Cousins wants Max Deal this Summer or a trade

[greg_kite]

I'd rather keep our young guys and offer up Pierce and Terry for Cousins, Thornton and Salmons.  We get two rotation guys in Cousins and Thornton and trade a bad contract for a worse contract in Terry for Salmons.

The Hawks won't trade Smith for Pierce.  They can't trade for him before 6/30 because he's a free agent and the most valuable part of Pierce's contract is that he can be traded for $20 million dollars in salary but teams would only have to pay Pierce $5 million.

[dreamgreen]

Not a big fan. In fairness I have only watched him play a handful of times but for a big I didn't really like his game. Lot of jump shots (I HATE jump shooting bigs) and slow on the board. He's another big trying to be a guard, I just don't like that from my bigs.

[connor]

Cousins averaged 17.1 points and 9.9 rebounds a game last season, shooting a respectable 46.5 percent, with an All-Star level PER of 20.2.

Cousins was 32nd out of 42 in shooting percentage among players 6'10" or taller who started at least 30 games.  48-50% would probably be what would be classified as perhaps below-average but still respectable.

Cousins' main drawback from a basketball perspective is his poor shot selection and decision making (and obviously effort, but I think that is tied in with his maturity). He is a capable scorer from midrange and effective inside as well, but he takes WAY too many ill-advised shots both from the outside and inside.

So its not as if its a Deandre Jordan situation where he really can't score effectively, its just that he dilutes his stats by making boneheaded decisions.

I think if you take a shot on him hoping that he matures and grows up in terms of personality and attitude, you are also assuming that said maturity will extend to the court and help him have a better shot selection. (Rondo would definitely be good about getting him the ball where he can score and not feeding him where he might take ill-advised shots).

[Monkhouse]

I'd rather keep our young guys and offer up Pierce and Terry for Cousins, Thornton and Salmons.  We get two rotation guys in Cousins and Thornton and trade a bad contract for a worse contract in Terry for Salmons.

The Hawks won't trade Smith for Pierce.  They can't trade for him before 6/30 because he's a free agent and the most valuable part of Pierce's contract is that he can be traded for $20 million dollars in salary but teams would only have to pay Pierce $5 million.

Kings hang up the phone and laughs.

Hawks may need someone to back up Smith. So I can see us trying to offer Bass or someone else possibly Sullinger+Lee. With a first round pick.

[BleedGreen1989]

I'd rather keep our young guys and offer up Pierce and Terry for Cousins, Thornton and Salmons.  We get two rotation guys in Cousins and Thornton and trade a bad contract for a worse contract in Terry for Salmons.

The Hawks won't trade Smith for Pierce.  They can't trade for him before 6/30 because he's a free agent and the most valuable part of Pierce's contract is that he can be traded for $20 million dollars in salary but teams would only have to pay Pierce $5 million.

Kings hang up the phone and laughs.

Hawks may need someone to back up Smith. So I can see us trying to offer Bass or someone else possibly Sullinger+Lee. With a first round pick.

Yea no offense but that's a horrrrrible homer trade. No way in the world Kings ever take your call again.

[BballTim]

Do you guys really want to give Demarcus Cousins a max contract?

Cousins averaged 17.1 points and 9.9 rebounds a game last season, shooting a respectable 46.5 percent, with an All-Star level PER of 20.2.

His age? 22.

Imagine if we could flip Paul Pierce, and someone else for Josh Smith. He'd make up for Cousins weak defense.

Rondo/Shooter/Green/Smith/Cousins.

You're telling me that can't contend in a year?

His talent has never been the question.

Issue is he has fueded with literally every coach he has ever had. I would make a trade for him but he would need a "prove it" year before I even thought about giving him a max deal. So far, he hasent shown he can act right or professional.

  My thoughts on Cousins has been the team that signs him to the max contract he'll surely get will probably be really screwed, while the team that signs him to the (likely lesser) contract that he gets after this one will probably be in decent shape. People look at his age and numbers and act like they're looking at the next Shaq or Howard level of big man. I don't think that's very likely.

I highly doubt he's the next Howard or Shaq.  But could he be the next Zach Randolph or Rasheed Wallace?

I think so, yeah.

  So do I, but people are dying to be the guy who signs them to a huge deal when they're young. Would you have wanted ZBo or Sheed on a max contract when they were 22? I wouldn't.

[connor]

I'd rather keep our young guys and offer up Pierce and Terry for Cousins, Thornton and Salmons.  We get two rotation guys in Cousins and Thornton and trade a bad contract for a worse contract in Terry for Salmons.

The Hawks won't trade Smith for Pierce.  They can't trade for him before 6/30 because he's a free agent and the most valuable part of Pierce's contract is that he can be traded for $20 million dollars in salary but teams would only have to pay Pierce $5 million.

Kings hang up the phone and laughs.

Hawks may need someone to back up Smith. So I can see us trying to offer Bass or someone else possibly Sullinger+Lee. With a first round pick.

