Projected No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg was ‘hesitant’ in Duke debut, coach says

Projected No. 1 NBA Draft pick Cooper Flagg was “hesitant” in his Duke debut Friday night, but head coach Jon Scheyer “liked seeing him in a Duke uniform.”

The 6-foot-9 Cooper played his first minutes in a Duke jersey during the school’s “Countdown to Craziness.” He finished with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 1-of-3 from deep, with three rebounds and three assists.

“I thought Cooper tonight was being a little hesitant, and just getting a feel for things,” Scheyer said. “And that’s the beauty of Cooper, is he’s such a team player and he has such a great feel for the game, I don’t want him to defer, though.”

He added: “You can see for us how important he is, how many different ways he can impact winning, blocking shots, passing, scoring…Cooper is incredibly easy to play with, he just makes the game very simple for everybody else on the floor. And I liked seeing him in a Duke uniform tonight.”

Flagg, the Newport, Maine product who chose Duke over UConn, was greeted by a sea of Cameron Crazies as he entered the arena to play his first minutes there. He is the face of Duke’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class and will be trailed by an army of NBA scouts all season.

“Incredible environment,” Flagg said. “You can’t really describe it, the feeling when you’re out there playing.  It was a great feeling, just to be out there and get my first feel in Cameron.  I can’t wait [to play another team].  I look forward to that every single day.  I’m just trying to get better in practice and looking forward to getting somebody else [to play against].”

Flagg is projected to be the No. 1 pick of the draft, but Rutgers freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, who will also be followed by a slew of NBA scouts all season, figure to challenge him.

“I’m going into this year with an open mind about who the No. 1 pick might be,” one NBA executive recently told ESPN. “This is how mistakes are made: getting anchored to an opinion and then closing yourself off to new, much more important information that we’ll be receiving in the coming months seeing how the season plays out.

“I need to see if Cooper Flagg is indeed a No. 1-type offensive option who can be expected to carry a team at some point in his career, or if he’s more of a superstar role player who is better suited as your second- or third-best player. Every year there are surprises, new players pop up and others take an unexpected leap.”

Naismith Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett has chimed in on Flagg, calling him a “bad–s, cold a– white boy” in an episode last month of the “Ticket & The Truth” podcast hosted by Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Flagg was asked by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony to react to the comments.

“It was definitely kind of a surreal feeling,” Flagg told ESPN in an interview. “Because being a Celtics fan, obviously he is a big Celtics figure.”

Flagg and Duke take on Lincoln (Pa.) in the first of two exhibitions inside Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 19.

On Oct. 27, Duke hosts New Jersey native Bobby Hurley and his Arizona State squad in the ‘Brotherhood Run’ charity exhibition game. All proceeds from the event will benefit Duke Children’s Hospital.

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.