The team that inspired Cooper Flagg
11/11/2024 05:55 PM
Cooper Flagg just got his Duke basketball career started last week, and he will more than likely be the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. He’s that good. It didn’t take scouts long to realize that Flagg was a special talent as people have been anticipating his arrival into the NBA for awhile. That time is coming, and one NBA team that has had a big impact on Flagg is the Boston Celtics.
The Boston Celtics are currently the defending NBA champions, and they are one of the most storied teams in league history. Cooper Flagg grew up in the Northeast, and his parents, Kelly and Ralph, have always been big Celtics fans. When they got DVDs of the 1985-86 team, Flagg couldn’t stop watching.
“In third grade, just before Christmas, Kelly and Ralph bought DVDs of the 1985-86 Celtics,” An article from ESPN said. “Flagg would lie on the living room floor in front of the TV and watch the games on a loop, one full game after another. They later saw him looking up YouTube highlights, and they bought more DVDs — on Larry Bird, on Bird versus Magic Johnson. ‘Did we want that to influence the way my kids learned the game and saw the game?’ Kelly asked. ‘Absolutely.’ Kelly and Ralph would point out how Bird was the star and could score whenever he wanted, but look how he dove for loose balls, set concrete screens, found open teammates.”
There are a lot of things that have shaped Cooper Flagg into the player that he is today, and the Celtics definitely played a role.
“Online, the buzz about his performance is spreading,” The article said. “As he sits back in a chair, he says his versatility at his size comes from his parents not forcing him to play the center position even though he was often the tallest kid on the court. It allowed him to gain more experience on the perimeter, he says, to add more facets to his game. He thinks of his basketball belief system, and how it ties back to those principles that his parents preached, straight from those 1985-86 Celtics.”
Something else that had a big impact on Flagg growing up is the idea that Maine couldn’t produce elite basketball players. He wanted to prove that narrative wrong, and so far, he has done a good job.
“I felt like I had something to prove and I always use that to help just keep my head down,” Flagg said, “But I think I’m just trying to represent the state in a good way more than trying to prove something at this point.”
Now, Cooper Flagg is with the Duke basketball team, and while he has only played a couple games, he has been as advertised.
Flagg is already one of the best players in college basketball, and he is the favorite to win the Wooden Award. He will more than likely be the first player to hear his name called when the NBA Draft rolls around, and who knows, maybe one day he’ll end up playing for the Celtics.
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