Bill Simmons eviscerates the Mavericks for Cooper Flagg experiment

Cooper Flagg was never going to get much time to acclimate to the NBA; no No. 1 pick does. But Flagg might have even more pressure than the typical top pick, as he's replacing a beloved superstar in Dallas. That pressure, combined with a positional change to point guard, has angered lots of Mavericks fans... and Bill Simmons of The Ringer, who said:

"I wanna go on the record really emphatically. This 'Flagg playing point guard thing is f****** stupid. It's stupid. Stop, Jason Kidd... We know you lucked out with the lottery... But this is not the right way to bring in a kid who's not even 19, and who doesn't know what kinda basketball player he is yet, but he clearly is special. You're putting all this extra stuff on him that I think is ridiculous... Play D'Angelo Russell and Nembhard, who cares?

Frankly, I agree (mostly)! In fact, I wrote about this exact scenario just a few days ago. Simmons' disdain stems mostly from Flagg being used improperly and how much extra pressure that adds to his already full plate — both fair assessments.

The strangest part of this whole situation is that Kidd definitely knows Flagg's talent won't be maximized at the point guard spot; he's a good coach, he has to know what he's doing. And while the trial by fire approach can be successful, it's unnecessary here. There will already be plenty of fire if he's playing small forward.

The Cooper Flagg experiment is universally hated

I'm afraid that our hate only makes Jason Kidd's desire to run Flagg at point stronger. Our pleas fuel him. Our begging only brings him a twisted sense of joy.

Okay, that's probably a little hyperbolic. And Putting Flagg at point guard, in theory, makes sense. I know what Kidd is going for here; if the 6-foot-9, super-skilled forward can also be the team's best playmaker, that would lead to some pretty exciting things. But I'm with Simmons here — every time Flagg steps on the court, he's being thrown into the fire just because of the massive weight of expectations. Why throw him into another fire by changing his position off the bat? Two fires? In this economy? While we're on the verge of a climate catastrophe?

Flagg will eventually start looking more comfortable with the ball in his hands and making plays for others. But that won't vindicate this decision. So please, Jason, put him at forward, start D'Angelo Russell (I'm not fully with Simmons on playing Nembhard regular minutes yet, but I get the thought process), and let Flagg develop. Tossing him at a new position for the sake of seeing if it works is something you do with a player a few years into their career in, like, January, to switch things up. Not to start their career.

Maybe in five years, Cooper Flagg becomes a 6-foot-9 point guard and he and Wemby run the NBA. But can we let Flagg become a good NBA player before trying to force that?