Demarcus

bloom

bloom

Starter
#1
#1
I was reading one of Ailene’s articles and I read this quote from Demarcus…I hope it hasn’t been posted before…It’s a simple statement that speaks volumes to be about the type of player we have – not making excuses and realizing what he needs to improve on…I’m just impressed with the way he analyzes himself/his game.

"I've got a lot of learning to do," Cousins said Saturday. "It's a process. First off, I need to play with a lot more energy, just got to pick it up. (Offensively) I get anxious. I have to slow down a lot. Let the game come to me. I try to force it sometimes, especially when I'm not playing a lot of minutes, not touching the ball."

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/14/3183828/ailene-voisin-cousins-isnt-the.html
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Hopefully he’ll take his own criticism of himself and improve it on the court.
 
rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#2
#2
I think a lot of people make a mistake by assuming the Demarcus they see on the court is the same as Demarcus "the person" off the court.

I think Cousins is a good guy, means well, and is extremely competitive. He will need to learn how to control his aggression, but he just turned 20. I'm not worried at all. Up until last night, he's handled the poor reffing really well. Some of the fouls called against him so far this season have been absolute crap.
 
L

Lockehead

Bench
#4
#4
^lol.

I do agree though. Id love to see him drop 20 lbs. As quick as he seems on his feet right now, he is definitely being slowed down by carrying that extra baggage. When he gets in shape he can definitely be starting material.
 
kingsboi

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#5
#5
As long as he knows what his faults are, he should learn from them in due time. As for his weight, yes...it would be nice to see that he commits himself to lose 20 pounds so he can become much more faster and agile. Whether he does that is up to his work ethic and how much time he is willing to put in the weight room/eating healthy etc.
 
P

pshn80

Starter
#6
#6
rainmaker said:
I think a lot of people make a mistake by assuming the Demarcus they see on the court is the same as Demarcus "the person" off the court.

I think Cousins is a good guy, means well, and is extremely competitive. He will need to learn how to control his aggression, but he just turned 20. I'm not worried at all. Up until last night, he's handled the poor reffing really well. Some of the fouls called against him so far this season have been absolute crap.
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True, and it also must be said that many are thoughtless and careless on his part. Combineing that with his rookiehood and its too much right now. But as you say, he is learning, and he is good.
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#7
#7
pshn80 said:
True, and it also must be said that many are thoughtless and careless on his part. Combineing that with his rookiehood and its too much right now. But as you say, he is learning, and he is good.
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If he only had to deal with thoughtless or careless fouls he'd be fine and wouldn't be fouling out of any games. He got jobbed on at least two calls last nignt, especially the one where Monroe reached in as he was driving past. But thats being a rookie in the NBA.
 
K

Kingsguy881

Guest
#8
#8
bajaden said:
If he only had to deal with thoughtless or careless fouls he'd be fine and wouldn't be fouling out of any games. He got jobbed on at least two calls last nignt, especially the one where Monroe reached in as he was driving past. But thats being a rookie in the NBA.
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Monroe's a rook.
 
bloom

bloom

Starter
#9
#9
rainmaker said:
I think a lot of people make a mistake by assuming the Demarcus they see on the court is the same as Demarcus "the person" off the court.

I think Cousins is a good guy, means well, and is extremely competitive. He will need to learn how to control his aggression, but he just turned 20. I'm not worried at all. Up until last night, he's handled the poor reffing really well. Some of the fouls called against him so far this season have been absolute crap.
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I’m not sure you were talking to me but just to be clear I never said or thought that Demarcus is a bad/angry guy. I was talking about the fact that I rarely see a player critique themselves like that. I loved the way he talked about the areas of his game that were weak and needs improvement…I’m happy that he’s on our team and I can’t wait to see how he’s going to improve himself throughout the year.

I do wonder how long it will take for him to learn some of those tricks that other big men use around the basket.
 
L

Lucivar

Prospect
#10
#10
I don't know if this would count as an excuse or not, but i believe that a HUGE reason why many of the kings players, demarcus being among them, that are not really showing their potential is because of the playing style. Many king players, such as garcia, omri and demarcus aren't getting many touches early in the offence set and definatly not where their comftorable. Thats why you see garcia and omri chucking up pointless threes in a position their not comftorable in, or why demarcus is shooting those odd mid range jumpers or not passing the ball enough in the low post. Those are alot of frusturation shots. Tyreke or beno are dribbling the ball for 15 secs and then drive in to the paint and thats about it for the kings offence. Wouldn;t you chuck it up if you got the ball once every 5 possesions? In the kings game against memphis, is saw this one strech of time where omri was on the court he didn't get the ball on offence for about 7 minutes... Demarcus got the ball on the low post early in the offence maybe... twice in the game. I doubt even dwight howard would score a shot if he got the ball 15 feet from the basket with 10 secs on the clock...
 
