Charlotte Hornets fans hoping that Cooper Flagg won't be as good as advertised to cope with losing out on the first overall pick may have to brace for disappointment. His visit with the Dallas Mavericks has seemingly only proven that Flagg might be the generational talent that people expect him to be.
A league source revealed to The Smoking Cuban how the presumptive No. 1 pick was "unreal" and a "complete beast" during his workout. There don't appear to be holes in his game, showing why teams were right to try to seek the highest odds to win the draft lottery this year. Charlotte was one of the three clubs that owned the biggest percentage of securing the first overall selection.
Unfortunately, luck wasn't on their side, falling to the No. 4 spot.
Perhaps some Hornets fans had thought that a nice consolation would have been Flagg turning out to be overrated. But if the recent report about him ends up being true, it would rub salt into the wound of a franchise starving for a savior in the form of a potential superstar.
Cooper Flagg would have been everything the Hornets need and more
According to The Smoking Cuban, the Duke University product has continued to improve his shooting, which was once deemed his major weakness. After hitting just 22.2 percent of his 3-point attempts in his first 10 appearances in college, he performed much better in his final 26 games, where he converted 44.7 percent of his shots from downtown. Cooper has apparently been working in the lab, as evidenced by his lights-out shooting during the draft combine and his workout with the Mavs.
Flagg's ability to play off his teammates and create his own shot would have been perfect for a squad headlined by LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. Moreover, his impressive defensive prowess, particularly as a help defender, would have allowed him to cover for Ball and Miller's deficiencies on that end of the floor.
Unfortunately, there's no use crying over spilled milk for the Hornets. Still, one can't help but wonder, especially after reading positive reports about Flagg, what could have been had the ping-pong balls favored them during the draft lottery.
Charlotte will definitely try to make the most of what it has been given in the draft. Even though it missed out on a generational talent, the team can still land a game-changing prospect.
For now, the front office might be zeroing in on any of VJ Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, and Kon Knueppel. Ace Bailey should have been part of its choices, but recent developments have shown that it might be best to steer clear of the polarizing forward. It's one thing to miss out on Flagg, but drafting a bust would make things much worse for the Hive.