The Dallas Mavericks are less than a week away from kicking off training camp in advance of Cooper Flagg’s second season in the NBA. Flagg’s personal trainer, Matt MacKenzie, sat down with RG.org to discuss what Flagg has been up to this offseason and what we can expect from his pairing with Kyrie Irving in year two. The discussion was a deep dive worth reading in its entirety, however a few key points stuck out and all of them should make Mavs’ fans excited for what is to come.
The offseason regimen
MacKenzie indicated that Flagg has been going hard all off season. In so doing, Flagg managed to go coast-to-coast throughout the summer, with time spent in California, Texas and Maine, amongst other locales. Of particular note is Flagg’s time spent in Dallas where he developed some familiarity with his new teammates and coaching staff.
“He spent a lot of time in Dallas with getting acclimated to the new coaching staff and some of his future teammates. He’s learning a little bit about what they’re all about. So it’s been a really good offseason.”
A young player having the wherewithal to do this is a great sign. Putting aside the sheer magnitude and duration of work, Flagg was smart to spend some of that time in Dallas. Plenty of players have their own plans for the offseason, both personal and professional, and there is nothing wrong with that. Training camp is a great way to get to know new faces and new systems. Getting a leg up on that as Flagg has done will surely pay dividends, making training camp less of an introduction and more of a continuation.
Refining his game
Virtually every NBA player that has enjoyed sustained success in the league has done so by way of adding to their game every offseason. Mavericks’ fans are intimately familiar with this concept after 21 years of Dirk Nowitzki. It appears that in his first chance, Flagg is proving to be cut from the same cloth. In what MacKenzie describes as a well thought out, collaborative and thorough process, Flagg is adding to his game in a variety of ways. Most intriguing of those is the three-point shot.
“He’s taking not only 3s off the catch, but also 3s off the dribble. He’s using a variety of different screens and actions to get him into different shots.”
Flagg had an outstanding rookie season, good for Rookie of the Year honors. He arguably outperformed even the more ambitious expectations that came with being the #1 pick, but one area of his game clearly needed work. Flagg shot only 29.5% from beyond the arc in his first season. The long ball was an area of some concern for the Mavericks as a whole, with the team only shooting 34.4% against a league average 36%. Flagg was excellent at driving and had a solid mid-range game, so adding a deep threat could be the first steps toward becoming nearly unstoppable, to say nothing for what it will do for the team’s offensive schemes.
The dynamic duo
One of the most exciting things about this upcoming season is the return of Kyrie Irving. To this point, we’ve only been able to imagine how the two players would come together, but now we’re only weeks away from seeing them in game action. There remains some concern here, too. This is clearly Flagg’s team, but Irving is an established veteran player and a star in his own right. He’s proven before that he can share the spotlight and even defer and it’s looking like that will be the case again.
“I know that Kyrie has a ton of respect for the player that Cooper is. Just like Coach May, he wants to continue to help Cooper take that next step in his career… They’ve had a chance to spend some time together on the court and in workouts when they’ve played pickup a little bit. I think they really enjoyed playing with each other.”
Many wanted to see Irving traded in the offseason, but this shows one of the key reasons Masai Ujiri was wise to keep him around. Irving brings plenty to the court and nearly (perhaps more) as much off the court in mentorship. The last thing the team needs is to stymie Flagg’s growth or limit his opportunities on the court in his second year. With Irving as his cohort, that should not be a problem. Irving is a natural leader and a great co-lead that will surely take pressure off Flagg as his game continues to develop. The fact the two are already spending some time together and gelling nicely is an excellent sign of things to come.
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