The Boogie Watch

[Boris Badenov]

I went to the Kings game tonight, I go to a game or two a year.

For obvious reasons, when I do that I spend a lot of the game just watching Cousins, not only on the court but off it. I have to say, there is something about his body language when you see him in person.  It is awful. At no point does he come across as a leader, or a good teammate. I've never seen someone sulk so much when the action stops. And he gets his numbers in the least dominant way I've ever seen.

This is just my eye test, and I don't know as much about hoops as people like Danny Ainge. But I've played and watched my share of basketball over the years, and I just cannot get excited about this guy.

[Rondo9]

I went to the Kings game tonight, I go to a game or two a year.

For obvious reasons, when I do that I spend a lot of the game just watching Cousins, not only on the court but off it. I have to say, there is something about his body language when you see him in person.  It is awful. At no point does he come across as a leader, or a good teammate. I've never seen someone sulk so much when the action stops. And he gets his numbers in the least dominant way I've ever seen.

This is just my eye test, and I don't know as much about hoops as people like Danny Ainge. But I've played and watched my share of basketball over the years, and I just cannot get excited about this guy.

I watched a Laker game against the Kings last year and I pretty much echo your thoughts. I've been become less enamored with Cousins because of his behavior though I do want him.

[byennie]

No they aren't.  Their best chance for franchise success is to convince Boogie to stay another 6 years.  They couldn't even get draft picks willing to go to SAC to work out last draft -- tanking is the wrong strategy right now.  They need to make their organization less of an embarrassment.

There is zero chance that Sacramento ever wins anything with him on the team and middling draft picks. They have virtually no other assets, no free agent prospects, and they won't even get a single high lottery talent. Gay is literally their only other above-average player on the roster and hates it there. Then they have to bet on Cousins resigning for the super max salary, so he'll be expensive as possible. Or he'll leave, since losing sucks after a long while.

On the other hand, they could have 3x top-5 talents in the next 2 years all locked into rookie contracts, and go into an offseason with 2-3x max player money. Not only do our assets give them high lottery picks in strong year(s), but as someone else pointed out tanking could turn their own pick from a 2nd rounder into a high lottery pick.

As far as the future of the franchise, this is a no brainer. Sell and tank. But, certain people want to keep their jobs and sell tickets. It's short term greed and/or stupidity, plain and simple.

[byennie]

I went to the Kings game tonight, I go to a game or two a year.

For obvious reasons, when I do that I spend a lot of the game just watching Cousins, not only on the court but off it. I have to say, there is something about his body language when you see him in person.  It is awful. At no point does he come across as a leader, or a good teammate. I've never seen someone sulk so much when the action stops. And he gets his numbers in the least dominant way I've ever seen.

This is just my eye test, and I don't know as much about hoops as people like Danny Ainge. But I've played and watched my share of basketball over the years, and I just cannot get excited about this guy.

I watched a Laker game against the Kings last year and I pretty much echo your thoughts. I've been become less enamored with Cousins because of his behavior though I do want him.

It's worth noting that he's playing in a town that Rudy Gay, the next best player on the team, literally called "basketball hell", for inept ownership. Should he be more professional? Of course. But there's little proof that he'd be unmanageable on a team that's busy winning 60 games every year with tons of national TV games and endorsement deals, and making him look good.

[Boris Badenov]

I went to the Kings game tonight, I go to a game or two a year.

For obvious reasons, when I do that I spend a lot of the game just watching Cousins, not only on the court but off it. I have to say, there is something about his body language when you see him in person.  It is awful. At no point does he come across as a leader, or a good teammate. I've never seen someone sulk so much when the action stops. And he gets his numbers in the least dominant way I've ever seen.

This is just my eye test, and I don't know as much about hoops as people like Danny Ainge. But I've played and watched my share of basketball over the years, and I just cannot get excited about this guy.

I watched a Laker game against the Kings last year and I pretty much echo your thoughts. I've been become less enamored with Cousins because of his behavior though I do want him.

It's worth noting that he's playing in a town that Rudy Gay, the next best player on the team, literally called "basketball hell", for inept ownership. Should he be more professional? Of course. But there's little proof that he'd be unmanageable on a team that's busy winning 60 games every year with tons of national TV games and endorsement deals, and making him look good.

If he recognizes all of that, he should have been begging for a ticket out of town for the last couple of years. No one would hold it against him.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how he can be so clearly miserable and also want to stay there, as he's recently indicated. Star players can get coaches fired. They can't get owners fired. What is the end game, in his mind? Does he care about winning or something else? I'm baffled.

[byennie]

If he recognizes all of that, he should have been begging for a ticket out of town for the last couple of years. No one would hold it against him.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how he can be so clearly miserable and also want to stay there, as he's recently indicated. Star players can get coaches fired. They can't get owners fired. What is the end game, in his mind? Does he care about winning or something else? I'm baffled.

I have no idea what he's thinking, of course, but isn't that kind of a double standard? His behavior is a downside, but so is his loyalty? Players are usually criticized for asking out, and he could have easily looked at guys like Rondo, Gay, WCS and McLemore and bought into ownership's promises that things would get better. Maybe he doesn't like change. Maybe he likes the city or has friends and family there. So he sulks on the court- that's different from 20 other star players when they are losing how?

