What Jon Scheyer said about Duke freshman Cooper Flagg’s impressive work against US team

Understandably, Cooper Flagg needed a mental adjustment when taking the court to play against LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Steph Curry and the other NBA greats.

What makes the 17-year-old Flagg a phenom is how quickly he made that adjustment this week in Las Vegas.

“You could see it, the second day, he was a lot more comfortable,” Jon Scheyer, who’ll coach Flagg at Duke this season, told the News & Observer on Friday.

Scheyer wasn’t alone in seeing how the 6-foot-9 Flagg performed for the U.S. select team during its practices against the U.S. Olympic team. Video clips of his play — hitting a 3-pointer, getting back on defense, running a fast break then acrobatically finishing a teammate’s miss — caught the basketball world’s attention.

“To be able to do what he did, not even playing a college game, let alone an NBA game, there’s no fear,” select team forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Miami Heat said, according to the Associated Press. “It’s relentless. And the thing that you can tell about him is that he just has a knack and the will to win. He doesn’t need the ball. He just finds a way to it. And the ball finds its way to him. That’s something that you can’t teach. He’s just got a great feel for the game.”

Flagg is the centerpiece of Scheyer’s incoming freshman class, which is ranked as the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class. Scheyer spent the spring reworking the Blue Devils roster with older transfers joining the talented freshmen, aiming to best take advantage of Flagg’s ability to score inside and out, while also defending and passing at a high level.

Accompanying Flagg to Las Vegas and watching him, as the only college player, play with NBA players made as strong an impression on Scheyer as it did the NBA players.

“The resiliency that you have, right?” Scheyer said. “It would be easy to defer and not be yourself. He just has that combination. He has good confidence about himself, but also humility with understanding a lot of other really good players, and these are the best players in the world. Being on the floor with them was an awesome opportunity. But he was willing to do whatever needed to be done, meaning defending, rebounding, just the total part of his game and how he can impact. So I think that’s just a credit to him.”

U.S. Olympic team player and Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant, a 14-time NBA All-Star and former league MVP, didn’t take the court against Flagg. But he still saw plenty.

“I wish I would have went up against him in practice,” Durant told reporters during an interview in Las Vegas “But from watching him on the sidelines he looked like a helluva player, somebody who’s just gonna only get better with experience. Seventeen years old coming in here and playing like he’s a vet almost. No emotion. Just going out there and doing his job. That’s a good sign.”

During an interview with the Associated Press while in Las Vegas, Flagg admitted just getting the invite to compete caught him off guard.

“I was shocked, I was surprised, and I was really excited for this opportunity,” Flagg said. “And I’m just really blessed that I was able to come out and capitalize on it and show what I have. I was really grateful to come out and learn. That was the biggest thing for me, just being able to learn and grow, to share a gym with all of these great, great names. Legends. So, I’m just truly blessed.”

Flagg’s long list of skills has him already projected to be the No. 1 pick in next summer’s NBA Draft after he plays one season at Duke. His play for the select team only solidified that opinion.

“He kicked butt here,” U.S. select team coach Jamahl Mosley of the Orlando Magic said, according to the Associated Press. “There’s a respect factor for what he’s done. People who have not seen him play, as he gets himself going within the game, they quickly see what he can do.”

Flagg traveled from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, where he received Gatorade’s best male high school athlete of the year award at Thursday night’s ESPY Awards show. Now he’s heading back to Durham to rejoin the Blue Devils in their summer practices.

“The opportunity, it was great,” Flagg told the Associated Press in Las Vegas. “It was a blessing to be here. I think just the physicality, and just the level of where I want to get to, there’s a lot to get better at, a lot where I need to keep improving. This showed just how big the details are.”

Flagg’s experience in Las Vegas, Scheyer said, will only help him be an even better player — for the Blue Devils and beyond.

“Just the way he competed and his feel stood out,” Scheyer said. “But then, just, his humility. Understanding he’s got a long way to go. He’s got a lot to work on, a lot of things to get better at and he’s just a guy that plays to win. And so for me, I was proud watching him, and just proud of what he did and how he competed.”