Yea no offense but that's a horrrrrible homer trade. No way in the world Kings ever take your call again.

I'd say Jordan, Bradley and 2 firsts would be the starting point. We take back Cousins and Salmons (maybe we ask for Thomas or Fredette to start with, to give us room to back down from).

[hwangjini_1]

Do you guys really want to give Demarcus Cousins a max contract?

i would rather give that to cousins than $11,000,000 to jordan. i may be wrong, yet again, but i believe the CBA says the maximum salary of a player with 6 or fewer years of experience is either $9,000,000 or 25% of the total salary cap.

cousins was drafted in 2010 and just coming off his rookie contract. so he has less than 6 years experience.

$9 million for cousins looks a lot better than $11 for jordan to me.

[CoachBo]

Right. Jordan's contract is just atrocious.

[Dchuck]

I like DMC, but to those that want to unite Rondo, Smith and DMC on the same team, you better get a psychiatrist worth their weight in gold.  Add in a (more than likely) young coach, who will get chewed up and spit out/fired/resign.  They have talent, but certainly a recipe for disaster. 

That team would need a strong, respectable coach, like say.....Doc!  Hahahaha!

[prov1ml34]

I'd rather keep our young guys and offer up Pierce and Terry for Cousins, Thornton and Salmons.  We get two rotation guys in Cousins and Thornton and trade a bad contract for a worse contract in Terry for Salmons.

The Hawks won't trade Smith for Pierce.  They can't trade for him before 6/30 because he's a free agent and the most valuable part of Pierce's contract is that he can be traded for $20 million dollars in salary but teams would only have to pay Pierce $5 million.

Not entirely true, the Celtics and Pierce can agree to amend the contract and push back the date in which his whole salary becomes guaranteed. I believe Vlade Divac (King of the Flop) did that with the Lakers.

[greg_kite]

I'd rather keep our young guys and offer up Pierce and Terry for Cousins, Thornton and Salmons.  We get two rotation guys in Cousins and Thornton and trade a bad contract for a worse contract in Terry for Salmons.

The Hawks won't trade Smith for Pierce.  They can't trade for him before 6/30 because he's a free agent and the most valuable part of Pierce's contract is that he can be traded for $20 million dollars in salary but teams would only have to pay Pierce $5 million.

Kings hang up the phone and laughs.

Hawks may need someone to back up Smith. So I can see us trying to offer Bass or someone else possibly Sullinger+Lee. With a first round pick.

Yea no offense but that's a horrrrrible homer trade. No way in the world Kings ever take your call again.

I guess you're right.  We'd have to take more salary to get Cousins for nothing.  Probably wouldn't include the Jet and have to take back Salmons, Chuck Hayes and Jason Thompson.  All long contracts for over 5 mil for terrible players.  I wouldn't do that just to get Cousins.  He's overrated.  He's the Antoine Walker version of a center.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I like DMC, but to those that want to unite Rondo, Smith and DMC on the same team, you better get a psychiatrist worth their weight in gold.  Add in a (more than likely) young coach, who will get chewed up and spit out/fired/resign.  They have talent, but certainly a recipe for disaster. 

That team would need a strong, respectable coach, like say.....Doc!  Hahahaha!

I would suddenly be very open to Phil Jackson coaching here

[LooseCannon]

Do you guys really want to give Demarcus Cousins a max contract?

i would rather give that to cousins than $11,000,000 to jordan. i may be wrong, yet again, but i believe the CBA says the maximum salary of a player with 6 or fewer years of experience is either $9,000,000 or 25% of the total salary cap.

cousins was drafted in 2010 and just coming off his rookie contract. so he has less than 6 years experience.

$9 million for cousins looks a lot better than $11 for jordan to me.

The maximum salary for a 0-6 year player in 2012-2013 was $13,668,750.  It sounds like that might be marginally higher for next season.  I am not sure where you got the $9 million figure from.

[crimson_stallion]

Do you guys really want to give Demarcus Cousins a max contract?

i would rather give that to cousins than $11,000,000 to jordan. i may be wrong, yet again, but i believe the CBA says the maximum salary of a player with 6 or fewer years of experience is either $9,000,000 or 25% of the total salary cap.

cousins was drafted in 2010 and just coming off his rookie contract. so he has less than 6 years experience.

$9 million for cousins looks a lot better than $11 for jordan to me.

The maximum salary for a 0-6 year player in 2012-2013 was $13,668,750.  It sounds like that might be marginally higher for next season.  I am not sure where you got the $9 million figure from.

I think resigning him will be a no brainer for Sacramento.  In today's NBA $13M is a very good deal for a 6'11", 270lb center who averages 18/10/3/1/1, even if the guy is 32 years old.  Just look what we paid KG at age 36. When said player is only 22 years old that is the bargain of the century.

I would give up anybody bar maybe Jeff Green if it gets us Cousins on a long term deal for that type of money.