You cannot win a championship with Demarcus Cousins as your best player

[jayk009]

I think it's time to move on from our fantasy of acquiring Demarcus Cousins.

Even if he becomes available I am getting more and more convinced that he is not a winning player. He is an all stats all star but not as much real life impact kind of guy.

When he is playing...I really think he is thinking in his head..how can I get the most stats tonight? Instead of thinking..how can I make my team win?

I think the fact that he is considered a top 2 big man in the game and he has never led his team to an above .500 record is pretty telling. Yes, his management has a part to do with it, and yes coaching has some..at the same time imo a franchise big should at the minimum be able to get them to fight for a playoff spot.

KG was a legit franchise big and he is someone that was able to lead a team to the playoffs despite lack of quality teammates and/or poor management. Tim Duncan would have been the same way, Dwight to a certain extent. Demarcus Cousins no.

He has very very good gifts as a player but does not have any kind of sense of flow or rhythym in his offense. He tries to bulldoze his way each and everytime he has the ball..Him leading the league in turnovers as a bigman is a very telling sign. Almost reminds me of a big man version of Tony Allen when he was with us.

We see his moments of brilliance and his physical gifts and we get amazed...but I'm telling you now that he is fools gold. He is a cancer.

Not even Brad would be able to turn him into a winning player.

If we did acquire him I would be okay with it in the sense that  logically we are making the right steps towards building a contender..and it is still better than what we have now..but I do not think we would ever win a championship with him.

[RJ87]

I think if he had a strong coach to start his NBA career, he'd be a much bigger force. He's an all-star caliber player, for sure, but he's got the talent to be otherworldly right now. He's such a skilled big man, but he lacks awareness a lot of the time. I watched the game last night against the Clippers where he had 8 turnovers, and maybe 2 of them were legitimately forced by the Clips. He has to understand when he catches the ball in the paint and gets double or triple teamed, he needs to kick it back out, don't just force the shot over 3 guys. And it happened repeatedly, no matter who he shared the court with and there's no excuse other than he wants to play hero ball. He's got the skill set to pass the ball out of a double/triple team. Another play the irked me late in the 4th, I don't remember the exact score but it was close - it was a crucial Kings possession and somehow it ended up being a Cousins 20 foot, contested fall away jumper early in the shot clock.

Defensively, he really could make more of an effort. He doesn't need to be prime-Dwight Howard, but he needs to get to the level of say a LaMarcus Aldridge where he's just not a complete liability. Even so, I could live with the occasional bonehead play if it wasn't for the incessant whining and arguing with the refs. At some point, he has to learn not every call will go his way but he still has to hustle back on the defensive end.

[SHAQATTACK]

And not with Rondo as your guard either......25 minutes ....4 points .......  -8

[RJ87]

And not with Rondo as your guard either......25 minutes ....4 points .......  -8

One day, we'll be able to have conversation about a player who isn't Rajon Rondo without making it about Rajon Rondo. You could also just as easily say they're not going anywhere with Ben McLemore starting, I don't see it with that kid. Don't get the fascination at all.

Anyway, back to the point - this play (http://espn.go.com/espn/now?nowId=1-13998630) pretty much sums it up. Demarcus has ZERO idea where DeAndre is. Talk about ball watching as bad defense, he's basically just following the ball.

[dreamgreen]

I've been saying the same for a while, he's a chuckle head!

[sed522002]

He has to understand when he catches the ball in the paint and gets double or triple teamed, he needs to kick it back out, don't just force the shot over 3 guys

You are so right about that..I kept waiting to see him kick the ball out to someone, but he just kept forcing the issue. I think he was also trying to draw fouls, but that wasn't working.

 I know he's on a quest for MVP, but it's not only about your stats (which if you just looked at the numbers, looked really good).

[jayk009]

Yesterday Rondo had absolutely no impact on the game and it wasn't his fault. He was just passing it off to Cousins or someone else as soon as he got across the half court line and then playing off the ball. Since when is playing Rondo like that ever a good idea? IMO Rondo is trying to show that he doesn't want to appear to completely take over the offense ..but Karl has to step in and put the ball in Rondo's hands and let him create. They were even playing Collison and Rondo together but Rondo was playing off the ba? Huh?

I don't blame Rondo for his performance...I mean they knew the kind of plauer he was..I don't know why they would use him the way they did.

If this is really how they plan to use Rondo then they need to just not play him.

IMO the smart thing to do is give Rondo the free reign to create offense for the kings and imo it'll give them the best chance to fight for a playoff spot..This dumping it into Cousins and watching him try to bulldoze his way through 3 guys and then committing an offensive foul or just losing the ball is ugly to watch.

