One AND ONLY Cousins trade rumors thread

[Chubbs]

I would say Vlade is parsing, not lying. He's going to try to get the most for Cousins that he can. Is he planning to move Cousins? No, he's literally not planning for it. But he is taking calls and he is listening. I don't think he can do anything other than parse at this point. If you want to call it a rumor or a baseless rumor or an incorrect report or a rag or whatever, feel free. IMO, there's way too much smoke not to have some burn on this. I highly doubt that Cousins' agent is giving up on this anytime soon. They've had a few months now to *plan*on what they want to do.

I agree. Cousins agent will push this for years. Doesn't mean anything is about to happen.

It could. But I'm not ready to say Vlade saying "No!" Isn't true. This is coming from agents and the media. Maybe PDA.

Point being, it's not coming from anyone with the power make a move. That includes George.

But Vlade isn't trading him and has been very clear. If the move is made, that's up to Vivek. As of now, he says no. Karl is working on that.

Karl wants to recreate his failed nuggets teams. It's actually really disturbing he'd be that set on pursuing and continuing his failed stint as nuggets coach.

He drove the star out of town, actually won games with a bunch of mediocre talent, then got fired anyway and left the nuggets in complete turmoil.

It could happen here too.

The only stats that matter:

2014-15 Sacramento 29 - 53 .354 4thPacific Division- -
2013-14 Sacramento 28 - 54 .341 4thPacific Division- -
2012-13 Sacramento 28 - 54 .341 4thPacific Division- -
2011-12 Sacramento 22 - 44 .333 5thPacific Division
2010-11 Sacramento 24 - 58 .293 5thPacific Division

Brilliant post.

Kings fans, always ready to prove how naive we are..

With the urging of Grant napear as always. He's good at smear campaigns and we are in the midst of an epic one against cousins.

Clearly Boogie is 100% responsible for bad owners, bad gms, bad coaches, and bad draft picks.

Heck, let's blame him for 1986-1996 too. Wait, most of that was hall of famer Mitch Richmond's fault, right?

 

[TheGOAT1006]

Despite hawking around these forums for years i just made an account because enough is enough. Yes, I understand everyone is in a panic and it seems like we've hit crisis mode. But lets just stop and be realistic for a second.

BOOGIE ISNT GOING ANYWHERE!!

And if he is, Vlade is going to make a good deal, not just send him off for peanuts (Lakers offer). But he isnt going anywhere.

We're just going to have to wait for tonight to pan out, but I see Boogie in a Kings uniform.

This has become a thread on nothing but rumors and panic. We should be discussing the draft instead! Its like we're all waiting on a comment or speech from the FO to clarify everything so we can get back to our normal lives.

I think best case scenario is moving back, and picking up two rookies tonight or any assets for that matter that can contribute immediately. Kaminsky would be great as I think he can start right away. And adding any other prospect in the top 20 would easily be a great bench contributor. (Cameron Payne please!)

Then we hit FA and do the same.

You guys forget the excitement we had when we started so hot last season before Boogie got sick.

We're a big man and maybe true starting/star PG away from having a very good starting 5, and then we just need some NBA talented depth.

...it's gonna be alright fellas...it's gonna be alright

 

[KingMilz]

This number in particular amuses me. Everybody loves to point out how well Evans and Thomas are doing, as though Cousins was holding them back; they were pretty good here, too. What about the other guys, though? The aggregate the 36 former teammates that Cousins has had to play with have been so terrible, that more than half of them are out of the league now, and most of the ones that still are aren't playing any roles of consequence.

So, sure, I'll spot you Evans and Thomas; you can even have Udrih and Hickson. And, of course, twelve of those guys are still on the team. How are the other 32 guys doing?

Whiteside, Vasquez, Patterson, Brooks were ok as well imo and currently productive

 

[New Era]

I agree. Cousins agent will push this for years. Doesn't mean anything is about to happen.

