Cooper Flagg could trigger Brooklyn Nets rebuild through Draft: ‘That’s how you end up with Tatum and Brown’

Go ahead and "Waive the White Flag for Cooper Flagg ."

That's what the Brooklyn Nets should do to trigger their latest rebuild, according to former NBA Coach of the Year Sam Mitchell.

"If I get the first pick and get Cooper Flagg, I would be patient like Boston and just build through the draft," Mitchell, the 2009 NBA Coach of the Year, said this week during an interview with SNY's Ian Begley on SiriusXM NBA Radio. "That would be my idea because that's how you end up with [Jayson] Tatum and [Jaylen] Brown."

Mitchell was referencing how the Celtics began engineering last year's NBA championship by drafting Brown with the No. 3 pick in 2016 and Tatum with the third pick a year later.

Another former Celtics great, Kevin Garnett, referred to Flagg as a "bad-s, cold a- white boy" in an episode last month of the "Ticket & The Truth" podcast hosted by Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Entering the 2024-25 NBA season, the Nets are No. 1 on Tankathon.com in terms of odds to land the No. 1 pick in the Draft, widely expected to be Flagg, the uber-talented 6-foot-9 Duke freshman who made his Blue Devils debut Friday night during "Countdown to Craziness." Brooklyn has a 14% shot at the top pick, along with Washington and Detroit.

"Brooklyn or Washington or Charlotte will probably end up with the best odds," one NBA scout told NJ Advance Media. The Hornets are projected as the fifth pick per Tankathon, with a 10.5% shot at No. 1.

The Nets are expected to be one of the NBA's worst teams this season after trading away Mikal Bridges to the rival Knicks in the wake of sending Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden out on GM Sean Marks's watch.

In the Bridges deal, the Nets got four unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031). Brooklyn also owns two picks in 2026 , when AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer are expected to highlight another loaded draft.

Mitchell compared the Nets' current situation to where the 76ers were entering "The Process," in which they tore their team down to the studs before rebuilding around Joel Embiid. The Sixers still haven't been past the second round of the playoffs with Embiid, and are hoping their new "Big 3′′ of Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey can take them deep into the postseason.

"You're looking at at least three, four years," Mitchell said of the Nets' next rebuild. "Look how long it took for Philadelphia to do it with 'The Process.'"

He added: "If you go to bare bones and let's say you get lucky and get Cooper Flagg, OK you got Cooper Flagg. Now you gotta wait two, three more drafts. Cooper Flagg will be on his second contract - or getting close to his second contract - before the Nets look like they can even win. And you're going to be getting ready to pay him big money, and your team still ain't going to be ready to win...That's what you got in store for the next 4-5 years because you only draft two players a year, and one of them [is] in the second round."

SNY's Begley suggested Brooklyn "would be aggressive in trying to accelerate this thing if they got a Flagg" by trading draft picks for "quality veterans."

"I think there's a pathway for them to speed it up," Begley said.

But Mitchell countered, "Would you really do that again?"

The Nets went all in on a "Big 3′′ of Durant, Irving and Harden and it got them nowhere - although they did lead the Celtics 2-0 in the first round of the 2021 playoffs before injuries to Harden and Irving submarined their run.

This season, the Nets have some pieces, including Ben Simmons, who is in a contract year and says he's healthy following a history of back problems.

"I feel great, and I put a lot of time and work in," Simmons said recently.

But the Nets don't want Simmons to be too good, or for the team to win too many games, if they're going to "Go in the bag for Cooper Flagg," "Lag for Cooper Flagg" or "Lollygag for Cooper Flagg."

Mitchell said the Nets need to "commit" to a rebuild centered around acquiring multiple draft picks, with Flagg hopefully leading the way.

"When you go through a total rebuild, you don't have a choice," Mitchell said, "because you put yourself in that position....Once you go down that road and strip it down to the bare bones, you don't have a choice.

"You gotta commit to it."