Just checking what the final haul from the trade was (Hield, Justin Jackson, Giles, Galloway, Evans), after seeing Cousins argue with refs after two no-calls, not running back on D, in two critical spots in the game. Anthony Davis was sitting on the bench at the time and must've been pulling his hair out.
He had a couple bone-head plays where he dribbled like Jamal Crawford at the three point line, threw up two late shot clock heaves after 20 seconds of you-are-fooling-no-one dribbling.
I would love to know what Danny offered for him, but it can't have been much, and my word that now looks like a savvy not-move in hindsight..
The guy is averaging 25.5 points / 12.6 rebounds / 5.4 assists / 1.7 steals / 1.6 blocks / .521 eFG%. His team is above .500 and would currently make the playoffs, despite a really poorly-constructed roster. He’s got, by far, the best DRtg on his team.
But yeah, he picks up a tech on average every 3 or 4 games, the same as Dray Green.
He's also a ball stopper, who sulks, gives inconsistent effort, and take a lot of plays off defensively.
Tons of talent, but not a winning player.
On that point (but with data), on a team with little talent beyond Davis, Cousins is managing a measly -2.4 point net plus-minus this year. He makes the Pelicans worse overall, at least so far this season.
The Pelicans are 8 points worse offensively with him on the floor despite his gaudy numbers, mostly because they become a much less efficient scoring team and turn it over more. They are about 5 points better on D with Cousins out there. (But see Davis's numbers below).
Meanwhile the Pels are a +6 on offense and a +12 on defense with Davis on the floor, for an overall +17 net plus-minus. Davis makes them better in terms of efficiency, rebounding, passing, you name it. And makes their opponents significantly worse.
It's surprising to me that these differences could be so big given that these two share the floor a lot.