It could. But I'm not ready to say Vlade saying "No!" Isn't true. This is coming from agents and the media. Maybe PDA.

Point being, it's not coming from anyone with the power make a move. That includes George.

But Vlade isn't trading him and has been very clear. If the move is made, that's up to Vivek. As of now, he says no. Karl is working on that.

Karl wants to recreate his failed nuggets teams. It's actually really disturbing he'd be that set on pursuing and continuing his failed stint as nuggets coach.

He drove the star out of town, actually won games with a bunch of mediocre talent, then got fired anyway and left the nuggets in complete turmoil.

It could happen here too.

Brilliant post.

Kings fans, always ready to prove how naive we are..

With the urging of Grant napear as always. He's good at smear campaigns and we are in the midst of an epic one against cousins.

Clearly Boogie is 100% responsible for bad owners, bad gms, bad coaches, and bad draft picks.

Heck, let's blame him for 1986-1996 too. Wait, most of that was hall of famer Mitch Richmond's fault, right?

So at what point does he have to start taking some responsibility for this mess? It can't possibly be everybody else's fault, can it?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Whiteside, Vasquez, Patterson, Brooks were ok as well imo and currently productive

I don't know that I'd agree that Vasquez and Patterson are particularly productive, but YMMV. Surely you're not suggesting that Cousins was holding Whiteside back?

 

[New Era]

Whiteside, Vasquez, Patterson, Brooks were ok as well imo and currently productive

Dalembert, Evans, Beno, Whiteside, Hickson, IT, Brooks, J. Johnson, Patterson, Vasquez, Rudy, Collison

These are all decent players that he is or has played with over the past 5 years.

 

[Mass]

Actually, you and I can agree that he is a great talent. He absolutely is. That's the puzzling thing about him. Great talents should be able to win more than 29 games, especially when you have a legit #2 in Rudy Gay. Other poster said "something just does add up" about DMC, and I agree with that. Honestly, I think it comes down to leadership. Great players will inspire others to be better than they normally would. If you look at everybody who has come through here, nobody seems to thrive. Do you think you would enjoy playing with somebody who screamed at you every time you made a mistake? Or with somebody who literally complains about every single call, even when it's completely obvious that he fouled somebody? I just think it's gets old and people aren't inspired by it.

Actually, whit a good coach and a healthy team the Kings were winning games at the beginning of last season. I'm sure that without all the injuries and the firing of Malone we could have been a 500% team. It's not his fault if our FO was so stupid to fire the best coach we had since Adelman, a coach who was loved by Cousins, to put Corbin in charge. That was a season killer for the team.

 

[KingMilz]

I don't know that I'd agree that Vasquez and Patterson are particularly productive, but YMMV. Surely you're not suggesting that Cousins was holding Whiteside back?

No I was not saying Cousins held any of them back I was just listing a couple more guys who have been "decent"since they left.

 

[New Era]

Actually, whit a good coach and a healthy team the Kings were winning games at the beginning of last season. I'm sure that without all the injuries and the firing of Malone we could have been a 500% team. It's not his fault if our FO was so stupid to fire the best coach we had since Adelman, a coach who was loved by Cousins, to put Corbin in charge. That was a season killer for the team.

I would have loved to see what Malone could have done with an entire season. Firing him was absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

You and I aren't going to be able to agree on a working definition of 'productive', if your definition includes Dalembert and Johnson. Gay and Collison are still on the team and, when I last checked, we weren't that bad when all three of them were healthy.

 

[sdballer]

I can't believe people are suggesting that playing with 10-12 decent teammates, miserable coaching and constant turnover is something cousins should have overcome in his early 20s in the most brutal conference. Let alone the fact that the front offices that created those situations have failed to ever surround him with complimentary players.

Name one player in the last 15 years that dealt with such nonsense.

I wish we could trade a few of you instead.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

No I was not saying Cousins held any of them back I was just listing a couple more guys who have been "decent"since they left.