[tarheelsxxiii]

If he recognizes all of that, he should have been begging for a ticket out of town for the last couple of years. No one would hold it against him.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how he can be so clearly miserable and also want to stay there, as he's recently indicated. Star players can get coaches fired. They can't get owners fired. What is the end game, in his mind? Does he care about winning or something else? I'm baffled.

I have no idea what he's thinking, of course, but isn't that kind of a double standard? His behavior is a downside, but so is his loyalty? Players are usually criticized for asking out, and he could have easily looked at guys like Rondo, Gay, WCS and McLemore and bought into ownership's promises that things would get better. Maybe he doesn't like change. Maybe he likes the city or has friends and family there. So he sulks on the court- that's different from 20 other star players when they are losing how?

To be fair, his "being loyal" doesn't have much support beyond brief interviews, but I have believed he likes being a small fish in a big pond, and wouldn't be shocked at all if he re-signed with SAC.  He doesn't look to be happy there, but his max contract would be absurdly alluring to anyone.

[jpotter33]

I went to the Kings game tonight, I go to a game or two a year.

For obvious reasons, when I do that I spend a lot of the game just watching Cousins, not only on the court but off it. I have to say, there is something about his body language when you see him in person.  It is awful. At no point does he come across as a leader, or a good teammate. I've never seen someone sulk so much when the action stops. And he gets his numbers in the least dominant way I've ever seen.

This is just my eye test, and I don't know as much about hoops as people like Danny Ainge. But I've played and watched my share of basketball over the years, and I just cannot get excited about this guy.

Yeah, he looked particularly bad tonight, but GS did a good job after the first five minutes or so of performing "the game plan" on Boogie to take him out of the game. They took him out of the game with the foul trouble early, and he was done after that. Prior to that, though, they didn't have an answer for him.

I also find myself shaking my head at times when I watch him, but the guy has literally never had a vet leader or a stable environment to mature in. Look what happened to Okafor in Philly with that losing environment. He didn't really have any character concerns prior to the draft. But you give kids millions of dollars and put them in a losing, dysfunctional environment, and that type of stuff is bound to happen. And Philly is light years ahead of Sacramento in terms of a stable environment.

I'm still holding on hope for a Boogie trade, but that's mainly due to thinking Horford could help him mature a lot as a mentor for him, along with being in a stable environment in Boston. He'd still get some T's and do some pouting, but I think most of what we see would be cured by winning, having a good leader/mentor in Horford alongside him, and being in a stable environment.

[Roy H.]

"I think DeMarcus is the best center in the game," Draymond Green assessed after the game. "I think a lot of times people don't give him that credit. And a part of it is they try to downplay his status because of his reputation or getting technical fouls or things like that." Green continued, "He is the best big man in the game hands down." . . .

Green, who played alongside Cousins in the 2016 Olympics, continued, said of Cousins' manifold skills: "It's always interesting to watch, interesting to play against, interesting to play with, because he's so incredibly talented. He's skilled. He can shoot the 3 now; over the last couple years he added that to his game.

"He's always really had the midrange, he's taking guys off the dribble, he's pushing it full court, getting to the hole, getting and-1s, go to the post. He's dominant. He's an incredible player, and he continues to get better year in and year out, regardless of what credit people try to take from him, try not necessarily give him."

"He's the best center in the game," Green concluded. "Best big man in the game, period."

[Phantom255x]

The way I see it, even if we did trade for Cousins, we would ultimately have to sign him to an extension around the 6/200M range as well.

So I figure it's not horrible news that the Kings would extend Cousins this summer, because a few more bad seasons and he could still be on the trade market.

That being said, I doubt Ainge wants him. I mean, you hear Ainge in rumors about Butler, and guys like Noel, but have you heard him in Cousins rumors? Rarely, and the only time he touches upon Cousins he usually gives negative feedback, like "we don't need locker room cancers" or "from a distance, looks like Cousins has a lot of problems...".

[jpotter33]

Well, the Pistons are now blowing out the Kings in Sacramento, and this was their last really winnable game on their homestand. This would be their fourth consecutive loss and sixth in their last seventh. And this is all before starting a really rough eight game road trip.

[jpotter33]

And I don't know if this is good news or bad news, but Sacramento's arena looks as empty and quiet as it has been this season.

[jpotter33]

Reggie Jackson is such a ballhog.

[SparzWizard]

The way I see it, even if we did trade for Cousins, we would ultimately have to sign him to an extension around the 6/200M range as well.

So I figure it's not horrible news that the Kings would extend Cousins this summer, because a few more bad seasons and he could still be on the trade market.

That being said, I doubt Ainge wants him. I mean, you hear Ainge in rumors about Butler, and guys like Noel, but have you heard him in Cousins rumors? Rarely, and the only time he touches upon Cousins he usually gives negative feedback, like "we don't need locker room cancers" or "from a distance, looks like Cousins has a lot of problems...".

Who knows man. Many fans here didn't expect Kendrick Perkins to be traded for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic several years back. Nor maybe Rondo for some Dallas picks and Crowder.

[jpotter33]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/244552/DeMarcus-Cousins-Intends-To-Sign-$207M-Extension-With-Kings-In-Offseason

Well, Cousins might be Melo 2.0 and care about money more than winning, though he claims otherwise. Not to sure how credible this source is, but if it's true and he wants to stay there, he's probably not worth trading for anyways. Pretty clear that he'll never be winning there with terrible management and drafting and no real assets moving forward.