Bryce Simon
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
So I don't know how much a great shooting combine performance does for Dylan Harper. Cause I just think at this point you can go back through high school and the film and you have so many numbers with synergy now and all of that to, to get, to, OK, well, he had one maybe workouts, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Maybe private workouts is where teams feel better because they they put them through their own shooting workouts. And I have heard some of those like they put a lot of weight into because it's moving and they wear them down and those type of things.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
So, listen, I said it at the top. Ace was a guy that I thought could challenge Cooper for the number one pick coming into the year. Because it's... To me, and I'm not saying they're the same type of players, it was a lesson learned from Brandon Miller. Like... prototypical NBA wings are going to be valued, especially ones that can get buckets.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Yeah, first off, this is my fifth year doing Pistons work, and this is the first year I am not part of the tank race conversation. And so I'm glad that you want to talk NBA draft and brought me on because the Pistons post will not be talking NBA draft. Maybe some second round prospects, as it looks like their pick will convey. Yeah, so this is interesting.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
So again, conference play for ace Bailey, 19 points a game on 46, 39, 73 from the free throw line. And he also rebounds like, listen, ace, the passing is going to be a question. The defense, I think he has potential and you see some of the defensive playmaking at times. I see communication at times, but it's not always consistent, which he's a young kid. That's going to happen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I think he has potential to be a real two way player, not three and D like, hopefully he's more than that as a score, but I do think he has defensive potential. The big questions is honestly, S is the shot diet. It's, it's a little bit of the Jabari Smith, Jr. You're people are going to give the Jabari Smith, Jr. Comparison of that's what you hear all the time. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Like he lives on this really tough shot diet because he can't create his own shot. And in college, you know, he's bigger than guys and longer than guys. And he's scoring over that. Then you get into the NBA and it's like, he either has to be elite shooter or find a way to get better shots. But now these defenders are longer and better and all of that, all of those things.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
And so I think that's where the question marks come in with him. I think people are, are dropping him too low. I think not having him in the top five would be tough for me because he is this six, eight, six, nine wing that we've seen have huge games, like huge scoring outputs and can really put the ball in the basket along with some of the other shooter too.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I should have said that at the top, very much an off ball player for me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I think he'll benefit in terms of the off-ball player, in terms of that space where somebody breaks down the defense and now he's getting good looks and all of those type of things. My biggest worry is, though, I don't know if he has the handle to take advantage of the space on the ball. And that's where I think I've come down just a little bit.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I thought Ace May would be—and he still could be, right? like hub of your offense, like the primary option. He can do it with the ball in his hands. He can do it without the ball in his hands. All of those things. I'm not saying you can't run zoom action for him or something like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I'm just not sure he has the wiggle and the tightness in his handle to like break you down in isolation and get something better than a mid range pull up over a two different types of players. Now, Can he tighten his handle? We've seen players do it. I'm not like, that's the crap shoot with all of this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
It's just not as far along as what I thought, but he makes NBA level shots when you watch him play. And again, he's a six, eight, six, nine wing who has real two way potential that can make shots. That's had big games that rebounds. Is this not what every single NBA team is looking for? Right? Like wings like that. You're always taking a chance when you draft somebody.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I think taking a chance on that archetype that has been productive makes a lot of sense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I'll be honest with you, S. I don't know how much credence I've given it. I'm like, there's no way he's really going to turn down being the number one pick. Listen, if that's what he wants to do, like if he loves college, he loves being the guy at Duke and all of that, you know, my immediate thought was money.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Yeah, I think so. I think Dylan is probably better than Kasperis, but... like if, if he led Illinois through the NCAA tournament, and especially if he cut that, my biggest thing with him right now is his turnovers. Like I watch him a lot and it's like, listen, I've loved him going back to the summer. Well-built kid.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Another, for those who don't know, Casper is a primary initiator, not quite as big, very unique type of player. Yeah. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Yeah, but orchestrates the offense, has all the live dribble, hook pass, both hands. But I do have some questions about the turnovers in terms of reading the floor at time, getting himself into trouble, those type of things. The shooting, again, it's funny. In a world where people are complaining about too much three-point shooting, if you... Follow NBA draft covers.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
There seems to be a lot of questions about guys knocking down shots at a high rate. He's at 34% on the season, but had some big games as well. Another guy that I think the defense is okay. I thought the pre-college defense was better than what I've seen in the season. And then the other guy, your guy, VJ Edgecombe, defense is not the concern. With VJ. VJ is going to guard.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
They love to guard. He really loves to do it. You turn on a game and you're going to see highlight level verticality contests, chase down blocks. We talked about low man rotations. VJ does that. He's engaged on the ball. There's a chance for him to be a real impact on the defensive end. I'm a little concerned offensively. Okay. Now he has been better.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