Whiteside was so decent after he left, that he was out of the league for two years. He had to hit rock bottom before he pulled his head out of his ass.

 

[KingsFanGER]

Do you think you would enjoy playing with somebody who screamed at you every time you made a mistake? Or with somebody who literally complains about every single call, even when it's completely obvious that he fouled somebody? I just think it's gets old and people aren't inspired by it.

Yes I would enjoy it. Because the guy yelling at me, leaves it all on the court, makes countless hustle plays, steps up on defense and will find me with a pass, when I get open.
I don't think Cousins is nearly the diva you try to make him. Just a very big, very emotional guy, who wants to win and is frustrated by losing ames for years.

 

[TheGOAT1006]

I'd take Vasquez over McCallum right now all day

Whiteside was so decent after he left, that he was out of the league for two years. He had to hit rock bottom before he pulled his head out of his ass.

Vasquez and Brooks are the only ones I would even want on the current team. They were productive then and still are today.

 

[ninjabiscuit]

Twitter really is an amazing thing. A place where journalists can make entire fan bases freak out based on what agents tell them to say, in return for "advance notice" on other trades. I hope there comes a time where doing what Woj and Fegan are doing is somehow disallowed, either by the NBA or by some theoretical sense of journalistic integrity. It's basically tampering in an indirect way...the NBA fan's equivalent of yelling "fire" in a movie theater.

No, Woj isn't technically lying when he says that trades are being discussed, even it is all coming from the Lakers camp via Fegan (speculation, although I think it's true)...but obviously everything he says is magnified and dissected and hyped and bemoaned to the point where I wish he would reserve his "Woj Bombs" for actual trades, instead of using them as weapons for agents like Fegan.

 

[Chubbs]

So at what point does he have to start taking some responsibility for this mess? It can't possibly be everybody else's fault, can it?

Unless Demarcus was making draft picks, firing and hiring ill suited coaches, losing good players for nothing, I really wouldn't be sitting there expecting Boogie to say, yep, you know, it's all my fault.

That's up to fans like you and that red headed idiot to slander away. By that logic, let's just blame JT or the medical staff. They've been here too.

You realize you're basically just regurgitating Grant's talking points, right?

 

[New Era]

Unless Demarcus was making draft picks, firing and hiring ill suited coaches, losing good players for nothing, I really wouldn't be sitting there expecting Boogie to say, yep, you know, it's all my fault.

That's up to fans like you and that red headed idiot to slander away. By that logic, let's just blame JT or the medical staff. They've been here too.

You realize you're basically just regurgitating Grant's talking points, right?

I don't listen to Grant. Don't get angry just because I disagree with you. That's what boards like this are for.

 

[Chubbs]

Correct. And other than the ownership change do you think it's possible that he might have played a role in all that turnover? We know for a fact that he ran 2-3 coaches out of town. Why is it that other players don't like playing with him? He's had some decent players come through here but nothing ever worked. Gay, Evans, IT, Vasquez, Sammy.....

Yeah smart and westphal would be hall of
fame coaches if not for boogie.

and I'm not so sure that's a "fact."

But hey, the media has proven facts aren't facts anymore, so why the **** not I guess.

And let's ignore IT campaigning to get Boogie to Boston I gues

Actually, you and I can agree that he is a great talent. He absolutely is. That's the puzzling thing about him. Great talents should be able to win more than 29 games, especially when you have a legit #2 in Rudy Gay. Other poster said "something just does add up" about DMC, and I agree with that. Honestly, I think it comes down to leadership. Great players will inspire others to be better than they normally would. If you look at everybody who has come through here, nobody seems to thrive. Do you think you would enjoy playing with somebody who screamed at you every time you made a mistake? Or with somebody who literally complains about every single call, even when it's completely obvious that he fouled somebody? I just think it's gets old and people aren't inspired by it.

It seems to work fine for Lebron.

