Voisin of Sacramento Bee: Cousins must be traded

[crimson_stallion]

A standout quote from the article:

While this doesn't seem like a major issue at face value, the fact that Cousins was the player involved in the incident has left people talking.

Sounds about right.  Major issue or not, as soon as Cousin's name is mentioned, it becomes major.

[jdz101]

But the regular season continues until April 13, and Cousins, who returns Sunday from his latest one-game suspension, figures to be in a bear of a bad mood. His recent social media postings suggest that he is the aggrieved party. According to Divac, his six-year veteran was “not happy” when he was sent home before practice Friday for berating George Karl during Thursday’s game against Cleveland and directing another profanity-laced tirade at his head coach later in the locker room.

Sadly, this latest development is far from an anomaly. Cousins bullies teammates and chews up coaches for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Paul Westphal. Keith Smart. Tyrone Corbin. George Karl. All four were disrespected by their best player and attempted to discipline him in the usual manners: fines, suspensions, kicking him out of practice, removing him temporarily from the starting lineup. Even current Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who connected with Cousins during their one-plus season together, couldn’t prevent his temperamental star from repeatedly blistering referees and exceeding the league-imposed limit (15) on technical fouls; the result was a one-game suspension at the end of the 2013-14 season.

Cousins has 15 techs already this season, with four weeks remaining.

When Karl was asked Friday if the relationship between the two was salvageable, he said bluntly: “I can’t answer that question. Hopefully, we can communicate, and it gets to a good place.”

Totally sounds like a guy I want on my team.



Cancerous. Its not like this year is an outlier for that sort of behavior either.

[LooseCannon]

KG was never the offensive player that Cousins is.

I'm looking at the numbers and I am just not seeing any evidence of this.

I'm not sure why you are struggling so much.

In KG's entire career he has averaged 21+ Points Per 36 only twice - in 04/05 and in 05/06. Cousins has already managed that in four out of six seasons.

KG's career high was 22 Points Per 36 - Cousins has just put together three straight seasons of 25, 25 and 28 points Per 36.

As far as offensive efficiency, KG has a career average of 1.23 Points Per FGA.  Cousins has a career average of 1.26 points Per FGA and hasn't even reached his prime yet. 

That number is only going to go up since he added a three point shot, as evidenced by his 1.32 Points Per FGA this year.

Cousins' career Free Throw Rate of 45.2% is in an entire other realm compared to KG's of 29.3%. 

In fact Cousins' lowest ever FTR was an outstanding 37.3%, and KG has matched that only 3 times in his entire career.

Cousins has now added the talent of being a legit three point thread, which makes him quite possible THE most deadly inside-outside threat in the NBA.  KG has three point range, but he was never a real threat from there to the point where defenders really had truly respect it, or coaches had to truly gameplan against it.

KG is probably one of the greatest midrange shooting bigs ever to play the game, one of the best passing bigs ever to play the game, and he was also an excellent finisher around the basket.  However his game as also very strongly focussed on finesse and athleticism, and as his physical abilities faded, so to did his ability to consistently carry an offense.  In his later years in Boston he rarely played in the post, instead tending to settle for long midrange jumpers - which he did hit at a nice rate, so that allowed him to remain effective (if not dominant) offensively.

Cousins doesn't rely on quickness and athleticism - he's all about size, power, skill and brute strength.  That stuff sticks with you as you get older, so I feel he will probably age better than KG if he learns how to control his emotions.  The ability to overpower guys in the paint combined with his ability pass and step out to the three point line is an impressive combination - it should allow his game to age very gracefully. 

When looking at KG's stats you need to be very careful not to be caught up in raw numbers.  KG played in an era where teams were not stacked like they are now, and so start players tended to play massive minutes.  Like many guys at the time (Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, etc) KG was playing up around 40 minutes a night during his prime years, and that elevates his production.

Now days barely anybody plays those kinds of minutes, and Cousins tends to be only around the 32-34 MPG level.  Once you adjust for minutes played, KG's scoring numbers are not even close to DMC's.  You're talking about a guy who peaked at 22 Points Per 36 versus a guy who is currently average 28 Points Per 36 - that's offensive production on a whole other level.

