Anthony Davis' three-pointer over the top, whoosh. Jrue Holiday's baseline turnaround over the top, easy. An acrobatic put-back after crashing into the boards and getting fouled by Bam Adebayo, no problem.
They are the three best defenders in the NBA.
Cooper Flagg is 17 years old. He stood his ground against them all and held his own.
The talk of the U.S. Olympic basketball team practice on Monday was Flagg, who has yet to even play his first collegiate game. The Duke freshman was part of a select group invited to practice with the Olympic team during training camp and is widely believed to be a potential No. 1 pick in next year's draft, and seemed totally at ease playing against some of the NBA's biggest names.
“It was a great opportunity,” Flagg said. “I'm blessed to be here. I know there are a lot of areas I need to get better at, both physically and to the level I want to get to. There are a lot of areas I need to continue to improve in. This just goes to show how important the little things are.”
He will probably get better, which may be a scary thought.
“He's had a big run here,” Orlando Magic U.S. All-Star coach Jamal Mosley said. “You have to give him credit for that. Even if you've never seen him play, when he gets going in a game, you can see right away what he can do.”
The Select Team, typically made up of young NBA players who are called up to practice with the national team and help prepare for the World Cup or Olympic Games, is the first college player to be asked to be part of the Select Team since Doug McDermott and Marcus Smart were asked to attend minicamps in 2013.
But it was a far cry from where Flagg was when he came to camp. McDermott had played 110 games at Creighton and was a two-time All-American. Smart was coming off a freshman season at Oklahoma State where he won Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year honors. They were already proven players.
Flagg had zero grades in college, but he still showed his true potential at this camp.
“That's what he wants,” U.S. guard Devin Booker said, “and I know he's going to take this experience and move forward.”
In Monday's practice game, the Olympic team beat the Select Team 74-73, but Flagg was in the middle of every move late on and looked very calm. After the game, we took lots of photos with everyone. The Select Team's last day of camp was on Monday, but some may be invited to stay to continue supporting the Olympic Team.
“I have no fear that he can do that without even playing an NBA game, let alone a college game,” said Miami Heat select team forward Jamie Jaquez Jr. “It's relentless. The thing about him is he just has the talent and the will to win. He doesn't need the ball. He just finds a way to get it, and the ball comes to him. That's something you can't teach. He just has a great feel for the game.”
Flagg is a 6-foot-9 forward from Newport, Maine, but played his final three years of high school at Montverde Academy in Florida. He chose Duke over Connecticut and was named USA Basketball's 2022 Male Player of the Year after leading the U.S. to a gold medal at the U-17 World Cup and was named Gatorade National Player of the Year, Naismith Player of the Year and McDonald's All-American in his final high school season.
“I was shocked. I was surprised. I was so excited about the opportunity,” Flagg said. “And I was so lucky to go out there and take advantage of it and show what I can do. I'm so grateful I got to go out there and learn. For me, the biggest thing was learning and growing and training in the same gym as all the greats, all the legends. I was so lucky.”