 

[Amit149]

Really? He is not? Wow... If you don't believe me, believe some stats:

You know how many players in the history of this game, at the age of 24 or younger had a season with at least 25 points, 13 rebounds and 3,5 assist per 36 minutes? The answer is 2: Kareem and that guy that you would trade for Okafor and Randle.

Just to get things clear, stats at age 24, per 36 minutes:

Cousins: 25,4 pts - 13,4 reb - 3,8 ast - 1,6 stl - 1,8 blk - 545% TS% - 5th year in the league
O'Neal: 24,8 pts - 11,9 reb - 2,9 ast - 0,9 stl - 2,7 blk - 556% TS% - 5th year in the league
Duncan: 20,6 pts - 11,3 reb - 2,8 ast - 0,8 stl - 2,2 blk - 536% TS% - 4t year in the league
Olajuwon: 22,9 pts - 11,2 reb - 2,9 ast - 1,8 stl - 3,3 blk - 554% TS% - 3rd year in the league

Yeah, right, DMC is not even close... What about trying to put a good team around him, and see what happens? We have a special talent, and some of his fans are the firsts who can't understand it.

People complain other fan bases are blind...

These 3 guys are all time greats, guys that was the clear number one pick, that was all-stars from the get-go, that brought their teams to success and won championships.

You want a real comp for Cousins? you don't need to go that far back, just go to last year Kevin Love- let's test it:

2013/14 Kevin Love VS 2014/15 DeMarcus Cousins (Per 36):

Points: Love- 25.9, Cousins- 25.4. Slight advantage Love.

TS%: Love- 59.1%, Cousins- 54.5%. Huge advantage Love.

Rebounds: Love- 12.4, Cousins- 13.4. Advantage Cousins.

Assists: Love- 4.4, Cousins- 3.8. Advantage Love.

Steals: Love- 0.8, Cousins- 1.6. Big Advantage Cousins.

Blocks: Love- 0.5, Cousins- 1.8. Huge Advantage Cousins.

TOV: Love- 2.5, Cousins- 4.5. Big Advantage Love.

Looking at it in a very non-scientific way- Love has a slight lead here (everything neutralize and we remain only with Slight advantage Love), so Let's go to more advanced metrics.

2013/14 Kevin Love VS 2014/15 DeMarcus Cousins (Advanced Metrics):

PER: Love- 26.97 (3rd in the league), Cousins- 25.29 (9th in the league). Advantage Love.

EWA (Estimated Wins Added): Love- 21.5, Cousins- 14.7. Big Advantage Love.

WS (Win Shares): Love- 14.3, Cousins- 6.0. Huge Advantage Love.

BPM (Box Plus/Minus): Love- 8.4, Cousins- 4.7. Huge Advantage Love.

VORP (Value Over Replacement Player): Love- 7.3, Cousins- 3.4. Huge Advantage Love.

WAR (Wins Above Replacement- product of ESPN'S RPM): Love- 13.52, Cousins- 10.86. Big Advantage Love.

So the Advanced Metrics has Love Being far better than Cousins. And it's worth mentioning that his team went 40-42 which is far better than the Kings 29-53.



Cousins isn't on the same level of Hakeem, Shaq or Duncan. just like Kevin love is not there. try to keep perspective.

Since Cousins went into the league his team never won over 29 games... is it his fault? probably not, would Shaq/Duncan/Hakeem carry this team to more wins/the playoffs? probably yes.

People keep mentioning that we are in the tough west, but with our record we wouldn't have cracked the top 12(!) in the east.

Cousins is a great player, and if he keeps working on his game and continue to improve he might one day be a MVP candidate- but odds are he'll never have the affect on the game those 3 guys had- and it's completely OK.

 

[Kingster]

I agree. Cousins agent will push this for years. Doesn't mean anything is about to happen.

It could. But I'm not ready to say Vlade saying "No!" Isn't true. This is coming from agents and the media. Maybe PDA.

