Hate to break it to you, but most defensive centers are slow down the court. Cuz can jog and beat Hibbert down the court.
And people also forget centers normally have to run basket to basket, not wing to wing or top of the key to top of the key like wings and guards.
At one of the summer league games a couple of years ago, Uncia03 and I sat in the stands and talked to JT's father and mother, who happened to be sitting right next to us. JT's father said that the average person has no idea the amount of energy a center or a PF has to put out during a game compared to a guard. He said the big man has to battle for position on the offensive end with another big man that weighs 270 to 280 pounds. He's out there pushing you, elbowing you, stepping on your feet and leaning on you. And, after all that battling, your many times ignored by the little 6 foot, 180 pound PG, who has to do nothing but run around the perimeter deciding who should shoot the ball instead of himself.
Then the big man has to run to the other end of the floor and do the same thing in reverse. Again and again. And when the little guard out there isn't able to stay in front of his man, or fight through a screen, its suddenly the big mans job to stop the ball, and if he doesn't, he gets the blame, not the little guard that got beat. Well, the little guard is cuter than the big man. How many times in an NBA game do you see a center run down the floor, and just as he gets to the other end, someone on his team stops and pops, 6 or 7 seconds into the shot clock, and he's suddenly running back the other way?
Its easy to criticize big men! But its a lot easier to drag 180 to 200 pounds of body weight up and down the floor than it is to drag 270/280 pounds of body weight. Now lets say your a very intelligent 270 pound player. You believe in your coach. Your coach calls a play, and you do your part, but one of your teammates doesn't. So the play becomes one on one. And it happens over and over again, and you look to your coach, and he does nothing. Being intelligent is both a blessing and a curse. Ignorance can be blind. And if your blind, then you don't know things you should know. But if your intelligent, you know whats wrong, and when your leader the coach doesn't fix the problem, you get frustrated. You no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel, and some point, you give up.
Now I'm not saying thats the right thing to do. But I've been around the block a few times. But when I was 22 years old, I was an emotional wreck, and I reacted to everything emotionally. Oh, I knew I had screwed up after the fact, but the horse was already out of the barn by that time, and your can't put it back. If Tim Duncan comes out and is critical of a teammate, or Kobe is critical of a teammate, we all say thats leadership. Jordan did it all the time. But if Cousins does it, he's just an emotional kid that has no control. He needs to shut up and sit there and be a good boy. He's held to a double standard. You can say he brought it on himself, but believe me, he had some help!
Its amazing to me that Cousins is loved in Kentucky. He was coached by one of the most demanding coaches in college, and he got along just fine. You want to know why, because Calapari held everyone on his team accountable. You played his way, or you didn't play. If someone broke a play, Calapari called a timeout within seconds, and that player was on the bench. And not at the end of the bench, but on the bench right next to Calapari where he could take big bites out of your butt. And that included Cousins, who spent more than a few moments on the bench next to Calapari. But Calapari didn't send you to the lockerroom, or to the end of the bench for long period of the game. He'd put you right back in the game and give you a chance to redeem yourself.
Calapari said in an interview, that Cousins was the smartest player on his team. He never had to explain anything twice to him. Cousins respected Calapari because, number one, the team won, and number two, Calapari was consistent. Anyone that screwed up, knew where the hot seat was, and expected it. Now none of this is an excuse for Cousins behavior, but its an insight to how he thinks, and why he thinks what he thinks. You can't change anyone's behavior by hitting them over the head with a baseball bat. You change it by first understanding how they think, and then by convincing them that there's a better way. Cousins needs to understand where his area of responsibility begins and ends. And to take care of that area, and let everyone else take care of their own, and if they can't, then know that management will!
I believe that right now, Cousins has the wagons circled. He doen's think its safe to come out from behind those wagons because everytime he trusts someone, he gets stabbed in the back. Or at least thats his perception. And its his perception that were dealing with, which may not be the total reality of the situation. I believe that if Malone is everything he's touted to be, the whole situation will change. That doesn't mean there won't be an incident here and there, but they'll be minor by comparison. A disagreement between a coach and a player doesn't have to be a national news story. Cousins and Calapari had disagreements many times. But Calapari won those battles, and Cousins respects him to this day. And viceversa!
Never forget that players are human beings. Their all different. They don't come from a cookie cutter factory. You can have the same rules for all of them, but you can't react to every player the same way if they break one of the rules. Some you have to hit over the head, and others, you have to put your arm around their shoulder, and explain. And let them know, you have their best interest at heart. That your on their side. In Cousins case, he has to have trust in you. If you have his back, he'll have yours. If you throw him to the wolves publicly, then you'll lose him.