L

Lockehead

Bench
#11
#11
^ I agree.

In the last game vs Detroit, when DMC came in with the bench unit in the 2nd quarter, they were actually effective in reducing the deficit that our starters built up for us in the 1st quarter. I believe it was because Head was actually feeding the ball into DMC in the post, consistently. And from there we were able to make some plays and get some baskets.
 
L

Lockehead

Bench
#12
#12
ive got to say i am really impressed with how DMC is coming along. Tonight he was playing with competitive, and positive energy. Were also getting to see how effective he is working in the post. His defense is still a bit lacking, but hell get better with better conditioning and more experience.
 
P

Prince_XY

Starter
#13
#13
cuad said:
Tell him if he stops being fat he'll be starting at PF in no time.
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lol.

I think it will eventually happen, especially that we have Dalembert to play as our defensive anchor at center. Dalembert and Cousins seems like the best of our BIGs. Their strongest abilities seem to complement each other. When Westphal is done with his experimentation and Landry finally traded, I believe Cousins will start regularly with Dalembert.
 
bloom

bloom

Starter
#14
#14
cuad said:
Tell him if he stops being fat he'll be starting at PF in no time.
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Coach might then play him as a SG…but he really does need to make some of that weight into muscle. But I’m not worried about it. He seems serious about the game.

kingsboi said:
As long as he knows what his faults are, he should learn from them in due time. As for his weight, yes...it would be nice to see that he commits himself to lose 20 pounds so he can become much more faster and agile. Whether he does that is up to his work ethic and how much time he is willing to put in the weight room/eating healthy etc.
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I agree. He also seems like he knows what he needs to improve on…I love to see him faster on the court. He already impressed me with his game, just imagine if his speed was quicker.
 
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M

mac

All-Star
#16
#16
He needs to start dribbling the ball less and just using his size more. You don't see Shaq or whichever great center or even PF dribbling around trying to cross over from the free throw line and all. Patience Demarcus, patience.
 
RookieOfTheDay

RookieOfTheDay

Starter
#17
#17
mac said:
He needs to start dribbling the ball less and just using his size more. You don't see Shaq or whichever great center or even PF dribbling around trying to cross over from the free throw line and all. Patience Demarcus, patience.
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He needs to take those open 10-15 footers too. Quite a few times I've seen him pass up an open 10-15 footer in favor of driving into a crowd under the basket. I like the aggressive mentality but he needs to take those uncontested shots.
 
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bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#18
#18
RookieOfTheDay said:
He needs to take those open 10-15 footers too. Quite a few times I've seen him pass up an open 10-15 footer in favor of driving into a crowd under the basket. I like the aggressive mentality but he needs to take those uncontested shots.
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Rough night for DeMarcus. But then again the Hornets are one of the best defensive teams in the NBA and Okafor is one of the best defenders. They obviously weren't going to give up anything easy inside. Good learning experience for Cousins. Funny, when he takes those 15 to 17 footers everybody says he should stay in the post and attack the basket. When he trys to attack the basket, everybody says he should take those jumpers. Not that he listens to what we have to say. Always take the highest percentage shot available. Some nights they go in, and some nights they don't.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#19
#19
mac said:
He needs to start dribbling the ball less and just using his size more. You don't see Shaq or whichever great center or even PF dribbling around trying to cross over from the free throw line and all. Patience Demarcus, patience.
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His balhandling ability however is one of theing s that could make him special. He's too groundbound to ever be remotely in Shaq's class as a pure post guy. But add in the ability to get that opposing center on skates with ballhandling, and it adds a whole other dimension. Obviously he has to learn when to do one and when to the other of course.
 
