If there was one player not on the official Team USA Olympic roster that made an impact, it was Duke University star Cooper Flagg who was impressive as a part of the select team. Due to clips surfacing on social media of Flagg playing well in scrimmages against the actual Team USA lineup, people were speculating that he should be on the team even without a lick of NBA experience as Grant Hill gives his thoughts on the matter.
Hill is an important voice in regards to Team USA as he is the managing director of the national team where he made an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” to talk about not just the upcoming opener, but about Flagg's showcase on the select team. Patrick would ask “Was Cooper [Flagg] good enough to make the Olympic team?” which sparked Hill to give a blunt response.
“No, he had a good day, he had some good moments,” Hill said. “He’s going to have a great college season I hope, but I know he’ll have a great NBA season, but no, he had a good day, he had a really good day. That was documented on social media, people saw the clips but he still has some growth to do, and I think that he would acknowledge that as well. He may be a guy that’s in consideration in 4 years, we’ll see.”
Grant Hill believes Cooper Flagg has “got all the tools” to be a great player
Flagg was on the select team which is a group of basketball players that help Team USA prepare for competition in the Olympics as he was the only one that is an incoming college freshman which shows how high of a prospect he is before attending Duke. Dan Patrick would then ask Grant Hill “How close is he to being great?” which saw the former player sing the praises of the 17-year old incoming Blue Devil.
“I think he is great, he’ll be a great college player,” Hill said. “I think his game might even resonate or translate better on the NBA stage. He’s young, he’s 17, so he’s still learning. Sometimes when you’re young you have no fear, you don’t even know you’re supposed to be scared. He’s got all the tools, he’s got the mental makeup too. He has some nasty in him, he’s not afraid.”
Flagg was “surprised” when invited to be on Team USA select team
There is no doubt that it is a high honor to be on the select team which joins other young NBA and G-League players and since he has not played college basketball yet, Team USA sees immense talent in the prodigy from Newport, Maine. Even Flagg himself was “pretty surprised” for the Team USA select team invitation according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“I was pretty surprised just because it's not like a normal thing,” Flagg said earlier this month. “So I was definitely really honored and just excited that I had this opportunity. If you think about it, you're able to learn from … if you look at their team, it's nobody better. So it's just being come out here and learn, this is a great experience and I'm really just humbled and I'm really grateful and blessed that I was selected.”
At any rate, it remains to be seen if Flagg will ever be a part of the Olympics with Team USA, but if there is one thing for sure, he made his mark and will continue to do so with the Duke basketball program and hopefully in the NBA. Team USA's opener is scheduled for Sunday morning as they face Serbia.
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