Mike Schmitz has tracked Cooper Flagg for years, and his latest comments show why Dallas believes it already has the foundation of its future.
When Mike Schmitz talks about Cooper Flagg, it does not sound like a general manager talking about his franchise player. It sounds like a scout who has been watching the same player for four years and is finally getting to work with him.
In a recent interview with Christian Clark of The Athletic, Schmitz explained exactly how long he has had his eye on Flagg. He has been watching him for years through the EYBL circuit while he was a teenager. He also talked about when a 15-year-old Flagg helped lead the United States to a gold medal at the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup in Malaga, Spain, while averaging 10 rebounds, 2.9 blocks and 2.4 steals per game.
By the time Flagg was a freshman at Duke, Schmitz had already been building a file on him for the better part of three years.
“Just super impressive so far,” Schmitz told Clark. “The level of talent, the attention to detail, the competitiveness, the way he carries himself. He’s not a typical 19-year-old. That’s one of the many reasons I’m so excited about all we can do here in Dallas.”
Clark asked whether anything from Flagg’s rookie season caught Schmitz off guard. Schmitz did not lean into the idea of being surprised. What he said instead was more revealing.
“It’s just to see a guy at the time be 18 years old, then 19 years old, to be able to have such a winning impact,” Schmitz said. “Usually, even with a No. 1 pick, it takes some time to impact winning. He has a lot of traits you see from veterans. This isn’t just a young guy putting up numbers. He’s actually impacting winning. That’s very rare.”
The numbers from Flagg’s rookie season reinforce exactly what Schmitz is describing. He averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game and led Dallas in all four major statistical categories, making him just the second player since steals became an official stat in 1973-74 to accomplish that as a rookie, joining Michael Jordan in 1984-85. He also became the youngest player in NBA history to score 50 points in a game.
Most executives spend their first years in a GM role searching for the cornerstone to build around. Schmitz walked into Dallas already knowing who that player is, already knowing what he is capable of and already knowing how far he can go. The head start matters more than most people realize.
