The Flagg-Knueppel debate is fun… but it misses the point

There is an interesting debate about Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel. In short: Is Knueppel seriously underrated and perhaps better than Flagg?

Well, maybe, maybe not. More specifically: who cares?

The main thing is that they complement each other. And after three trips we get a much better idea of ​​how it works.

Overall, Knüppel is much more focused on goal and he’s really good at that. In particular, he is good at three-point shooting. But you also start to get the impression that he doesn’t mind driving, which is good because in a week or so all the boys will be on his heels. Nobody wants to get burned by a guy who shoots like that (crazy thought: he was reportedly thinking about Virginia. That worked out well for him).

Flagg won’t necessarily score like Knueppel, but his impact on the game is pretty remarkable and what’s extremely cool is that his focus appears to be on one thing: winning.

One of the best plays in the win over Maine was watching Flagg dive for a ball when the game was long over. Not everyone would do that in a time that was essentially garbage.

What you’ll see from Flagg is more nuanced. He will get a rebound where it is needed. He will pass the ball to someone who can get the ball to someone in scoring position. It will make someone think twice about driving. He will change the shots.

He’s 6-9, he can run and he’ll defend hard. Much of what he does will fly under the radar.

We’re not comparing him to Bill Russell by any means, but there’s a play from his time in San Francisco where he was chasing a fastbreak and made a very small adjustment that allowed him to change his path. He said only his teammate KC Jones, who later was also a Celtics teammate, understood what he had done.

Flagg is a fascinating talent and he too will do things that most of us don’t fully realize.

The most important thing about these two, however, is that they play well together, and that seems to be the case. And that brings up another interesting parallel: great Duke teammates with great chemistry.

The first set featured Art Heyman and Jeff Mullins. The second was Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard. The third was probably Jason Williams and Chris Duhon. One of our favorite stories from the 2001 championship team was Williams telling Duhon that one of his dreams was to throw the ball up after winning the title. Duhon remembered and gave him this moment.

All of these teammates did something special: they made each other better. If Flagg and Knueppel can do that, neither of them will care who is better because they will help make Duke a truly formidable team.