Point being, it's not coming from anyone with the power make a move. That includes George.

But Vlade isn't trading him and has been very clear. If the move is made, that's up to Vivek. As of now, he says no. Karl is working on that.

Karl wants to recreate his failed nuggets teams. It's actually really disturbing he'd be that set on pursuing and continuing his failed stint as nuggets coach.

He drove the star out of town, actually won games with a bunch of mediocre talent, then got fired anyway and left the nuggets in complete turmoil.
It could happen here too.?

It seems to be coming from Cousins' agent and then is being fueled by the media, probably with the help of Cousins' agent. I think it is highly doubtful that Cousins' agent would shirk his fiduciary responsibility to his client and demand a trade without his client being aware of it. Also, I think it's safe to say that Karl may be one of the reasons for Cousins' demand. The fact that that Cousins has been on vaca for a couple of months and this is coming out now before the draft tells me that Cousins' desire to leave the Kings is pretty entrenched. It's not just some impulsive move, more like a planned move. That's why it makes sense to me that it's not going away anytime soon.

By the way, lying or fibbing or parsing or equivocating is part of the job description of a GM. That's just the way it is. I wouldn't expect Vlade to be an open book on any of this.

 

[Section 101]

Twitter really is an amazing thing. A place where journalists can make entire fan bases freak out based on what agents tell them to say, in return for "advance notice" on other trades. I hope there comes a time where doing what Woj and Fegan are doing is somehow disallowed, either by the NBA or by some theoretical sense of journalistic integrity. It's basically tampering in an indirect way...the NBA fan's equivalent of yelling "fire" in a movie theater.

No, Woj isn't technically lying when he says that trades are being discussed, even it is all coming from the Lakers camp via Fegan (speculation, although I think it's true)...but obviously everything he says is magnified and dissected and hyped and bemoaned to the point where I wish he would reserve his "Woj Bombs" for actual trades, instead of using them as weapons for agents like Fegan.

I think fegan is the one out there talking to other teams bringing them to vlade.

 

[LA King Fan II]

Cousins is good. Stats or no stats, I absolutely dont see him as a top 50 player of all time or even one of the best centers Ive ever seen and ive been watching closely since Richie Guerin was player coach for the St.Louis Hawks.

I'm a diehard King fan since 1999 despite being a Laker fan from 1966-1999. If Cuz wants out I hope they do better than the Chris Webber trade. At any rate they got their brains beat out last year with and without Cousins. When he was happy with Malone he was doing great. If he doesnt feel that way with Kings this year he will be a pouting, foul troubled injury plagued, negative presence which will suck.

Seems like his agents caused a lot of damage from the start with their Karl history.

 

[Bricklayer]

Sorry, but he's not in the Shaq/Duncan/Hakeem range. Not even close. You realize this was the first year he even made the All-Star team? He's also not even a first team all-NBA player yet in a league of weak bigs.

Again, people do not know what they are talking about.

Boogie ignorance has been a huge problem.

Hakeem, Duncan and Shaq parachuted into amazing situations by this point in their career. Hakeem walks into the league...and he's standing next to another HOF center from Day 1. Duncan enters the league...and he's standing next to another HOF center from Day 1. Shaq, after being surrounded by Penny, Nik Anderson, Dennis Scott, Horace Grant and the rest, by age 24 has already done what we fear Cousins may do, and transitioned to the Lakers, where he's surrounded by Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Nik the Quick, Cedric Ceballos, a young dude named Kobe etc.

Cousins walks into the league, very young, too young, and he's standing next to Jason Thompson. Working for the cheapest coaches his brokeass owners can find as they create a massive drama trying to steal a basketball team. Then to top it off he gets to experience two years under some noob owner who hires a noob GM who fights with the noob coach, runs 24 players through town in a year the first year, 3 coaches the 2nd year, and 5 years into his career Cousins is still yet to have a single All Star teammate.

