Flagg plays against now. Also, Larry's first year of college he was alike 20 or 21 after leaving IU and sitting out to work, or that is what I believe happened.
His impact in the NBA will be interesting, for sure. Volume scoring is a question mark, and that's obviously highly valued. But I suspect he'll be a perennial All Star. Struggling to come up with a good comp right now... maybe a better overall version of Paulo Banchero?...
Yeah...I didn't see those fellas play. Bird and Magic are probably the best comps, as they both did everything like Flagg does.
Only three time winner of nba 3 pt contest. He actually lost a year of eligibility working on a garbage truck in French Lick.
Davis is quietly one of the better college players I've seen...I was actually going to mention him.
Now imagine him bringing the ball up the court, breaking presses, throwing no look lobs, guarding other teams point guards and standing them up, then rotating and getting weak side blocks on the same possession, or rebounding 10 feet out of his own space, over 7' future NBA players... Davis dominated the post defensively, he scored well, but mainly played 15' and in, and rarely switched out on perimeter players defensively.
Benson must have been hard to get along with. He rode Bird until he dropped out and then Jabbar landed a very good punch when he was a rookie.
Really...?? that's nuts. I'm not talking about accomplishments, or career stats...
well, they are comparing a 4 year Laettner career to what's likely a 1 year Flagg. Laettner was great, but Freshman Flagg >>> Freshman Laettner
Unless he gets the title..I can't go over Carmelo..On your list..Course I'm not gonna name all the others since I go back to 1975..But it's a short list. lol
He's considered the third best prospect for the NBA in the last 15 yrs.
Only Anthony Davis & Zion are ahead of him..And that's by multiple long time draft scouts ..
He's been everything advertised..
Even though I can't root the Blue Devils.
I remember him bringing the ball up a lot in the championship game. He was a guard until he had an enormous growth spurt and actually could handle the ball well if required.
Freshman Flagg, in my opinion, is a better player than Senior Laettner. He obviously won't accomplish as much, but he's a better shooter, better scorer, better rebounder, better defender, better passer, better ball handler, has an equal motor... Its a decent comparison, until you show the highlights of Flagg breaking a very good Arizona press, and dicing them up basically as the point guard...and then switches up and guards Arizona's lead guards, very effectively... That's where he separates himself from really, really good college players like Laettner, Anthony Davis, Greg Oden, etc...
Yeah...how his game translates up to the NBA will be interesting. I suspect he'll be as good as Davis has been, and better, overall than Zion. Key to that is "overall"... his perimeter skills, offensive and defensive, are what separate him from the crowd, in my opinion.
Maybe, but if you are asking me to build the best college team, I am taking CL--and I HATED him as an IU guy. Also have to consider who they played against. Yes this generation of players is more athletic, but back then guys stayed in school longer and they were playing against grown men in college.
Flagg this year 19.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 4.3 apg, 48.7% fg, 37.2% 3pt, 83.2% FT, 1.4 spg, 1.3 bpg, 2.1 tpg
Laettner career--16.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg 1.8 apg, 57,4% fg, 48.5% 3 pt, 80.6% FT, 1.6 spg, 1.0 bpg, 2.7 tpg
Laettner senior year--21.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.0 apg, 57.5%, 55.7% 3pt, 81.5%, 2.1 spg, 1.0 bpg, 3.3 tpg
CL for his career averaged more rebounds, shot better from 2, better from 3, and averaged more steals. His senior year, he shot almost 20% better from 3 on about 1 attempt per game less (97 attempts for CL vs 129 so far for CF). That Duke team also played 14 ranked teams that year, compared to 6 for this Duke team.
Again both great players, and tough to compare in some respects as the game is much different now than in was then
True, but if others had the freedom to shoot 40 times a game (he averaged 38.1 shots per game for his career). It is very rare today when someone can even average half that many shots. I remember when people were talking about Antoine Davis getting close and saying he would have taken 5 full years to do it, and in 5 full years, he took just under 3000 shots, while Maravich took almost 3200 shots in 3 years
Are we talking about NBA potential? If so. Flagg >>>>Laetner. College player I’d rather have Laettner.