M

mac

All-Star
#21
#21
bajaden said:
Rough night for DeMarcus. But then again the Hornets are one of the best defensive teams in the NBA and Okafor is one of the best defenders. They obviously weren't going to give up anything easy inside. Good learning experience for Cousins. Funny, when he takes those 15 to 17 footers everybody says he should stay in the post and attack the basket. When he trys to attack the basket, everybody says he should take those jumpers. Not that he listens to what we have to say. Always take the highest percentage shot available. Some nights they go in, and some nights they don't.
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I think the key for any player is always mixing it up. The priority for a big man should always be scoring inside, but if the shot is there it's fine to occasionally mix in a couple of outside shots. What I don't like is him turning the ball over trying to get inside, in which case I'd rather he just shoot from the outside. I hate to say this, but I honestly feel that Cousins cost us the game against the Hornets. Like you said though, it's a good learning experience for Cousins, and knowing how fast he picks things up I dare say we'll slowly start seeing him cut down on the TOs.
 
M

mac

All-Star
#22
#22
Bricklayer said:
His balhandling ability however is one of theing s that could make him special. He's too groundbound to ever be remotely in Shaq's class as a pure post guy. But add in the ability to get that opposing center on skates with ballhandling, and it adds a whole other dimension. Obviously he has to learn when to do one and when to the other of course.
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I get what you mean, but at the moment I really feel he's overdoing it. Beating your man off the dribble is one thing, going in between the legs behind the back and whatever else you can think of while spinning when you're 6'11 is another.
 
RookieOfTheDay

RookieOfTheDay

Starter
#24
#24
bajaden said:
Rough night for DeMarcus. But then again the Hornets are one of the best defensive teams in the NBA and Okafor is one of the best defenders. They obviously weren't going to give up anything easy inside. Good learning experience for Cousins. Funny, when he takes those 15 to 17 footers everybody says he should stay in the post and attack the basket. When he trys to attack the basket, everybody says he should take those jumpers. Not that he listens to what we have to say. Always take the highest percentage shot available. Some nights they go in, and some nights they don't.
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I guess some folks may do that but I would never say any player should pass up an open shot in favor of running into two or three defenders at the basket. If you're wide open, take the shot. Unless of course it's out of your range. Those 15 footers aren't out of Cousin's range though. He can make those.
 
N

nbaFan

Guest
#25
#25
sorry, ive seen enough of this guy, he's got Benoit Benjamin written all over him. Yes he will have some good games here and there that will get your hopes up but he'll be this perennial underachiever who never lives up to expectations, battling weight issues and conflicts with coaches,teammates etc. He just has this aura of me, me ,me and not team team team. He'll self destruct and cause chemistry issues until his rookie scale contract is up, then demand a max contract for a mid-level performance and then ***** about respect when we offer him less. Iv seen this type before. He's not a winner, he's immature. When he reaches the point of scoring 20 pts and 10 rebounds in a game he'll rest on his laurels instead of trying to become even better, he'll follow it up with a 6 pt 3 reb game 4 fouls and then complain in the press about playing time. Ive seen his kind before. I hope they trade him while he still has value. I mean can you honestly see this guy and his personality leading this team to the promised land, I dont. He's a run of the mill big man with "potential" cuz he is 20. He's bad for this team, watch.
 
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RookieOfTheDay

RookieOfTheDay

Starter
#26
#26
nbaFan said:
sorry, ive seen enough of this guy, he's got Benoit Benjamin written all over him. Yes he will have some good games here and there that will get your hopes up but he'll be this perennial underachiever who never lives up to expectations, battling weight issues and conflicts with coaches,teammates etc. He just has this aura of me, me ,me and not team team team. He'll self destruct and cause chemistry issues until his rookie scale contract is up, then demand a max contract for a mid-level performance and then ***** about respect when we offer him less. Iv seen this type before. He's not a winner, he's immature. When he reaches the point of scoring 20 pts and 10 rebounds in a game he'll rest on his laurels instead of trying to become even better, he'll follow it up with a 6 pt 3 reb game 4 fouls and then complain in the press about playing time. Ive seen his kind before. I hope they trade him while he still has value. I mean can you honestly see this guy and his personality leading this team to the promised land, I dont. He's a run of the mill big man with "potential" cuz he is 20. He's bad for this team, watch.
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Speaking for myself, I'd be perfectly happy with a 20 and 10 center that was "resting on their laurels". Having said that, only a moron would trade Cousins right now (unless it's a trade to get a top 10 player or something). You have to at least give him a season or two and see what happens.
 
T

The Basketball Kings

G-League
#29
#29
All Cousins really needs to learn to do is be comfortable with that jumper. Anyone who watched the pre-draft workout videos with the Kings knows that he can drill those all day long. I think coach has beat it into his head to "get into the post" and so he goes to the dribble as the first option. He's pretty much automatic around the free throw line. If he trusts that jumper ala CWebb he will be a 20/10 guy in no time flat.
 
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