2025 NBA draft scouting report for Cooper Flagg: Blue Devil fills up the stat sheet
In his second college game against Army, Cooper Flagg continued his winning ways. Despite playing just 25 minutes due to cramps, Flagg stamped himself in Duke’s blowout win. He’s a positive play machine, filling up the stat sheet and impacting winning without boosting his numbers.
Flagg tallied another solid if unspectacular stat line — 13 points (5/10, 57% true shooting), 11 boards, three assists, two turnovers, two steals and three blocks. After a fairly quiet debut defensively (by his standards); Cooper resumed his dominant defensive ways.
Key observations from Cooper Flagg's second game
Cooper Flagg is a juggernaut on defense
He can dominate offenses purely deafening the outside, but Flagg’s rim protection is his defensive superpower. His explosive vertical athleticism, movement skills and instincts make him a demonic weak side rim protector. On one of the first plays of this game, Flagg soared above the rim to swat this shot:
When Flagg’s teammates lose their matchups, he’s always looking to rotate over, cleaning up mistakes. That verticality shines with Flagg’s ability to high-point shots many players can’t reach.
Against smaller teams like Army, Flagg’s size and athleticism should let him thrive as a post defender. His opponent tried to fit a hook shot over Flagg to no avail here, his size and length overwhelming:
Even when Flagg defends the perimeter, he’s still able to block shots. His aggression and instincts translate to the perimeter, especially against smaller players. Flagg barely gets a hand on this three-point attempt, blocking the shot and earning his team another offensive possession:
Flagg continued his success defending the ball in his second college game. Against smaller guards, Flagg has the size and quickness to contain their drives. When players attack Flagg on the ball, they often have to pass the ball out, as the guard does here:
Sometimes, players will drain contested shots over Flagg. Even lower-level college basketball players are phenomenally talented and this will continue at the NBA level. But Flagg rarely gives up easy looks, forcing his opponents to live on tough shots over his outstretched arms:
Flagg can resort to ball-watching off of the ball at times. This is understandable given Flagg’s special recovery tools, especially against high school aged competition. At the college and NBA level, freshmen often struggle defending off of the ball because of their lack of awareness and feel as a team defender.
This isn’t the case with Flagg of course, but he’s still susceptible to falling asleep at times. Flagg’s controller turns off and he allows an easy driving lane, but his teammate is able to recover and erase Flagg’s mistake:
When Flagg locks in off of the ball (as he usually does), his instincts and athleticism let him clog passing lanes. Flagg digs in on the drive to force a pickup and deflects the pass out to the corner after the drive stalls:
Cooper Flagg's offensive tools are a complement to his defense, but there are gaps
Despite not filling up the score sheet, Flagg’s playmaking feel was on full display against Army. His three assists don’t tell the full story, as Flagg’s teammates missed quite a few shots off of his passes.
Early in the game, Army committed significant defensive attention to Flagg. Teams will double and triple team Flagg throughout the season to limit his scoring and Flagg has the passing chops to punish those defenses. Here, three defenders converge on Flagg, so he kicks to the near corner for an open three:
Despite a shooter wide open in the corner one pass away, Army is content sending two bodies at Flagg. He’s fully aware of his immense gravitational pull and is more than content making simple passes to generate wide-open looks for his offense:
His processing speed stands out, as Flagg rarely delays in making passing decisions. When he catches the ball, Flagg doesn’t typically let defenses recover and set up. Take this play for example, where Flagg skips out to the perimeter as multiple defenders sink on him. Flagg then grabs the offensive board and makes another pass, creating a second great look:
It’s worth noting potential missed reads that players don’t hit even on otherwise positive plays. On the above possession, he had the opportunity to pass to his teammate wide-open on the opposite side, but elected not to.
That same situation arises on this next pass, where Flagg maintains his handle driving around the baseline before kicking out to the wing. Khaman Maluach claps his hands hoping for the ball, but Flagg doesn’t see him and elects for a different passing option:
Cooper Flagg's handle and shooting lack cadence
Flagg’s handle will be a critical component of his eventual offensive ceiling, so seeing him control it deep into plays is encouraging. He still isn’t perfect here, attempting to score in the post but losing his handle out of bounds:
Without a dynamic handle, Flagg often resorts to his size and touch to create offense for himself. This floater isn’t a bad shot by any means, but Flagg should be able to create easier shots with his size and physicality against smaller defenders like the one who checks him on this next play:
After missing all four of his three-point attempts against Maine, Flagg went 2/4 from beyond the arc against Army. He maintained his volume, willing to fire away without hesitation. On this play, Flagg has a bit of space and nails the trailing three:
Flagg’s willingness to attempt movement threes helps his off-ball upside. Even when the shots aren’t falling, Flagg is willing to attempt these high-level shots:
He should eventually have a big scoring game, but Flagg will dominate games in other ways regardless. His all-around impact will continue to make Flagg an elite prospect for the near future.