Big man coach:

[bajaden]

In another thread I suggested that the Kings might be well served to hire a coach that could tutor our bigs. Particularly Cousins. There have been suggestions along this line before, but I don't remember anyone suggesting my first choice, who has tutored Dwight Howard. Thats Hakeem Olajuwon. He is in my opinion, one of the very best post players in the history of the NBA, if not the best. Charles Barkley called him virtually unguardable. Patrick Ewing, a very good defender had no clue how to stop him in the post.

Anyway, finding a clear video is hard to do, but here's one that should give you an idea of how good a post player he was. Notice that when he receives the ball that there's no hesitation on his part. Notice that when he happens to spin into the double, there's no commitment on his part, and he immediately spins back the other way for a clear shot instead of trying to force it through a double.

By no means am I saying that Cousins could become the next Olajuwon, but he has a lot of the same dribbling skills and shooting skills, and he has very quick feet. I certainly think Olajuwon could help Cousins reach his full potential. Here's a video of some Olajuwon highlights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69EjLCWvgxI&feature=related

Here's another video of a Olajuwon training session with Howard. Its worth the watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mArHU1ewSog

 

[LPKingsFan]

Maybe Hire Rudy T as head coach and see if he can convince Hakeem to come along and tutor Cousins? Has Rudy mentioned a desire to coach again? Would the Maloofs pay him enough to convince him (probably not)?

 

[UK_King]

His moves are just so relentless but smooth and under control.

Cousins is good in the post when he spins baseline IMO but when he spins the other way or drives that way it's less controlled, it's really not even a "move" it's just a drive.

Would be great for Cousins to have extensive coaching by an experienced, high IQ big man but would he be receptive or see it as an insult?

 

[cuad]

There's a rumor out there that Hakeem doesn't want to coach. He's already worked with Hassan Whiteside.

 

[ParniValjak]

Pretty sure The Dream has worked with Whiteside before he got drafted.

Anyway, this is not directed at Hakeem or any other legend of basketball but quite often, the best players are the worst coaches. It takes a special ability to be able to transfer your knowledge to someone who might be less talented. To a lot of these guys, things came naturally to them. Hakeem is easily my favourite big man of all time and at least he has some sort of resume in big man coaching.

I definitely think we need a specialist development coach to teach our young players. Cousins no doubt can learn a lot from Hakeem, even by just watching him. With DMC's quick feet, he could really be a real force down low.

 

[bajaden]

Pretty sure The Dream has worked with Whiteside before he got drafted.

Anyway, this is not directed at Hakeem or any other legend of basketball but quite often, the best players are the worst coaches. It takes a special ability to be able to transfer your knowledge to someone who might be less talented. To a lot of these guys, things came naturally to them. Hakeem is easily my favourite big man of all time and at least he has some sort of resume in big man coaching.

I definitely think we need a specialist development coach to teach our young players. Cousins no doubt can learn a lot from Hakeem, even by just watching him. With DMC's quick feet, he could really be a real force down low.

I do agree that sometimes the best players are the worse managers or coaches, but in the video with Howard he seems to be pretty good at instruction. Granted, he has a good student to work with. You'll notice I didn't mention Whiteside....