So you talk about like improvement throughout the year. Yeah. Like that is something that is true with him. The shooting was bad, bad earlier in the year. But it's come around recently. Very much come around. He's up to 37% on the season in conference play. And again, I don't want to overstate this, but I do think it matters.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
He's at 17 points on 48, 42 from three and 88 from the free throw line. Um, I think he's a guy that people would like to see him do a little bit more with the ball in his hands, right? Like some of that stuff. But the fact he's knocking down shots along with the defensive potential and all of that has definitely put him back.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
And I wonder if Duke could, I almost think Duke could match what his first year salary would be in the NBA.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Yeah, I mean, I think if he showed some more on-ball stuff, some creation, whatever, I could see a team falling in love with Vijay over Ace and or Dylan. Like, I think... Right now, I would have Dylan 2, Ace 3, Kasperis 4, Vijay 5. But if you told me by the time we got to the draft that Vijay ends up the number two pick with the right team, I wouldn't be shocked. It wouldn't be crazy to me.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
So, so there's some interesting names. What I will say is I think this draft has gotten a little bit overstated because here's what I've learned the last two years. We only talk about drafts in terms of if it's a good draft or a bad draft or whatever, based on the top. That's the only that like, that's how it ends up getting, you know, labeled.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
My least confident tier is the tier we're about to talk about in this range, where if I was drafting a lot of these guys, you know, maybe some of these guys would end up in the back end of the lottery, but like whoever I'm taking six through 10 in the next mock draft. I'm a little nervous about throwing out those names six through 10. Does that, does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
now the long-term risk of that is like come on please don't do this cooper because like i listen yes he could get hurt playing either place next year but one place would be one year at 11 million if they were able to go get that amount and in the nba it would be four years you know whatever guaranteed money guaranteed money and so i'm just like money wise please don't do this even though like
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Um, some of those guys, we still got a month to evaluate them, all of that, where you get to the end of the first round and I'm like, okay, I really liked this guy into the first round, top of the second, stuff like that. So the rest of the lottery is, is a little all over the place for me. I will throw out a name.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I'm not saying he's my favorite guy, but if you want like star potential, there's two names. I think that you take swings on. One is Trey Johnson at Texas who had a huge game last night in an upset win. The dude can get buckets and you talk about like a, he has a very difficult shot diet at six, six. And again, it's like, okay, is that a positive S or is that a negative?
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Like, is there a reason that he's not able to get easier shots for himself and isn't able to get to the rim and finish? And does he have the speed, but he can make shots. Like I guarantee you that, you know, he can make shots and then it's what's the rest of his game. Completely other side of the spectrum here. Common model. Watch Cooper flags. Teammate. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Big man who I thought was going to be like a top five pick. Like he was the guy that I pegged to like, Hey, I really hasn't shown all of the things I was excited about. But you talk about size, you talk about a big man, potentially spaces the floor. floor, eventually defense, all of those things, movement, mobility.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Like that's another, like, if you just want to get about excited about upside and ceiling, those are probably the two names in this range compared to some other names that are like, this guy's going to be really, really solid. Like Liam McNeely, I think is going to be a really good pro, but he may not like excite your fan base because he's going to come in and be your leading score or something.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
If they're drafting at seven or something like that, like, That's higher than some people have him on their board, but I think that would make sense for them. Does Toronto need to add what I just said in Liam McNeely, who is one of the best shooters in the draft, does way more than that, or Con Canipple, another Duke player. Great name. Incredible name.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Do they need, do they need Jaguar at, you know, out of BYU, another, you know, a guy that needs the ball in his hands, but may not be able to shoot. Do they need to add any of those guys? Right. Maybe they're Toronto is the team that's better off taking common. And that's where I say like, I don't love having some of these names at six, seven, eight on my board.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
But when you talk about team specific, it's like, okay, this makes it Derek queen is another name that like, yeah, really intriguing player.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Probably my hardest evaluation. I don't know what to think, but it's like, Okay, you have this like interesting big who can pass and do these things. All right, send him to Golden State. I love that. Like, let's see, like, let him go there and figure it out and contribute to that. So I think that range in the rest of the lottery is really going to come down to a lot of fit type stuff.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Not solely, but I think a lot is like, hey, You know what? We're a team. Liam McNeely makes a lot of sense. Just come in, be really solid, make shots, be a good defender. That's what we can add to our team, and that's what we would value this year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
My thing is, if you're a prospect and you want to go to OKC, I don't want to go to OKC. I would tell my agent, listen, I realize it would look good for me that Sam Presti drafted me. How do I get in the rotation there? How do you play? You know what I'm saying? Like, uh, I was thinking the other day, like, could they draft a guard?
