Mavericks' Jason Kidd details ‘uncomfortable' summer league plans for Cooper Flagg
Kidd knows what kind of skillset the No. 1 pick brings to the table, but he emphasized on Friday that the upcoming NBA Summer League will be a chance for Flagg to expand his game in a role that's atypical for him.
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'I don't look at the position,' Kidd said. 'I want to put him at point guard. I want to make him uncomfortable and see how he reacts, being able to run the show.'
The 6-foot-8 forward has just about everything in his bag of tricks as a player, but running as the primary point guard would certainly be creative for the former Duke star.
While it's an experiment that likely wouldn't carry over too much into the regular season, especially with Kyrie Irving eventually returning from his ACL injury, Kidd is excited to see how his rookie would respond.
'We want to push,' Kidd continued. 'And I think he's going to respond in a positive way. It's all right to fail. It's all right to turn the ball over. We've talked about that.'
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Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban is on the same page with Kidd, too.
Cooper Flagg and Jason Kidd spoke to media at Flagg's introductory press conference Friday. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Cooper Flagg smiles during his introductory press conference. AP
'I'm sending a text to J-Kidd, I'm like, 'point guard, point guard, point guard, let him bring the ball up,'' Cuban said Friday, detailing Flagg's potential with Dallas. 'Cooper at point guard, Klay (Thompson) at the two, P.J. (Washington) at the three, [Anthony Davis] and then [Dereck Lively] and (Daniel) Gafford — we're going to have the biggest team in the NBA.'
With veterans all throughout the Mavericks' roster, the former Duke phenom projects to have a comfortable workload in the regular season as opposed to a massive one that a No. 1 pick may typically get — but this challenge from Kidd should keep Flagg extra busy in the summer league.
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And there may not be a better current coach in the NBA to learn point-guard skills from than Kidd, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest pure point guards of all time.
Kidd, who coached the Bucks from 2014-2018, mentioned that he employed similar tactics when coaching Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose playmaking prowess has greatly progressed over the years.
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