Boogie and that All Star slot

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Allow me to expound a little.

Here are 30 of the greatest bigs of the modern era (normally I count it as 1980 onward, but I pushed the boundary a tad to pick up some late 70s figures like Moses, Walton and Parrish, just be aware that their rebounding numbers may be slightly inflated due to pace at the time), all at Age 23 (or 24 in the case of Admiral (who did not enter the league until he was 24) and Amare (who missed almost his entire Age 23 season).

We could also name this list "Boogie's Peers", except the lesser lights on this list aren't really his peers. His numbers belong in the top group, the HOF group. LaMarcus Aldridge, Shawn Kemp, Brad Daugherty and even that yabbering Big Redhead need not apply.

 
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He obviously won't get in on the fan vote as a starter but aren't benches picked by the coaches? If this is the case, I am pretty sure that they will vote him in. Think about it this way, each one of these coaches will or would have already come up against Cousins and the Kings and their primary focus would have been how to limit his influence on the game.

The team has been so bad but we have been in a lot of games precisely because DMC was in beast mode. Even with a crap roster, if DMC has a monster game we are a chance of winning. He is that good and the coaches know it.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Now allow me to normalize for minutes played.

Watch this:



When I say that Cousins is putting up historic numbers for a player his age, this is what I am referring to. Look at his line compared to Shaq's Or anybody's. 30 of the greatest bigs of the last 35 years at the same age, and there is 1 guy on the whole list as offensively prolific as Cousins, and he just happens to be Cousins mentor.
 
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K

KingMilz

Guest
The team has been so bad but we have been in a lot of games precisely because DMC was in beast mode. Even with a crap roster, if DMC has a monster game we are a chance of winning. He is that good and the coaches know it.
Can't use that argument Goran Dragic/Bledsoe gave taken a team with far less talent to being a top 5-7 team in the West.
 
Can't use that argument Goran Dragic/Bledsoe gave taken a team with far less talent to being a top 5-7 team in the West.
Pre-Rudy Gay/Derrick Williams trades, nobody in their right mind would consider the Suns less talented than the Kings.

Lets say IT/Cousins and Dragic/Bledsoe cancel eachother out as duos. The Suns have Plumlee in a breakout season, the always solid Morris twins, and a resurgent Gerald Green and Channing Frye. Who did the Kings have? Patterson and Thornton who forgot how to shoot, Vasquez who could never shoot, Salmons who needs a walker to get up and down the court now, and McLemore the clueless rookie. Thats a pretty substantial talent gap
 
Well lets try and dissect this, there are 12 all stars, 4 guards, 4 fwds, 2 C's, and 2 more of any position. Kobe will be voted in but will not play, I will also assume Westbrook will still be out. By rule Cousins should be in as the second center, but we have seen coaches scrap that and just add another forward.

Starters

PG: Paul
SG: Harden
SF: Durant
PF: Griffin
C: Howard

Reserve Guards likely in

Lillard
Curry

In the hunt

Tony Parker
Goran Dragic
Ty Lawson
Klay Thompson
Kevin Martin
Isaiah Thomas
Jrue Holiday
Mike Conley

Forwards Likely in

Lamarcus Aldridge
Kevin Love

In the hunt
Anthony Davis
Dirk Nowitzki
Tim Duncan
Rudy Gay
Ryan Anderson

Centers
Cousins
Pekovic
Jordan
Bogut

So if coaches stay traditional Cousins should be in. The two extra slots will probably go to guards. I could see Parker and if the Suns stay hot maybe Dragic sneaks in(or Westbrook somehow sneaks in from his injury). A curve ball could be the red hot Anthony Davis sneaking in ahead of Cousins if the Pelicans make a move towards the playoffs, and he could qualify as a Center. Shockingly upon analysis Rudy Gay is probably the second best SF in the west. His only competition is Leonard, Parsons and Igoudala if healthy.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Alright, for the new year 2014 kickoff we have:

a) Cousins December statline:
32.5min 23.8pts (.521 .733) 12.3reb 3.6ast 2.1stl 0.8blk 4.1TO

b) Cousins is right now the 9th leading scorer (22.72), 5th leading rebounder (11.34), and 8th leading stealer (1.83) in the NBA.