Just because he takes more shots than KG doesn't  mean he's a better player. He takes more shots and hits them 3 %-5% worse than KG.
KG also took an insane amount of long jumpshots as you mention.
His combined offensive and defensive impact are nore valuable than Cousins and lead to more wins.
Kevin Garnett is a better iverall player than DMC.
Both incredible players, but  KG's defensive impact and VORP destroy Cousins. That's not to say DMC is a bad defender,  KG is top 5 all time defense whilst scoring at a better FG%.

That's what the points per field goal attempted was about.  Cousins takes more shots, but scores more per attempt, partly due to three pointers, and largely because he gets to the line a lot more than KG (something that even as a fan of his I wish he was better at).  I love KG, and would take him over Cousins at any equal age, but Cousins is better on offense.  KG's defense and leadership more than make up for it, but Cousins is a fantastic scoring big man.

Points per field goal attempt is flawed because you are giving excess credit for free throws.  Ideally, you want to consider a trip to the line as the equivalent of a field goal attempt.  True shooting percentage is a better single-stat measure of offensive efficiency than points per field goal attempt because of this.

Additionally, scoring is not the only aspect of offense.  When you consider other things such as passing and look at assists and turnovers, I don't think you can say that Cousins is a better  player on offense at the same age.

[clover]

But the regular season continues until April 13, and Cousins, who returns Sunday from his latest one-game suspension, figures to be in a bear of a bad mood. His recent social media postings suggest that he is the aggrieved party. According to Divac, his six-year veteran was “not happy” when he was sent home before practice Friday for berating George Karl during Thursday’s game against Cleveland and directing another profanity-laced tirade at his head coach later in the locker room.

Sadly, this latest development is far from an anomaly. Cousins bullies teammates and chews up coaches for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Paul Westphal. Keith Smart. Tyrone Corbin. George Karl. All four were disrespected by their best player and attempted to discipline him in the usual manners: fines, suspensions, kicking him out of practice, removing him temporarily from the starting lineup. Even current Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who connected with Cousins during their one-plus season together, couldn’t prevent his temperamental star from repeatedly blistering referees and exceeding the league-imposed limit (15) on technical fouls; the result was a one-game suspension at the end of the 2013-14 season.

Cousins has 15 techs already this season, with four weeks remaining.

When Karl was asked Friday if the relationship between the two was salvageable, he said bluntly: “I can’t answer that question. Hopefully, we can communicate, and it gets to a good place.”

Totally sounds like a guy I want on my team.



Cancerous. Its not like this year is an outlier for that sort of behavior either.

Yeah, he's lost me. I was all for taking him if available and counting on Brad and the team to turn him around. But even with his baggage he'd be too expensive to take that risk on, now I"m thinking.

[jdz101]

Philly - Okafor: -495
Lakers - Russell: -362
Suns - Knight: -173
Nets - Lopez: -124
Twolves - KAT: -123
Pelicans - Davis: -189
Kings - Cousins: +19
Knicks - Carmelo: -40
Nuggets - Gallinari: -101

Considering the numbers for most guys over 6'10 in the nba:

A positive point differential of 0.3 per game whilst on the court is pretty meh.

Players like Jokic, Gobert, Meyers Leonard, Cody Zeller, Mahinmi, Favors all do better in that differential. Its not like they're studs or on dominant teams.

Last year at a positive differential of 1.1 whilst on the court is a little bit better but still meh.

I get your argument that hes a little flower growing in a pile of crap, but using his pithy positive point differential to justify him being a massive get in a trade doesnt really fly.

This years differential could be back where melo's is with a couple of bad games.

[Roy H.]

Philly - Okafor: -495
Lakers - Russell: -362
Suns - Knight: -173
Nets - Lopez: -124
Twolves - KAT: -123
Pelicans - Davis: -189
Kings - Cousins: +19
Knicks - Carmelo: -40
Nuggets - Gallinari: -101

Considering the numbers for most guys over 6'10 in the nba:

A positive point differential of 0.3 per game whilst on the court is pretty meh.

Players like Jokic, Gobert, Meyers Leonard, Cody Zeller, Mahinmi, Favors all do better in that differential. Its not like they're studs or on dominant teams.

Last year at a positive differential of 1.1 whilst on the court is a little bit better but still meh.

I get your argument that hes a little flower growing in a pile of crap, but using his pithy positive point differential to justify him being a massive get in a trade doesnt really fly.