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I am a little bit of like the old school would love to see guys love college basketball, stay in college basketball, all of that. I just don't see any way that it makes sense. And like he's consensus number one right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
And then I was like, no, they have topage sitting on the bench recovering from injury on top of everybody else. So no, I don't, don't, don't draft me. Okay. See, I want to go somewhere where I'm going to get a chance to play. And that's obviously a compliment to Schleck's Oklahoma city thunder.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I appreciate it. I enjoyed a chance to talk some NBA drafts. Thank you very much.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
And also like... Do you think they could go get the money? That's what I would be most interested in.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
That would be my thought as well. Like this isn't a high school recruit. This is a kid averaging 20 a game right now. Could you go get him? Like we know schools can raise seven figures, right? We've seen it for guys that aren't even close to as good as Cooper. That was that aren't. aren't living up to those numbers and not the same exposure and the same name and any of that stuff.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
We're talking five times though. That's at least six times. Almost. I would be, I would be fascinated to see if he said like, Hey, You know, Shire, I'll stay, but you got to match what my rookie year money is in NIL. I think you're right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
It's a great question. We'll talk about some of the other guys as we go throughout. I think coming into the year, I actually had ace Bailey in a similar tier with Cooper and, Because I think ACE is a like NBA prototypical idea of a wing, right? Like what you're looking for. We'll talk about ACE later.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
As it turned out, to start the year, when Cooper was struggling a little bit offensively, and that's where the questions were, it was actually Dylan Harper who was hooping at Rutgers, Ace Bailey's teammate. And I think there was a point there where Cooper never left number one on my board, but it was actually Dylan that May was in the same tier as him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
And for me, tier means, okay, if me and you are in the same tier S and a team is drafting... I would understand if they took me over you, if my skillset made more sense than your skillset made. Right now, Cooper Flagg should be the number one pick for all 30 teams in the NBA. There's no question in my mind. He's in his own tier on my board, number one pick, and it doesn't matter who's picking.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Now, are there teams that maybe he fits the roster better and all of that? Sure. But what he's done offensively is what has risen him
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Yeah, so I still want to start with the defense and the impact he can make on that end of the floor. I think Cooper Flagg is, if you want to assign a position, to me, he's like a natural four that can play some three, right? He has some versatility there. I don't know that he's like your all NBA level point of attack defender. I don't know that he's that, but...
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
But he has this big time athleticism, off ball rotator, low man. Like we always talk about those low man rotation rim protection guys, right? I think that is Cooper. I've watched him do it in high school. For those that don't know, he played at that awesome Montverde team last season that had
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
If you follow the draft, Derrick Queen, Liam McNeely, these other guys that are all big time players as well, Asa Newell, all of those guys are potential lottery picks in their own right. And that's part of why the offensive question marks were there was he played on this insanely talented offensive team. Here's what's impressive about Cooper.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I really look at conference play numbers S because when you get it, I think a player can surprise people. The first 10 games of the season, you can come into a college season and scouting reports, not as out. You haven't had time. You get into conference play. Everybody's a known quantity. I think the rotations ratchet up teams, right? He's averaging 20 to a game on 54, 47, 85 overall.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Almost seven free throw attempts over four assists. I was looking at the synergy numbers. I don't always go to the numbers, but like catch and shoot, he's at 39%, whether it's guarded or unguarded on dribble threes. He's at, excuse me, those numbers. Yeah. Right at 40% dribble jumpers. He's eight of 20. So he's doing a little bit off the bounce. It's just like, A lot of those offensive questions.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
And here's the thing that's exciting offensively. I've seen him run the ball screen as a handler. I've seen him run it as a screener. He can pop. He can roll. He can go play in the dunker. He can stand in the corner, knock down a three. He's a great cutter. And here's the last thing. He plays really hard. And he, like, for a star, a superstar, he'll dive on the floor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
He'll do all the little things. He'll play his ball. Like, he does all of the intangible things as well.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Okay. So like I said at the top, I think I want to be clear. He should be the pick for all of these teams, right? A hundred percent. Right. Just because Toronto has BI and Scotty Barnes and RJ Barry. I don't think if they get the number one pick, they should be like, you know what? We're actually going to take right. Right. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
