There’s this somewhat unique arrangement Cooper Flagg has worked out with the Dallas Mavericks, but – to properly understand it – we first have to go back.
Back to Bangor, Maine. Back to 2019, when Flagg was in the sixth grade.
His parents had been looking for someone to guide Flagg, who was then 12, as a basketball player. Always the standout, he was already drawing interest from national programs, so the objective was simple: to maximize his potential in a state relatively devoid of elite basketball talent.
And so, the Flaggs found this coach named Matt MacKenzie and walked into his gym, though gym, frankly, is doing a lot of work.
Something between a garage and warehouse with tile floors and a hoop, it’s where MacKenzie soon realized he’d have to invent drills – think micro shot clocks and one-on-one games where Flagg was restricted to a single dribble – to match his unicorn intensity.