This years differential could be back where melo's is with a couple of bad games.

You're cherry-picking here.  I looked at all the teams near and below the Kings in the standings, and showed how rare it is for a low lottery team's best player to have a positive point differential.  What you did is something different all together.

Favors (who is, in fact, a stud), Gobert, Zeller, Mahimi, and Leonard are all on teams either slated for the playoffs, or within one game of a playoff berth.  They all play for teams that rank in the top-14 of team point differential.  Its not shocking that guys who play on good teams would outscore their opponents.

Jokic is the only example of a guy with a positive point differential on a bad team, and he's only averaging about 21 points per game.  Again, that's not an apples to apples comparison.

And, it's not like being 6'10" somehow guarantees a positive point differential.  Did you overlook the guys I cited?  Anthony Davis, Brook Lopez, Jahil Okafor, etc.?  All are 6'10", all are their team's best player, all play on bad teams, and all are being wildly outscored when they're on the court.

The Kings are a bad team.  Yet, the Kings outplay opponents when he's in there (and get killed when he's off the court).  That speaks to his impact. 

As I've mentioned previously, ESPN's "RPM" stat tries to take stuff like this into account, with their "Real Plus Minus" stat.  Cousins has been top-12 the last two years.

[jdz101]

Philly - Okafor: -495
Lakers - Russell: -362
Suns - Knight: -173
Nets - Lopez: -124
Twolves - KAT: -123
Pelicans - Davis: -189
Kings - Cousins: +19
Knicks - Carmelo: -40
Nuggets - Gallinari: -101

Considering the numbers for most guys over 6'10 in the nba:

A positive point differential of 0.3 per game whilst on the court is pretty meh.

Players like Jokic, Gobert, Meyers Leonard, Cody Zeller, Mahinmi, Favors all do better in that differential. Its not like they're studs or on dominant teams.

Last year at a positive differential of 1.1 whilst on the court is a little bit better but still meh.

I get your argument that hes a little flower growing in a pile of crap, but using his pithy positive point differential to justify him being a massive get in a trade doesnt really fly.

This years differential could be back where melo's is with a couple of bad games.

You're cherry-picking here.  I looked at all the teams near and below the Kings in the standings, and showed how rare it is for a low lottery team's best player to have a positive point differential.  What you did is something different all together.

Favors (who is, in fact, a stud), Gobert, Zeller, Mahimi, and Leonard are all on teams either slated for the playoffs, or within one game of a playoff berth.  They all play for teams that rank in the top-14 of team point differential.  Its not shocking that guys who play on good teams would outscore their opponents.

Jokic is the only example of a guy with a positive point differential on a bad team, and he's only averaging about 21 points per game.  Again, that's not an apples to apples comparison.

And, it's not like being 6'10" somehow guarantees a positive point differential.  Did you overlook the guys I cited?  Anthony Davis, Brook Lopez, Jahil Okafor, etc.?  All are 6'10", all are their team's best player, all play on bad teams, and all are being wildly outscored when they're on the court.

The Kings are a bad team.  Yet, the Kings outplay opponents when he's in there (and get killed when he's off the court).  That speaks to his impact. 

As I've mentioned previously, ESPN's "RPM" stat tries to take stuff like this into account, with their "Real Plus Minus" stat.  Cousins has been top-12 the last two years.

I just think it's a cop-out to say on the one hand that the guy is a god-like talent, but on the other absolve him from blame for his team being awful.

 If he really is destined to be the best player on a contender, then why isn't he making a better go of it with a passable coach and some decent teammates.

Yes the Kings are bad, yes the situation isn't perfect, but it's not like he acts as a consummate leader when the going gets tough. It's literally the opposite. He acts like an abusive alcoholic whos 6 weeks into an anabolic steroid cycle.

I mentioned guys that are average to good centers on average teams with far better on court differentials playing cousins' position, which is what Sacramento SHOULD be. They should be an average team. That roster is not so lacking that they should be where they are.

[chambers]

Philly - Okafor: -495
Lakers - Russell: -362
Suns - Knight: -173
Nets - Lopez: -124
Twolves - KAT: -123
Pelicans - Davis: -189
Kings - Cousins: +19
Knicks - Carmelo: -40
Nuggets - Gallinari: -101

Considering the numbers for most guys over 6'10 in the nba:

A positive point differential of 0.3 per game whilst on the court is pretty meh.