You know, so-and-so they should, but because of that roster, I'm like, okay, Toronto don't love it as much. I'm not saying the Wizards shouldn't take him because they have Alex Saar, but I think that'd be interesting fit. But I'm like, okay, that, that would be, I think where he really slots in are actually places that have four men.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
But I think it's like, Hey, you move on from those guys and let Cooper flag be the guy. So it's either the Pelicans. And it's like, you know, how funny would that be? Kind of like, it would be very funny. You move on from Zion, the most recent big time Duke guy for Cooper Flagman. Like, okay, let him and Trey Murphy and Misi and whoever else, let those guys build out this thing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Or in Charlotte, I think him and Brandon Miller complement each other very, very well. That would be very fun. forward combination. I would have said Mark Williams two weeks ago, but I don't know what that means for him anymore. Um, and then obviously you have LaMelo ball there as well. So I think those are the two teams for me that it's like, I would go ahead and move on from miles bridges.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I'd go ahead and move on from Zion Williamson. I'd let Cooper flag come in. Um, Utah would be interesting, but those are the teams that stick out for me, I guess, are those two.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
It's funny you say that we'll get a chance to watch these guys in the tournament because two of these guys will not be in the tournament, most likely, which makes it very, very interesting. I find myself go. I did this last year with who was Colorado. Colorado had Cody Williams, Tristan Da Silva and KJ Simpson. And throughout the year, they struggled at times.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
And I'm like, can all three of these guys be first round picks if their team isn't? And so my point is Rutgers is like right around 500 right now. and may have the two best players in the draft after Cooper flag. So I will give you my four names in the next tier and then we can go wherever you would like.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Correct. Yes. So these guys would be Cooper is the first pick for all 30 teams. Yeah. Whoever gets number two between, I would draft one of these four guys, no matter what, but I would factor in like, oh, we have this roster. We need a ball handler. This guy makes more sense or we really need, you know, whatever. So Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper at Rutgers. Okay. Casper's Yaka Jonas at Illinois.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Okay. And then Vijay Edgecombe has moved back into this tier, the wing at Baylor, guard wing, whatever you want to call him, at Baylor. So those are the four guys that I have in this next tier. These are the other four guys I'm pretty excited about.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Yeah, so Harper is like your on-ball primary creator type of player. He shot the ball better so far this season than what I thought he was going to. Now, if you look at the numbers, you're like 33% from three. I wasn't expecting a lot. Now, I will say this. He is one where the conference numbers have dropped a little bit. He's down to 30% from three. So it's one of those, I think,
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
At the end of the year, you go back and evaluate. It was like, did he just have a hot shooting stretch? You know, is there because there were questions around the jumper. He has a nasty, nasty in and out hesitation dribble. He he has a strong body. He's not super explosive as but he gets to the rim. He gets to the paint using this kind of creative but practical handle.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
And then this really, really nice body control. And then the defense is good. Like that's one thing with this top five is. there are some ace probably has the most defensive questions, maybe Casper as well. But as we mentioned with Cooper defense is going to be a calling card for him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
I don't know that it's a calling card for Dylan Harper, but I think Dylan Harper is very good on the defensive end as well. So just kind of your on ball crew, primary creator, good size, really good size, right? Like he's not like six foot or something like that. Defends really like how much do you believe in the jumper with Dylan Harper? I think is what it's going to come down to with teams. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
It's funny. Here's what makes me feel better about doing NBA draft. I've got to know scouts from different teams over the last couple of years. And like, I'll talk to a scout about a player and one will be like, oh, he's a lottery pick. And then the other one will be like, he's, you know, he's a second rounder for me. And I'm like, oh, okay.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
Well, this makes me feel better that, you know, sometimes my guys are in different spots than other guys. I've had scouts be like, we had a whole sample size to evaluate a shooting. We're not, I think at the combine, it's, I think maybe you can evaluate confidence mechanics, some stuff like that, but we're going to get, well, let me pull up as totals here. You know, we have 103 point attempts.
The Athletic NBA Daily
NBA Draft Check In | Cooper Flagg's best fit?
We have 130 free throw attempts from Dylan Harper to really evaluate. What is the jumper? I will mention he's 74% from the line. I've had plenty of people tell me in the actual like NBA and media realm of NBA draft that that free throw percentage is a, not a better, but a very good indicator indicator, right? Yeah. You know, just in terms of touch and those types of things.