Durant 37.8min 28.8pts (.494 .879) 8.5reb 4.8ast 1.5stl 0.8blk 3.2TO
KeLove 36.5min 26.5pts (.469 .830) 13.7reb 4.2ast 0.9stl 0.3blk 2.4TO
Aldridg 37.3min 23.6pts (.473 .800) 10.9reb 2.9ast 1.0stl 0.9blk 1.7TO
Cousns 31.8min 22.7pts (.495 .717) 11.3reb 3.1ast 1.8stl 1.0blk 3.5TO
BGriffn 36.4min 21.7pts (.518 .700) 10.5reb 3.1ast 1.1stl 0.7blk 2.9TO
Nowitz 32.9min 21.3pts (.493 .919) 5.9reb 3.0ast 1.0stl 0.8blk 1.5TO
ADavis 34.3min 19.5pts (.519 .789) 10.5reb 1.3ast 1.5stl 3.2blk 1.4TO
Howrd 33.8min 17.9pts (.581 .554) 13.1reb 1.9ast 0.8stl 1.8blk 3.3TO
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
Alright, for the new year 2014 kickoff we have:

a) Cousins December statline:
32.5min 23.8pts (.521 .733) 12.3reb 3.6ast 2.1stl 0.8blk 4.1TO

b) Cousins is right now the 9th leading scorer (22.72), 5th leading rebounder (11.34), and 8th leading stealer (1.83) in the NBA.

Durant 37.8min 28.8pts (.494 .879) 8.5reb 4.8ast 1.5stl 0.8blk 3.2TO
KeLove 36.5min 26.5pts (.469 .830) 13.7reb 4.2ast 0.9stl 0.3blk 2.4TO
Aldridg 37.3min 23.6pts (.473 .800) 10.9reb 2.9ast 1.0stl 0.9blk 1.7TO
Cousns 31.8min 22.7pts (.495 .717) 11.3reb 3.1ast 1.8stl 1.0blk 3.5TO
BGriffn 36.4min 21.7pts (.518 .700) 10.5reb 3.1ast 1.1stl 0.7blk 2.9TO
Nowitz 32.9min 21.3pts (.493 .919) 5.9reb 3.0ast 1.0stl 0.8blk 1.5TO
ADavis 34.3min 19.5pts (.519 .789) 10.5reb 1.3ast 1.5stl 3.2blk 1.4TO
Howrd 33.8min 17.9pts (.581 .554) 13.1reb 1.9ast 0.8stl 1.8blk 3.3TO
And people will whine that he doesn't block enough shots.
 
LaMarcus Aldridge: 37.0min 23.2pts (.471 .800) 11.0reb 2.9ast 0.9stl 0.8blk 1.6TO -- All Star
DeMarcus Cousins: 31.7min 23.1pts (.499 .715) 11.4reb 3.1ast 1.8stl 1.0blk 3.5TO -- not???
if that does happen, its because Blazers are top of the west and the Kings are rock bottom in the west.

with that said. Boogie > LMA
 
I know that PER isn't the end-all and be-all of stats but it can be used as a nice measuring stick in some cases.
If you look at the last 10 games Cousins has the 4th highest PER in the league at 29.4. (And if he could cut down on his TOs it might have him moved to 2nd place)
LeBron and Durant are both higher at 31.4 and Love is posting a ridiculous eye-popping 35.9
But that's it. That's the list of players 'statistically' better than Cousins since we made the Rudy Gay trade.

What is interesting to note is that in the last 10 games Cousins has the highest free-throw attempts in the entire league.
One of the things that I was happy to hear Malone comment on was the fact that he wants to use Cousins as a weapon to get the other team in foul trouble. Cousins over the last 10 games has lead the league in that category, and I don't see that slowing down anytime soon.

It's startling to me that it's possible that Cousins could still conceivably miss out on the All-Star team even if he continues this torrid pace.
But it could happen if none of the other guys vying for position don't have a drop-off, or if we continue to lose the majority of our games.

Hopefully Cousins will be properly acknowledged and get an All-Star nod because his play has more than justified it.
 
If he doesn't get it this year, he surely will get it next year. As of today he is top 5 in PER with 27.31. Unfortuneately, our terrible management and staff the past few years marked us as a horrible franchise and Boogie is the by product of it this year.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
I know that PER isn't the end-all and be-all of stats but it can be used as a nice measuring stick in some cases.
If you look at the last 10 games Cousins has the 4th highest PER in the league at 29.4. (And if he could cut down on his TOs it might have him moved to 2nd place)
LeBron and Durant are both higher at 31.4 and Love is posting a ridiculous eye-popping 35.9
But that's it. That's the list of players 'statistically' better than Cousins since we made the Rudy Gay trade.