Saying you are behind 3 Top 10 (actually maybe Top 11 now as I think LeBron may have bumped Hakeem out of the Top 10) all time players is no huge thing. But I can absolutely raise a question just how much that is true anyway. The huge gulf has been in circumstance and competent teammates/franchise, not in production.

At age 23:
Cousins 32.4min 22.7pts (.555TS%) 11.7reb 2.9ast 1.5stl 1.3blk 3.5TO 26.1PER
Duncan 38.9min 23.2pts (.555TS%) 12.4reb 3.2ast 0.9stl 2.2blk 3.3TO 24.8PER
SO'Neal 36.0min 26.6pts (.570TS%) 11.0reb 2.9ast 0.6stl 2.1blk 2.9TO 26.4PER
Olajuwn 36.3min 23.5pts (.560TS%) 11.5reb 2.0ast 2.0stl 3.0blk 2.9TO 24.2PER

At age 24:
Cousins 34.1min 24.1pts (.545TS%) 12.7reb 3.6ast 1.5stl 1.7blk 4.3TO 25.2PER
Duncan 38.7min 22.2pts (.536TS%) 12.2reb 3.0ast 0.9stl 2.3blk 3.0TO 23.8PER
SO'Neal 38.1min 26.2pts (.556TS%) 12.5reb 3.1ast 0.9stl 2.9blk 2.9TO 27.1PER
Olajuwn 36.8min 23.4pts (.554TS%) 11.4reb 2.9ast 1.9stl 3.4blk 3.0TO 23.8PER

At age 24 Boogie is already one of only 32 players to ever have had more than 1 25+ PER season, tying him wiht all the best bigs of the 21st century -- Davis, Love, Amare, Yao, Dwight all have 2 as well. Its more than Patrick Ewing or Iverson ever got. When he notches his next 1, quite possibly by age 25, he'll be tied with George Mikan and Moses Malone, as well a Kobe and Dr. J with 3 insanely dominant seasons.

And for Kings fans not paying attention, DeMarcus Cousins was an All Star last year too. And is now a 2x First Team All NBA center. I won't tolerate sloppy media midgets and their ignorant prejudices distorting the historical record because they are mental teenagers and want to go chase the latest fad.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I'd take Vasquez over McCallum right now all day


Vasquez and Brooks are the only ones I would even want on the current team. They were productive then and still are today.

I think, at least on paper, Vasquez was the ideal point guard to play with Cousins; he's like a younger, taller version of Andre Miller.

 

[KingsFanGER]

It seems to be coming from Cousins' agent and then is being fueled by the media, probably with the help of Cousins' agent. I think it is highly doubtful that Cousins' agent would shirk his fiduciary responsibility to his client and demand a trade without his client being aware of it. Also, I think it's safe to say that Karl may be one of the reasons for Cousins' demand. The fact that that Cousins has been on vaca for a couple of months and this is coming out now before the draft tells me that Cousins' desire to leave the Kings is pretty entrenched. It's not just some impulsive move, more like a planned move. That's why it makes sense to me that it's not going away anytime soon.

By the way, lying or fibbing or parsing or equivocating is part of the job description of a GM. That's just the way it is. I wouldn't expect Vlade to be an open book on any of this.

You are probably right. But actually I don't worry too much about Cousins wanting to leave right now. If what you say is true, Cousins was frustrated with how last season played out. A lot of this maybe has to do with the firing of Malone.
But if Cousins was frustrated he didn't let it affect his gameplay under Karl. Cousins has put up huge numbers in March, hustled on defense and tried all he could do to get some wins.
I would expect the same kind of effort next season, even if he wants to leave now. Cousins seems not the type of guy, who would give up the moment he faces resistance.
Karl is a longterm NBA coach and Cousins is his best chance to make one final run into the playoffs.
Outside of the usual media hyperbole I would expect, that Cousins and Karl find a way to work together. After all even PDA and Malone seem to find a way to coexist.

