Cooper Flagg & Kon Knueppel Battle for ROTY

All right, last thing, I know you wanted to talk about this and let you take the lead on the Rookie of the Year as we're kind of closing the season.

Cooper Flagg has been out for a little while.

Seems like he's gonna be out for a little while longer, which has opened the door for his teammate in college, roommate in college, K Knipple, who I think is one of the great picks that, of that draft.

I mean, maybe he was always earmarked for that pick, but, you know, I, I thought he'd come in.

Typical white guy comparison, be a good shooter and he is.

I didn't think he'd be this good off the dribble.

I didn't think he'd have this well-rounded game.

Um.

It is, has he moved ahead of Cooper Flagg on your ballot?

Well, look, he, I've seen some odds where he's ahead , and I do always like to say oddsmakers are only setting odds where people are betting their money.

So it's not really the bookies in Vegas aren't like, hm, I really think that kind of nipple has got something.

They're like, oh, more people are putting money down, so we have to shift the odds.

So that being said, I think it is a real race.

There was some hope, um, by people like me who are not in the Dallas Mavericks medical staff that, you know, we'd be able to see the head to head.

I think they played Tuesday night, right?

Um, head to head, and I would love to have seen that.

They've said he's doubtful for that game.

Uh, Mark Stein had that, you know, he, things are improving and he could be coming back.

I think a lot of it will depend on sort of how much he ends up playing for the rest of the season, things like that.

I still think Cooper Flagg is probably going to be the better all-around player.

Like the, the tools he has, and when he's been on this season, even as a rookie have been just remarkable what he has done, what he has shown us.

I think he's got everything.

He's, he's got everything he needs in his basketball bag.

But Konkannipple is having not just one of the greatest shooting.

Seasons for a rookie.

He's having one of the greatest three-point shooting seasons ever, ever, and this is a league with Steph Curry in it.

And I, I just think that when somebody sets a precedent and, and moves a line so far.

You've got to give him a really serious look and Charlotte in general, if you look at their recent games records, I mean just and you don't have to go back 3 games, you can go back 30 games, 40 games probably like they, the turnaround there has been remarkable and he's been a huge.

Huge part of that because in a close game, someone who can just get you those extra 33 pointers, right?

Who's 11 of whatever instead of 8 of whatever.

I, I just, it's invaluable.

It can put you ahead, it can get you those close wins and I just.

I have been really impressed by him.

Yeah, I think he's gonna have a good chance.

I look, I think Cooper Flagg is gonna be the better player.

I, that's what I mean you like you were saying, gonna get stronger.

He's got a more well-rounded game, more athletic, um.

That does the things defensively, of course, but as far as this year for Rookie of the Year, I think you vote for?

I don't know who I'd vote for.

I don't know right now, but I can see where it's going.

Like Konkanipple, Conkanipple is gonna play minutes the rest of the year.

Like Charlotte's at number 10 right now.

They're only 3.5 games back of 6, so they're gonna be gunning for.

Every win coming down the stretch.

Dallas, not so much.

Dallas is gonna be going the other direction.

So if there's a hangnail on Cooper Flagg, they'll be like, you know what?

Why don't we sit this one out, give it a break.

Um, yeah, I, I think it's heading in, in his favor.

Right now, I feel like if I had to vote in this moment, I'd probably vote for Cooper Flagg, but I think with 20 plus games to go, when we get there to the middle of April, it's gonna be Conkca Nipple.

I think he's gonna win that Rookie of the Year.

I still like Flag again, overall, but.

That's a good pick for Charlotte.

They've got a nice little mix there.

I mean, I don't know what Brandon Miller's ceiling is.

Can he be the #2 guy or even the #1 guy?

He's played great.

He's like, I've talked to a lot of coaches about him, and they, they're not sure what to make of him either, long term.

Like he's been good this year.

LaMelo, what is he as this team starts to win?

Can he be kind of a winning player in that situation?

He, but I think you should give him credit.

He has been doing a lot of winning things with this team.

And look, I, I think I'd be able to stay healthy over the years.

Yeah, well, health is one of the things.

And 2, when you have a bunch of guys.

We're not getting into that.

We have a bunch of guys around you that you don't feel are gonna really be a huge ingredient in you winning a lot of basketball games.

You do the stupid stuff.

You take the crazy 3 early in the shot clock.

I, I get it.

I get it.

The one-footed triple is his go to, but I think you're less likely to do that kind of stuff if you feel there's an infrastructure around you that you're responsible to.

Like, I'm not sure LaMelo has been responsible to his teammates in this way.

Before this, because, you know, he was just always since he got there, you know, the, the focal point of the team, and now it is really a team effort in that group and I think that he's got guys he's responsible to, which I'm sure he welcomes and also he's got guys where he doesn't have to do it.

He doesn't have to do everything himself.

So I, I don't know.

I'm impressed by Charlotte.

I think Charlotte, Milwaukee, I like the idea of them duking out from the bottom to try to get up into the playoff chase here and, um.

You know, I, I think the rookie of the race here got really interesting and it is a great example of we never know because you can have every single person I saw do picks prior to the season, every single one pick Cooper Flagg for Rookie of the Year, and now we don't know.

And if you didn't.

I don't think you were picking Conkan nipple at number 2.

You're probably taking VJ Edgecombe.

There wasn't, it didn't.

I, I'm, I'm telling you, I went back and looked at some of them.

I have, I have, I cannot.

I'm sure there's someone out there who will now send the receipt, and that's fine.

I'm telling you that when I look through this morning that has the the Celtics at like 50 and exactly.

Well, that I would actually like to see.

I would say this.

What's the number?

50 games, 40?

What, what do you want to say?

45?

What's the number of wins that you, we will, we will shout you out on the pod by name.

If you send us the ticket from what, what do you want to say preseason, I would say let's say 46.5. If you got, if you had the Celtics going over 46.5 on wins, I will shout you out.

You can, you, we will dial, we'll find a way to dial you into the show so you can tell us why you, you made that, that comment.

I'd, I'd like to see that for sure.

And I don't know if there is anyone just like I'm sure someone's out there somewhere picked not Cooper Flagg for Rookie of the Year, but I looked through this morning and I couldn't find it.