Players like Jokic, Gobert, Meyers Leonard, Cody Zeller, Mahinmi, Favors all do better in that differential. Its not like they're studs or on dominant teams.

Last year at a positive differential of 1.1 whilst on the court is a little bit better but still meh.

I get your argument that hes a little flower growing in a pile of crap, but using his pithy positive point differential to justify him being a massive get in a trade doesnt really fly.

This years differential could be back where melo's is with a couple of bad games.

You're cherry-picking here.  I looked at all the teams near and below the Kings in the standings, and showed how rare it is for a low lottery team's best player to have a positive point differential.  What you did is something different all together.

Favors (who is, in fact, a stud), Gobert, Zeller, Mahimi, and Leonard are all on teams either slated for the playoffs, or within one game of a playoff berth.  They all play for teams that rank in the top-14 of team point differential.  Its not shocking that guys who play on good teams would outscore their opponents.

Jokic is the only example of a guy with a positive point differential on a bad team, and he's only averaging about 21 points per game.  Again, that's not an apples to apples comparison.

And, it's not like being 6'10" somehow guarantees a positive point differential.  Did you overlook the guys I cited?  Anthony Davis, Brook Lopez, Jahil Okafor, etc.?  All are 6'10", all are their team's best player, all play on bad teams, and all are being wildly outscored when they're on the court.

The Kings are a bad team.  Yet, the Kings outplay opponents when he's in there (and get killed when he's off the court).  That speaks to his impact. 

As I've mentioned previously, ESPN's "RPM" stat tries to take stuff like this into account, with their "Real Plus Minus" stat.  Cousins has been top-12 the last two years.

I just think it's a cop-out to say on the one hand that the guy is a god-like talent, but on the other absolve him from blame for his team being awful.

 If he really is destined to be the best player on a contender, then why isn't he making a better go of it with a passable coach and some decent teammates.

Yes the Kings are bad, yes the situation isn't perfect, but it's not like he acts as a consummate leader when the going gets tough. It's literally the opposite. He acts like an abusive alcoholic whos 6 weeks into an anabolic steroid cycle.

I mentioned guys that are average to good centers on average teams with far better on court differentials playing cousins' position, which is what Sacramento SHOULD be. They should be an average team. That roster is not so lacking that they should be where they are.

I just laughed so hysterically reading this. Up there for quote of the year! TP.

[BringToughnessBack]

Just saw this on SI website about Cousins and medical procedures that need to be done for his feet. Another big man with feet issues.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/03/26/sacramento-kinds-demarcus-cousins-medical-procedures-rio-olympics

[Roy H.]

Just saw this on SI website about Cousins and medical procedures that need to be done for his feet. Another big man with feet issues.

http://www.si.com/nba/2016/03/26/sacramento-kinds-demarcus-cousins-medical-procedures-rio-olympics

Not all foot injuries are equal.  It sounds like Cousins is having a minor procedure to address tendinitis. 

The flip side of this report:  if he's been top-5 in both scoring and rebounding while playing through injury, imagine how good he will be when fully healthy. 

[FreddieJ]

This is the time of the year when injuries crop up anyways, regardless of severity. The Kings and Cousins are going to need an appearing legitimate reason to shut him down for their tank

[Roy H.]

This is the time of the year when injuries crop up anyways, regardless of severity. The Kings and Cousins are going to need an appearing legitimate reason to shut him down for their tank

Don't they play the Suns coming up? Shut it down, big fella!

[FreddieJ]

This is the time of the year when injuries crop up anyways, regardless of severity. The Kings and Cousins are going to need an appearing legitimate reason to shut him down for their tank

Don't they play the Suns coming up? Shut it down, big fella!

Last night.

Kings pick is top 10 protected, and they are within 2.5 games of it

[Roy H.]

This is the time of the year when injuries crop up anyways, regardless of severity. The Kings and Cousins are going to need an appearing legitimate reason to shut him down for their tank

Don't they play the Suns coming up? Shut it down, big fella!

Last night.

Kings pick is top 10 protected, and they are within 2.5 games of it

There's another Kings vs. Suns game the 2nd to last game of the season. That could be a tank fest.