 

[Jerichoholic]

People complain other fan bases are blind...

These 3 guys are all time greats, guys that was the clear number one pick, that was all-stars from the get-go, that brought their teams to success and won championships.

You want a real comp for Cousins? you don't need to go that far back, just go to last year Kevin Love- let's test it:

2013/14 Kevin Love VS 2014/15 DeMarcus Cousins (Per 36):

Points: Love- 25.9, Cousins- 25.4. Slight advantage Love.

TS%: Love- 59.1%, Cousins- 54.5%. Huge advantage Love.

Rebounds: Love- 12.4, Cousins- 13.4. Advantage Cousins.

Assists: Love- 4.4, Cousins- 3.8. Advantage Love.

Steals: Love- 0.8, Cousins- 1.6. Big Advantage Cousins.

Blocks: Love- 0.5, Cousins- 1.8. Huge Advantage Cousins.

TOV: Love- 2.5, Cousins- 4.5. Big Advantage Love.

Looking at it in a very non-scientific way- Love has a slight lead here (everything neutralize and we remain only with Slight advantage Love), so Let's go to more advanced metrics.

2013/14 Kevin Love VS 2014/15 DeMarcus Cousins (Advanced Metrics):

PER: Love- 26.97 (3rd in the league), Cousins- 25.29 (9th in the league). Advantage Love.

EWA (Estimated Wins Added): Love- 21.5, Cousins- 14.7. Big Advantage Love.

WS (Win Shares): Love- 14.3, Cousins- 6.0. Huge Advantage Love.

BPM (Box Plus/Minus): Love- 8.4, Cousins- 4.7. Huge Advantage Love.

VORP (Value Over Replacement Player): Love- 7.3, Cousins- 3.4. Huge Advantage Love.

WAR (Wins Above Replacement- product of ESPN'S RPM): Love- 13.52, Cousins- 10.86. Big Advantage Love.

So the Advanced Metrics has Love Being far better than Cousins. And it's worth mentioning that his team went 40-42 which is far better than the Kings 29-53.



Cousins isn't on the same level of Hakeem, Shaq or Duncan. just like Kevin love is not there. try to keep perspective.

Since Cousins went into the league his team never won over 29 games... is it his fault? probably not, would Shaq/Duncan/Hakeem carry this team to more wins/the playoffs? probably yes.

People keep mentioning that we are in the tough west, but with our record we wouldn't have cracked the top 12(!) in the east.

Cousins is a great player, and if he keeps working on his game and continue to improve he might one day be a MVP candidate- but odds are he'll never have the affect on the game those 3 guys had- and it's completely OK.

Excellent post! I do think Cousins is a great player in terms of statistics, just like I think Love is as well. However I think we tend to overvalue players here because we have had so few. While statistics tell part of the story they don't tell the whole story. Just look at Love this last year compared to the year before. I always felt he was overrated putting up big numbers on a bad team and never led them to more wins. Then he goes to the Cavaliers and not only did the numbers drop dramatically, but so did his overall production. I would say for the regular season as well as the time in the playoffs before getting hurt he was a minor contributor, definitely 3rd behind James and Irving. You could even argue that several of the role players were more important with the little things they contribute that Love doesn't.

The big test for Cousins will be if we get better players here or if he gets traded to a better team. What will happen to him? The numbers will probably drop some, that is just how things work when a player has to share more. The question is what will his overall contribution be. Many here think he will be an all-time great, leading his team to titles. I think at best he will be a good number two player next to a better star who puts up 20 and 10 consistently. He might even be Chris Webber good, hall of fame level talent, that's not bad at all. However we have to be careful throwing around some of the names that are being thrown around here. He is not a top 50 all-time talent and he is not in the class of guys like Tim Duncan. The numbers might be there, but the leadership and attitude are not.

