Here's a thought though. Last night when he decided to talk about the Kings & DeMarcus, he didn't really have to say anything about it. He could of just said something about Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, Landry Fields. I don't think he was forced to make an opinion about DeMarcus. He decided he felt the need to because he was a big name coming out of the draft and he had attitude problems from the get go. Like I said, regardless of whether he cares or not to watch this team, you don't make quick judgements like that 20 games into the season.
Again, I didn't hear what he said entirely, so I'm basing this on what you originally posted, "He said he feels sorry for the Kings and that Cousins is "volatile" and immature and what not". I don't really think this is an unfair assessment or one that is labelling Cousins permanently. Who here wouldn't agree that Cousins, at the moment, is slightly immature/volatile? I certainly do, but that's not too big a problem because I believe he'll learn to control his emotions as better as he gets older. Next, who here thinks that if Cousins were already more mature and hot-headed it'd be better for the team? To me, that's basically what Charles is saying - that the Kings, as bad as they've been playing, really could have used a more stable and consistent player that we could rely on.
Baja, I agree with you, I'd rather have someone who really cares about the outcome of the game and doesn't want to give up. Where Cousins needs to improve is not letting things like getting called for lame fouls get to his head, to remain collected despite frustration, to continue to play within himself even when he feels like he needs to make up for a mistake. And these will all come with maturity as a person and as a basketball player. At the moment he's still very fiery and emotional, and you're probably right that the less people talk about it the better. But if he continues to seem very reactive and angry on the court, people won't stop talking about it. It's a chicken and egg thing, and to me it makes more sense for Cousins to control his emotions better and let his play do the talking. At that point, if the media is still calling him out just for having an unhappy face then **** them, because we'd be having the last laugh anyway.
Again, I don't see what Barkley's immaturity when he came into the league has anything to do with his assessment of Cousins, because it appears to me that he is just painting a picture of Cousins now, especially based on the game he saw, and how it affects the Kings. Now if he went on to say Cousins has attitude problems, will always be a zach randolph type player or something like that then I'd agree it's not a fair assessment.