Funny, I'm trying to figure out whether your validating my point of view, or saying well, everyone does it, and therefore it's OK. Maybe this comes down to what each of us is willing to endure as the price of putting up with Cousins antics. If the end justifies the means, then I have no argument against that. I've been watching basketball for a long time, and I've seen a lot of incidents that are far worse than anythng Cousins has done, but that's not the issue. It comes down to what is right and what is wrong, and what Cousins did the other night was wrong. Bricky implies that the implications are meaningless, so therefore, it's not something to get worked up about. OK, I get where he's coming from. But that's not the point.
There are several ways to judge Cousins. One way is his 27 points and 12 rebounds. No denying that! He's a very talented man, and I use the word man loosely, because he acts like a child far too often to suit me. Another other way is to exaggerate every little thing he does wrong. Make him into some sort of out of control monster. I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and it's complicated because we aren't privy to what happens behind closed doors. A lot of what we use as information is speculation. I try to judge people on what I know to be fact, not speculation. So let me be up front about one thing that leaps out at me. I see absolutely no remorse coming from Cousins about anything he does.
That bothers me! It's one thing to lose it in the heat of battle, but despite your reasons at the moment, at some point, you should be able to see the effect on your teammates and your overall effect on the game. The other night, he sucked the air out of the arena for no good reason, other than to satisfy his own needs. He argues with ref's constantly while play is still going on leaving his teammates to defend four on five, and seemingly doesn't care.
I'll be honest, if we were a 50 plus win team I'd be more inclined toward forgiveness, but were not. We stink, and no matter when or how we stink, it appears that Cousins isn't at least partially the blame. It's everything but him. I think there is some validity to that, but Cousins is also responsible. You can't take credit for every win, and shirk responsibility for the losses.
The chemistry, and climate surrounding the team is in a large part created by Cousins. That's what comes with leadership. But even there, the lack of chemistry is blamed on Karl, not Cousins. Either Cousins, or his agent has tried to pull the rug out from Karl from the get go. I get that he doesn't like Karl, but if you the leader of the team, and your already mocking the coach prior to the season, what kind of result do your think your going to get from that?
Let me say at this point that I can't wait to see Karl gone. So this has nothing to do with my love of George Karl. This has to do with Cousins being a polarizing figure that determines how successful the team will be. For me, it isn't working. I wish it would, but I don't think it will unless Cousins changes his approach. Unfortunately, I've seen very little change in the six years he's been here. To some extent, it's gotten worse. But that's just me. I'm sure that I'm in the minority. I'm tired of these discussions about Cousins.