 

[N0tmyfault]

Interesting Twitter exchange between a Kings' fan and Boogie:

1. 
   KingJimD ‏@jimteach30 14h14 hours ago
   @boogiecousins Boogie, I love you, but the drama around here is a lot for many of us to stomach.
   
   
   
2. DeMarcus Cousins ‏@boogiecousins 14h14 hours ago
   @jimteach30 awww shut up!
   
   
   KingJimD ‏@jimteach30 14h14 hours ago
3. @boogiecousins Do you want to be here?
   
   
   
   
4. DeMarcus Cousins ‏@boogiecousin@jimteach30 absolutely
   
   KingJimD ‏@jimteach30 13h13 hours ago
5. @boogiecousins That's what we've all been wanting to hear! The media gets in all of our heads and I apologize for letting them get to me.
   

 

[Kingster]

You are probably right. But actually I don't worry too much about Cousins wanting to leave right now. If what you say is true, Cousins was frustrated with how last season played out. A lot of this maybe has to do with the firing of Malone.
But if Cousins was frustrated he didn't let it affect his gameplay under Karl. Cousins has put up huge numbers in March, hustled on defense and tried all he could do to get some wins.
I would expect the same kind of effort next season, even if he wants to leave now. Cousins seems not the type of guy, who would give up the moment he faces resistance.
Karl is a longterm NBA coach and Cousins is his best chance to make one final run into the playoffs.
Outside of the usual media hyperbole I would expect, that Cousins and Karl find a way to work together. After all even PDA and Malone seem to find a way to coexist.

I don't worry about it now. At some future date, before this next trade deadline and before the season begins (and presumably after Cousins and Karl have met) the Kings are going to have to take Cousins' temperature on whether he has bought in. If he has, great, full speed ahead. If not, then Vlade is going to be forced into shopping him. As others have said, you just can't have an unhappy Cuz on the team when the season starts; it would be a mega disaster if that happens and his trade value would go down.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Interesting Twitter exchange between a Kings' fan and Boogie:

You're a good twelve hours and five pages behind, hoss.

 

[Bricklayer]

Excellent post! I do think Cousins is a great player in terms of statistics, just like I think Love is as well. However I think we tend to overvalue players here because we have had so few. While statistics tell part of the story they don't tell the whole story. Just look at Love this last year compared to the year before. I always felt he was overrated putting up big numbers on a bad team and never led them to more wins. Then he goes to the Cavaliers and not only did the numbers drop dramatically, but so did his overall production. I would say for the regular season as well as the time in the playoffs before getting hurt he was a minor contributor, definitely 3rd behind James and Irving. You could even argue that several of the role players were more important with the little things they contribute that Love doesn't.

The big test for Cousins will be if we get better players here or if he gets traded to a better team. What will happen to him? The numbers will probably drop some, that is just how things work when a player has to share more. The question is what will his overall contribution be. Many here think he will be an all-time great, leading his team to titles. I think at best he will be a good number two player next to a better star who puts up 20 and 10 consistently. He might even be Chris Webber good, hall of fame level talent, that's not bad at all. However we have to be careful throwing around some of the names that are being thrown around here. He is not a top 50 all-time talent and he is not in the class of guys like Tim Duncan. The numbers might be there, but the leadership and attitude are not.

If Demarcus Cousins is ever a #2 option to anybody, yes he will indeed win titles. Probably a whole bunch of them while people who just did not get it sit at home sucking on their lottery teats and saying golly gee.

And no you don't actually have to be careful when you have watch the league long enough. Cousins is practically a revolutionary talent. In fact in some things he may be the most revolutionary big man in the history of the NBA. A.D. gets cited because he's long and skinny, but Cousins is the true center revolutionary. No center his size (let's say top center as who knows some low level dude in Europe might have been able to do it, just not do anything else) has ever been able to handle the ball like he can. Ever. Its a first. its why Coachie, who knew a thing or two about basketball, announced after first getting a look at him that Boogie played a game with which he was not familiar.