The new season is only 9 days old, and already the Rookie of the Year award has become, somewhat surprisingly, a two-player race, following VJ Edgecomb’s great start in Philadelphia. At the same time, Cooper Flagg’s uneven showings in his first games as a pro offer an opportunity to examine the Dallas Mavericks rookie’s start to the season.

Let’s be clear: for someone who won’t even turn 19 until December 21, the Duke product’s opening weeks have been more than solid, given the small sample size. Naturally, his start has also come with its share of issues and growing pains, which we’ll get to shortly.

Before diving into Flagg himself, we have to talk about the team that drafted him. The Mavericks are not your typical team picking first overall - they’re much better than that, which in theory should have made Flagg’s adjustment easier. In practice, though, Dallas’s roster structure complicates things for him.

With Kyrie Irving sidelined, their backcourt depth is almost nonexistent. Until Dereck Lively’s injury, the Mavs were starting games without a true point guard, splitting the role between P.J. Washington (the team’s power forward during their playoff run two years ago) and Flagg. Alongside them is a heavy front line with Anthony Davis and Lively, meaning that aside from Klay Thompson, the starting five is made entirely of forwards.

That creates problems in shot creation and spacing. Recently, D’Angelo Russell has seen more minutes at guard, Brandon Williams got a run against Indiana, and Max Christie has started while Lively remains out. Jason Kidd seems to be realizing that he needs real guards - and Cooper Flagg isn’t one.

Through five games - again, small sample size - Dallas has been one of the league’s worst offensive teams. They rank 28th in points per game (107.2), 28th in points per possession (0.935), 26th in three-point percentage (31.5%), and 29th in threes attempted per game (29.6). While much of the league is trending toward faster pace and full-court pressure, inspired by the Pacers’ success last year, the Mavericks play an old-fashioned brand of basketball built around a heavy frontcourt - partly a result of Anthony Davis’s insistence on playing power forward.

So how does Flagg (13.4 ppg) fit into this complex structure? First, it’s already clear what he does well and what he doesn’t. Predictably, he thrives in transition, averaging 1.35 points per possession. He’s high-motor, relentless, fearless - the virtues that made him a lock for the number one draft pick for almost 2 years. The open floor also gives him most of his highlight plays, like these.

In the halfcourt, things get more complicated. Flagg has shown flashes even as a lead guard - particularly against Toronto. That’s partly because of who was defending him: the Raptors currently rank 29th in opponent points per shot (1.21, via Synergy). Flagg had little trouble attacking rookie Collin Murray-Boyles, drafted for his defense, and wasn’t fazed by Scottie Barnes or Immanuel Quickley. Here, he attacks early in the possession and dishes a nice alley-oop to Lively.

Against Indiana, he again used a mix of speed and strength to beat Ben Sheppard off the dribble, creating separation with his shoulder and hammering home a dunk.

Here, Flagg uses a Davis screen, traps Quickley with a hostage dribble, and lobs it to Davis for the finish.

When Flagg tries to create in space, his go-to move is a spin dribble. It can be highly effective - like here, against the heavier Murray-Boyles - when he keeps the dribble alive and finishes softly at the rim.

But the spin dribble can also be a double-edged sword. Too often, Flagg commits to finishing the spin with a poor mid-range shot, as seen in this instance against Indiana, settling for a tough elbow jumper.

Or here, where his limited court vision during the spin leads him straight into two defenders. Those technical flaws help explain his 0.727 points per possession in half-court offense, per Synergy.

Flagg’s struggles as a guard and half-court creator were most apparent against Oklahoma City. The Thunder assigned him two elite defenders in Lu Dort and Cason Wallace. Instead of reading the floor, as he did against softer defenses, Flagg spent possessions just trying to protect the ball. A shoulder injury surely didn’t help.

This play captures it perfectly: he tries to initiate a pick-and-roll, Dort deflects the ball, Flagg collects the ball, drives too early, and ends the play with an airball under pressure from Isaiah Hartenstein’s contest.

As for Flagg’s shooting, we’ll leave it brief: he’s 26.7% from three so far. Teams are going under screens against him, but that’s a weakness most players of his level learn to fix as they mature. The shot will come.

The final clip shows a rare action from Dallas’s early games: Flagg on the weak side during a Russell-Powell pick-and-roll, cutting behind Aaron Nesmith, and translates Russell’s pass for a reverse layup.

Plays like that should happen more often - and probably would on a team with more creative guards. In a different setting, Flagg could start possessions off the ball, attacking from the corner instead of being the focal point of the defense. In that sense, his early career arc resembles Aaron Gordon’s: in Orlando, Gordon was a pseudo-point forward forced to create on his own, a poor fit, before thriving in Denver as a slasher and secondary scorer alongside Nikola Jokic’s gravity. Flagg’s starting point is better than Gordon’s ever was, and both his creation and shooting will improve significantly.

For now, he’ll hope Jason Kidd gives him more minutes at the small-forward spot and that Dallas finds a more balanced lineup - at least until Kyrie Irving returns. No player will benefit from the point guard’s comeback than Flagg himself.