LAS VEGAS — When Cooper Flagg acquired the decision from Group USA government director Grant Hill that he can be a part of the Choose Group right here at Group USA coaching camp forward of the Paris Olympics — changing into the primary school participant in additional than a decade to participate in camp — he wasn’t anticipating the distinction.
“I used to be fairly shocked simply because it is not like a standard factor,” Flagg advised ESPN Sunday, after scrimmaging towards the star-studded males’s nationwide staff for the primary time. “So I used to be positively actually honored and simply excited that I had this chance.
“If you concentrate on it, you are capable of study from … when you take a look at their staff, it is no person higher. So it is simply being come out right here and study, it is a nice expertise and I am actually simply humbled and I am actually grateful and blessed that I used to be chosen.”
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Flagg, who will play for Duke this fall, is a 6-foot-9 ahead and is projected by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo to be the No. 1 decide within the 2025 NBA draft — a loaded class that a number of groups appear to have taken steps over the previous few weeks to arrange to tank for.
The 17-year-old put up eye-popping numbers within the Nike EYBL League — averaging 26.8 factors, 12.4 rebounds, 5.2 blocks and 4.7 assists per sport. He led Montverde Academy in Florida to a 30-0 file and a nationwide title along with collaborating within the Nike Hoop Summit and different highschool all-star video games.
Consequently, Group USA tapped him as the primary school participant to participate in coaching camp since Marcus Good and Doug McDermott did again in 2013 — and, based on Choose Group coach Jamahl Mosley, he greater than slot in.
“Nicely, I hadn’t been round him, so simply assembly him and speaking to him the primary day in apply the opposite day, you’ll be able to simply see the quiet confidence that he carries with himself,” Mosley, the Orlando Magic head coach, advised ESPN. “His capability to know what he is able to doing, but additionally the humility of understanding, ‘OK, I am nonetheless attempting to determine a few of these issues out at this stage,’ however he is not afraid of it. And that is what, that is one factor you’ll be able to inform straight away.
“[He has a] excessive basketball IQ, robust, prepared to study,” Mosley continued. “He will get to the spots that he must for a shot quite a bit, capable of get to the rim, nice contact on his shot.
“I imply, he can play. There isn’t any in between. There’s me saying, in many alternative kinds, he can simply flat out play.”
For his half, Flagg admitted that — at the least initially — he was awed by the second when he stepped onto the court docket in a scrimmage for the primary time Sunday.
“At first I used to be somewhat bit blown away after I first walked up right here,” Flagg mentioned, “however then as soon as the ball went up, it is basketball to me on the finish of the day.
“We’re all actually good gamers, and I’ve all the time regarded as much as all people on that staff. However as soon as we began taking part in, it was simply competing.”
Flagg’s dad and mom had been readily available to look at him take part — he mentioned he was comfortable to have them participate within the expertise with him — as was Jon Scheyer, his coach at Duke, the place he’s more likely to spend just one yr earlier than getting into the NBA. Flagg mentioned he would use his time on the camp to study as a lot as he can from the assembled stars he is getting ready to seemingly be part of within the league a yr from now.
There’s lots to soak in for a prodigy who is not turning 18 till December, and who was born whereas Kevin Durant was in his freshman season on the College of Texas, and LeBron James was already in the midst of his fourth NBA marketing campaign.
“I feel it is every part,” Flagg mentioned, when requested what he can study from this expertise. “Simply the way in which they conduct themselves, the way in which they deal with themselves, how they deal with their our bodies, how they put together.
“It truly is a studying curve and one thing that you need to study it and you need to type of take it from different individuals and simply type of construct your routine. So I feel simply going to see all their routines, type of seeing how they work together with the trainers, all people, and simply seeing how they put together.”
