With the Dallas Mavericks opening at 0-2, people are questioning Jason Kidd’s decision to start Duke rookie Cooper Flagg at point guard.
Actually, he calls him point forward, but potato potahto.
”I wanna go on the record really emphatically. This ‘Flagg playing point guard thing is f****** stupid. It’s stupid. Stop, [Dallas coach] Jason Kidd… We know you lucked out with the lottery… But this is not the right way to bring in a kid who’s not even 19, and who doesn’t know what kinda basketball player he is yet, but he clearly is special. You’re putting all this extra stuff on him that I think is ridiculous… Play D’Angelo Russell and Nembhard, who cares?”
Obviously this wouldn’t be an issue if Kyrie Irving wasn’t rehabbing from ACL surgery, but he is.
What’s fascinating to us is the wild swings in the Flagg hype machine. One day, he’s overrated. The next day, he’s the next great star.
We take the point that Quinn Everts makes in the Smoking Cuban, that you don’t want to overburden the kid, but on the other hand, you can’t get many better point guard tutors than Irving and Kidd.
Still, they are asking an awful lot from an 18-year-old.