3 yrs. Frosh couldn't play 'varsity' back then.
Pistol was on the LSU frosh team, which played before the 'varsity' team (just like HS ball..at least how it used to be?). Pistol would pack the stadium full for the frosh game, as people came to watch him light it up. After their game, and the 'real' LSU team came on the court to play, half the stadium would leave.
A few yrs ago during a Christmas family gathering, the subject was "what sports record" will never be touched.
I offered up Cy Young's 511 wins as untouchable. Then I stopped and mentioned that no one is ever going to get within 20 pts of Pete's career scoring average. All without a shot clock or 3 point line.
3 point line was 3 feet shorter... he rarely shot "deep" 3's. Maybe he'd have carried a similar percentage out 3 feet further...doubt it though...they're comparable shooters and scorers. Flagg separates himself, and its not close, with his legitimate high level perimeter skills. You can reference stats all you want...Laettner kicking the ball out to Bobby Hurley or passing to Grant Hill out of the post on the wing... gets him an assist. But that's not the same as breaking the press himself, beating Arizona level guards up the floor, then throwing lobs and no look kickouts for assists.
And rebounds...Flagg is playing in much more varied positions defensively, and offensively... so he's coming from much more varied angles and distances to get his very similar rebounding numbers.
I get the nostalgia... he was a stud... the Fab 5 documentary where Jalen Rose gives him is props and legitimizes how good he was, shows that he was a GREAT overall player. Better than the clean cut white guy perception gave him. But Flagg matches him in most of the Laettners strengths... and then has a completely different dimension to his game that allows him to play basically as a guard, depending on matchups. Laettner didn't have that dimension.
I hate to say it but, come on, there wasn't anything Christian Laettner couldn't do. He was the best in college I ever personally saw. I'm 52. But there were a million awesome, awesome college players. Think of just UNC and UK during the 80s and 90s. Hell, all of college basketball was so stacked during that time period. Crazy.
For me…..Anthony, Bird, Magic, Walton, Alcinder, Manning, Laettner, Davis, Durant. More really.
Chris Jackson is an awesome choice. Holy cow - he was the first I ever saw to be able to do everything at warp speed and then finish it off with the most perfect jump shot. What a player!
Is Cooper Flagg really doing anything Keith Van Horne or Adam Morrison weren't doing, though? That's not a criticism, by the way. Maybe a distinction to be made is he's a freshman?
So many awesome players over time in college basketball.
So many awesome players over time in college basketball.
So no Michael Jordan. I'd probably take him over everyne on the list except Alcindor though I think you can argue for Bird, Magic and Walton. But the rest, no way. He didn't put up the stats in Forsh year that he did in the next 2 but still solid. If titles are big in this discussion, I'd say in Frosh year he game us a glimse of what was to come over the next 15-20 years with that game winner in the title game.
If we’re talking ability, sure. He was held back greatly by Smith (which worked out fine). So it depends on how you look at it. Remember, he was drafted third.
Of guys I've watched, he's probably one of the better comps. But whether he just never had to, because of Hurley, or if he couldn't do it... he never showed that he could comfortably control a game playing as a point guard or really any sort of perimeter player. All of his contributions on the perimeter came as ball screen action, popping out on the perimeter, etc... He was never used as a primary ball handler, ever, at Duke or in the NBA.
Well one is a guard, and one is a big so yea, he should be better at those skills. Just saying if I was picking a team to play COLLEGE hoops, I am prefer Laettner (and MAYBE Grant Hill)--Flagg will probably develop into a better pro however and if I am OKC, I am cashing in on some of my draft capital to go get him!! I think we both agree that both are great players, and that Flagg will be a great pro, we just have differences over who is better for college, and really there is no clear cut right answer as they are asked to play different roles and play in different eras where the game is not the same.
Serious question... did Romeo bang your girlfriend, deny your unrequited love or something? It's been like 7 years ago.
