This article about Cooper Flagg purports to look at his strengths and weaknesses and as we’ve said several times recently, it’s very hard to know how well anyone will do in college. Players are constantly built up before reality sets in. Just look at this year’s draft and next year’s mock drafts: Tyler Kolek, Johnny Furphy and Harrison Ingram are all players who at different times were seen as likely first-round picks. Then again, so was Kyle Filipowski.
This will happen to some next year too, perhaps Arkansas Razorbacks DJ Wagner, Zvonimir Ivišić and Johnell Davis.
Not surprisingly, Flagg is projected as the #1 pick next fall. He does have weaknesses as the article suggests. His ball handling is adequate, not great. his three point shooting is sort of literally hit-or-miss. Some have criticized his footwork.
These are all potential issues. However, we saw something that really eased any concerns about Flagg we might have had. What was it?
Some video of VJ Edgecombe.
The kid is absolutely killing it with the Bahamian national team. He’s honestly almost shockingly athletic. Not like really good athlete. He appears to have Scotty Pippen level talent and therefore has a chance of immense success – if he can harness it.
But that’s not the video that excited us. That video was of Flagg just making Edgecombe’s life miserable.
As we say, he may have things to work on, including simply strength. He is just 17 after all. But if he can handcuff players as athletic as Edgecombe, Flagg is going to be a force. He can refine the rest of his game as he moves forward.