Former NBA Coach On Cooper Flagg

Del Harris had a long career in coaching and has been around basketball for his entire life, so when he ventures an opinion, people tend to listen. And what he told The Sporting News about Duke product Cooper Flagg will have people talking.

Here’s what he said: “Cooper is the best I’ve actually seen since Kobe Bryant. And he’s actually more ready than Kobe was having played at Duke…When I see Cooper, the ball skills, the passing, his ability to attack the defense, it’s just off the charts.”

This takes on added weight when you realize two things. First, Harris is 88 which means he’s seen basketball since the Russell/Chamberlain era.  He’s seen Bob Pettit, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Pete Maravich, Julius Erving in his freakish ABA days, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. You can add whoever else you’d like but the man has seen almost everything in NBA history.

And second, he was Kobe’s first NBA coach, so he knows what he’s talking about.

It just sort of adds to the emerging sense that Flagg is something special.

Incidentally, you may have seen that Flagg may opt to enter this year’s dunk contest. However, he may end up an All-Star, so if that happens, it would make being in the dunk contest much more difficult.