George Karl really.needs to fix things...1st game is not a good sign.

[jayk009]

He has to understand when he catches the ball in the paint and gets double or triple teamed, he needs to kick it back out, don't just force the shot over 3 guys

You are so right about that..I kept waiting to see him kick the ball out to someone, but he just kept forcing the issue. I think he was also trying to draw fouls, but that wasn't working.

 I know he's on a quest for MVP, but it's not only about your stats (which if you just looked at the numbers, looked really good).

Yes his stats were amazing but his performance was not good. This is actually how Cousins always plays..At some point the coaching staff needs to step up and hold him accountable...could you imagine if any player on the Celtics had even one possession like Cousins? They would be benched in a second..yet Cousins is allowed to do it over and over and over again until he has 8 turnovers...Imagine being a team mate and watching Cousins playing this selfishly and then seeing the coaches do absolutely nothing about it..

Their team morale must be terrible..man...no matter how much talent they have they will never be able to win as long as they keep trying to run the offense through Cousins.

I also feel for Karl a bit...their owner is terrible and unconditinally backs cousins...if they give him less touches and Cousins pouts and it becomes a scenario where Karl's job security is in jeopardy..I think George Karl is actually a good coach and knows this shouldn't be how the offense should be run but he is at the mercy of the appeasing the owner and also keeping Cousins happy...Kings will never go anywhere.

[RJ87]

This dumping it into Cousins and watching him try to bulldoze his way through 3 guys and then committing an offensive foul or just losing the ball is ugly to watch.

George Karl really.needs to fix things...1st game is not a good sign.

Is this a George Karl problem or a Cousins problem, though? People love to harp on Karl but at the end of the day, its up to the player on whether or not he wants to absorb the lesson. Karl is far from a perfect coach, but he's coached some pretty good teams with featuring superstars (Ray Allen with the Bucks and Carmelo with Denver), and he coached a pretty good Denver team without a legit superstar the end there. Can he be abrasive sometimes? Sure, but he can help players when they're willing.

[moiso]

I'm happy to finally see a thread where everyone isn't gushing over this talented moron.

[Csfan1984]

Can hardly wait till December.

[sed522002]

I'm happy to finally see a thread where everyone isn't gushing over this talented moron.

I never really watched him until now and his BBIQ is below average. He's a very talented big, he just needs to make better decisions. A lot of the Kings fans absolutely hate how he has the tendency to try and go coast to coast with the result ending in a turnover.

[Rosco917]

Yesterday Rondo had absolutely no impact on the game and it wasn't his fault. He was just passing it off to Cousins or someone else as soon as he got across the half court line and then playing off the ball. Since when is playing Rondo like that ever a good idea? IMO Rondo is trying to show that he doesn't want to appear to completely take over the offense ..but Karl has to step in and put the ball in Rondo's hands and let him create. They were even playing Collison and Rondo together but Rondo was playing off the ba? Huh?

I don't blame Rondo for his performance...I mean they knew the kind of plauer he was..I don't know why they would use him the way they did.

If this is really how they plan to use Rondo then they need to just not play him.

IMO the smart thing to do is give Rondo the free reign to create offense for the kings and imo it'll give them the best chance to fight for a playoff spot..This dumping it into Cousins and watching him try to bulldoze his way through 3 guys and then committing an offensive foul or just losing the ball is ugly to watch.

George Karl really.needs to fix things...1st game is not a good sign.

The problem with giving "this version" of Rondo a free reign, is he is so predictable. He's lost a step or two, and everyone in the NBA knows it, he can't make you pay from the outside, he's not a reliable free throw shooter, so he no longer takes the ball to the rim consistently. He's a ball pounder, always looking for the assist stat. He kills team ball movement. If you let Rondo have free reign, you'll still have predictable problems, easily defended against.

Last year we blamed his failure on "lack of targets." Then he was traded to Dallas, and that was a disaster, no common ground was found between Rondo, the team, and the coach. The fact is, on this Kings team, Collison is the more well rounded point guard.

I agree with many, Cousins is great talent, but plays like a selfish looser. I feel at this point he is unreachable, he doesn't understand what he doesn't understand. 

George Karl has his hands full in Sacramento. It's going to be a bumpy season.   

[showtime]

Cousins will turn any team he plays for into a loser. He is a terrible team player!!

[Roy H.]

Cousins scores, rebounds, passes, hustled and plays very good defense. I don't think anyone outside of Lebron would consistently win with his supporting cast.