Former NBA player and NCAA champion Rashad McCants, former UCLA Bruin Josiah Johnson, and former NBA All-Star Kenyon Martin had some fascinating NBA comparisons for Duke phenom. The projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft is Cooper Flagg at Gil’s Arena.
The train started rolling after Dan Patrick compared Flagg and NBA champion Kevin Love last week.
Gil’s Arena Compares Cooper Flagg and Kevin Love
McCants got the ball rolling, saying he didn’t see the Love and Flagg comparisons, instead comparing Flagg to another Duke legend.
“I compare more to Christian Laettner right now than anything,” McCants said. “Because Kevin Love did a lot of shit in the NBA. I’m saying not to take anything away from what Cooper’s doing, but K Love was a rebounding machine, and specific attributes… especially passing.”
“In the realm of Cooper being a lot more agile, he’ll be more off the ball, more like a, to me, like a white Loul Deng. He play more like that than anything, he make plays, he pass, he can block shots, but he ain’t, no, he ain’t getting it off to, ain’t doing none of that shit. So, he’s more of a system player. Put him in a good rotation. He’ll be good.”
“We’ll never know [how his play will translate into the league] I’ll never know until it happens. But right now, I can’t say nothing as far as that. He plays for Duke and that, ‘who gives a f*ck I don’t care,’”
Johnson added that Love, who is 6’8” and 250 pounds, is much bigger than the 6’9” 205-pound Flagg and was even bigger in college.
Martin said a better comparison for Flagg is the Orlando Magic’s Franz Wagner.
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“Kevin Love, he was a four-man,” Martin said. “I think Cooper Flagg more of a three, put him big, big two, three. He’s a wing player, I think Kevin Love’s more of a true power forward.”
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