What is interesting to note is that in the last 10 games Cousins has the highest free-throw attempts in the entire league.
One of the things that I was happy to hear Malone comment on was the fact that he wants to use Cousins as a weapon to get the other team in foul trouble. Cousins over the last 10 games has lead the league in that category, and I don't see that slowing down anytime soon.

It's startling to me that it's possible that Cousins could still conceivably miss out on the All-Star team even if he continues this torrid pace.
But it could happen if none of the other guys vying for position don't have a drop-off, or if we continue to lose the majority of our games.

Hopefully Cousins will be properly acknowledged and get an All-Star nod because his play has more than justified it.
Blake had a big month -- he's in unless he gets traded for Melo, even if Love beats him in the popular vote. If Melo suddenly popped up over here, be interesting to see what happened. I'd be pissed if he was shuffled into the All Star game though with only a month under his Western Conference belt after a miserable year in New York.

With Anderson going down Davis's numbers might get a bump.

Really beginning to focus on old man Dirk as the weak link. I mean, he clearly is statistically. All he can still do is score. The rest of his game is turning into Bargnani West. But his team is winning, and people are so used to just voting him in.
 
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KingMilz

Guest
With Anderson going down Davis's numbers might get a bump.

Really beginning to focus on old man Dirk as the weak link. I mean, he clearly is statistically. All he can still do is score. The rest of his game is turning into Bargnani West. But his team is winning, and people are so used to just voting him in.
It really could work against him as well considering it nearly takes all there spacing away with Gordon/Holiday not shooting all that well and leaves Ajncia/Evans/Aminu as the other main players who are not known floor spacers which could limit his inside play the paint will be a lot more clogged and might diminsh his value on the glass.

Hypothetical Question Brick: Replace our record with Dallas and Cousins numbers with Dirks would you use the argument since we are a winning team that Cousins should get in over Dirk? Cause I'm sure that's what a lot of the Mavericks fans could/would be saying.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
It really could work against him as well considering it nearly takes all there spacing away with Gordon/Holiday not shooting all that well and leaves Ajncia/Evans/Aminu as the other main players who are not known floor spacers which could limit his inside play the paint will be a lot more clogged and might diminsh his value on the glass.

Hypothetical Question Brick: Replace our record with Dallas and Cousins numbers with Dirks would you use the argument since we are a winning team that Cousins should get in over Dirk? Cause I'm sure that's what a lot of the Mavericks fans could/would be saying.
Of course they will be. But frankly I've never liked the reasoning. And its situational. Dwayne Wade's team or Kobe's team wins 30 games, and they are still All Stars, nobody questions it. Its mostly used against young guys. However in recent years both Kyrie and Love have broken through that theory just on pure excellence, so that's where Boogie comes in.

Again I will point out that no player has EVER missed the All Star game averaging the numbers Boogie has put up (except for Kareem who was hurt for most of the year at the time they made the selections). And once upon a time in more big men oriented eras seeing numbers like these were more common.

This has just been a sudden out of nowhere big year for big men...well in the West at least.

here are all the 23pt 11reb seasons in the NBA since 2000:

Webber 00-01
Shaq 00-01
Duncan 01-02
Duncan 02-03
Shaq 02-03
Garnett 03-04
Love 11-12
Love 13-14
Aldridge 13-14
Cousins 13-14

So in 13 years its happened exactly 10 times. After that great generation of millennial big men started aging it wasn't until just the last year or two with Love emerging that anybody did it at all. And now 1 of the only 10 guys (actually 7 guys, 10 seasons) to do it in 13 years is not an All Star?
 
^Thats insane. pretty good company to be in as well. Cuz is in the company of Shaq in his prime, Webber in his prime, Duncan in his prime, Garnett in his prime.....
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
With the news about CP3's injury, is there any way he sits out the All-Star game and opens a spot for Cuz?
The only coach who would bring DeMarcus Cousins onto the All-Star team as a PG would be DeMarcus Cousins.

Or, non-snarkily, they'll replace him with a guard. Shouldn't help DMC's chances.