I like the comp for Cooper being Grant, especially Grant's senior year. I think the ball will be in Cooper's hands a lot this coming season. I just hope he doesn't force things like Flip and Banchero did at times. The ball needs to move and so do the players. Too many times last season the ball slowed down with needless dribbling and the shot clock became our enemy. I think Coach Scheyer will take advantage of the talent he has at his disposal this season.
From everything I've been reading about Cooper, it sounds like one of his main hallmarks seems to be not forcing things. I've heard a lot about him looking for teammates and not caring if he's the one who scores, as long as the team wins.
www.cbssports.com
Interesting. This is the highest I've seen Evans mocked. I guess Kyle Boone is not expecting him to be our 9th man behind James, Gillis and K2.Kyle Boone of CBS Sports is a little late to the party, but still about 10 months ahead of schedule. His first attempt at a 2025 mock draft:
Way-too-early 2025 NBA Mock Draft: Duke's Cooper Flagg a solid top pick, Baylor's V.J. Edgecombe goes No. 2
Duke and Rutgers have two top-10 prospects in Kyle Boone's first mock draft of the 2025 cycle
1. Cooper Flagg, Duke
9. Isaiah Evans, Duke
11. Jalil Bethea, Miami
15. Ian Jackson, UNC
19. Drake Powell, UNC
21. Khaman Maluach, Duke
22. Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest
29. Donnie Freeman, Syracuse
30. Jaland Lowe, Pittsburgh
Interesting, Evans has not been praised as much by his teammates like K2 has. Cooper has said playing time will have to be earned.Interesting. This is the highest I've seen Evans mocked. I guess Kyle Boone is not expecting him to be our 9th man behind James, Gillis and K2.
If anyone put money on K2 being listed higher on mock drafts than Khaman 6 months ago, they would've probably made BIG money. The K2 hype train doesn't seem to be slowing down...
The draft prognosticators all follow @SkyBrickey !
I've seen Kon referred to as Baby Luka out on social media several times. I didn't share that because I knew I'd catch grief on here. But now that someone has him mocked in the lottery, what the heck...
Haha.
I think those two are not necessarily related. They're very highly correlated, to be sure, but we've seen plenty of examples in the recent past of guys who didn't play traditionally starring roles in college get drafted very high based on their projects or the different role they'd serve in the NBA. The best example of this in my eyes remains Scottie Barnes, a guy who didn't start at FSU (although he played 20+ mpg if I recall), but got drafted No. 4 Overall and has been a major success story.
Yes, agreed. That's why I set my over/under at 14mpg and not 24mpg.
Just checked and Sheppard played 29mpg and Dillingham played 23mpg.
I'm not saying it's likely at all, but I'm saying I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility given the recent trends. We're starting to see more guys who play in the low 20 minutes per game get into the lottery (including our own Dereck Lively). That's a huge shift from even 5 or so years ago. With the increasing need for "specialists" in the NBA, if there isn't a clear high caliber prospect in the late lottery, I can see a scenario (even if it's low probability!) in which a guy who also was a specialist, but a hyper-efficient one, in college could get drafted. Not saying I'd agree with that strategy either, but it's not as outlandish as it would've been 10 years ago.
Fair enough. It's not too tough to see a scenario where Kon comes off the bench and has a Dillingham kind of impact and goes in the lottery.