Cousins Back for Team USA

#1
I haven't seen a thread on this so I thought I should start it up.

Congratulations to Cousins for making the 19-man team USA roster this summer.

We all believe him to be the most offensively dominant Center in the league, but it's good that what he did last summer, combined with his work during the regular season has translated into another Team USA invite.

The more good recognition he can get around the league, the better.

Here's hoping he can dominant during this summer camp and lock in a spot for the final 12-man roster which will head to Spain in late August.

The Bigs he's going up against are:
Anthony Davis
Andre Drummond
Kevin Love
Blake Griffin
Kenneth Faried

You would assume that Love and Griffin will be a lock.

He is going to have to fight with Davis be able to secure a roster spot if they bring along 3 bigs, especially since he's the only true big with an offensive game.

After getting snubbed for the All-NBA teams, I'm sure he's going to kill it at the camps to secure a spot. We'll see...
 
#3
The issue is Team U.S.A. loves getting the defensive stud/rebounding/low offensive USG C's on the roster and let the wings take care of the offense. Which does make sense, considering Bron, Durant, Melo, Love, Westy, Curry sort of players are tailormade for international ball. Guys like Drummond and Davis make more sense than Boogie do for Team U.S.A, which may hurt his chances.

Regardless, would love to see him on. a Team U.S.A Cousins jersey would be awesome.
 
#5
Yeah, the Olympic squad was just Chandler, Davis, and Love (was Griffin hurt? My memory doesn't go back to 2012!) . I imagine the two incumbents are locks, and Drummond would be closer to replacing Chandler if that's what they're looking for. But maybe they figure Davis can just be that guy. If they'd rather add another skilled big, though, I'd be shocked if it wasn't Griffin. Would love to see Boogie on the team, though.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#6
The issue is Team U.S.A. loves getting the defensive stud/rebounding/low offensive USG C's on the roster and let the wings take care of the offense. Which does make sense, considering Bron, Durant, Melo, Love, Westy, Curry sort of players are tailormade for international ball. Guys like Drummond and Davis make more sense than Boogie do for Team U.S.A, which may hurt his chances.

Regardless, would love to see him on. a Team U.S.A Cousins jersey would be awesome.
The great irony being that Spain has been breathing down our necks internationally largely based on the Gasol brothers superiority inside.
 
#8
Cant see him making it over Davis, they see Davis as a cornerstone of the future. I think they will use a lineup of Curry, Thompson, Durant, Griffin, Love. If Cousins makes it he would look great in place of Griffin.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#9
Cousins isn't a media darling and therefore might be the main reason he won't be making the squad, unfortunately. Plus to me it seems USA wants to play uptempo and Cousins isn't really that type of center, where they can play Davis at the 5 and get away with it since it's international basketball.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#11
The question of course is how much longer the US Team's essentially junkball strategy is viable with the SG position at its nadir, and LeBron and Melo beginning to age out. They may not realize it, but that strategy worked because the talent concentration of U.S. players was on the wings. As there is a shift, only Durant will be left of the truly special wing types, and you will essentially be designing your offense/strategy for the benefit of second benchers like Harden and George.
 
#12
The question of course is how much longer the US Team's essentially junkball strategy is viable with the SG position at its nadir, and LeBron and Melo beginning to age out. They may not realize it, but that strategy worked because the talent concentration of U.S. players was on the wings. As there is a shift, only Durant will be left of the truly special wing types, and you will essentially be designing your offense/strategy for the benefit of second benchers like Harden and George.
Agreed. There is no reason to stay perimeter oriented. The league has very strong young bigs at this point (Cousins, Drummond, Davis, Griffin). You give me a lineup of Curry, George, Durant, Davis, and Cousins and you got yourself a very big team that can punish you inside while easily knocking down open shots from the perimeter.
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#13
Am I the only one that's kind of against him playing for team USA?

#1: He's the only high impact player/borderline superstar in the making the Kings have
#2: He's risking injury and possibley fatiguing himself (his cardio has never been the best)
#3: It's a 2nd tier comp which really doesn't do anything for the organisation that's paying him

I mean it's nice if he makes it but at the same time it's not really doing anything for us I rather a fully fresh Cousins playing for us from game 1. I would not mind another player who plays limited mins/role getting a spot but man it's a big risk imo for a guy who will be the face of the team and earning 15mil +. Rest up,work on that jumper/post game and come out breathing fire from game 1.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#14
Am I the only one that's kind of against him playing for team USA?

#1: He's the only high impact player/borderline superstar in the making the Kings have
#2: He's risking injury and possibley fatiguing himself (his cardio has never been the best)
#3: It's a 2nd tier comp which really doesn't do anything for the organisation that's paying him

I mean it's nice if he makes it but at the same time it's not really doing anything for us I rather a fully fresh Cousins playing for us from game 1. I would not mind another player who plays limited mins/role getting a spot but man it's a big risk imo for a guy who will be the face of the team and earning 15mil +. Rest up,work on that jumper/post game and come out breathing fire from game 1.
By this rationale, no professional player should be doing any international sporting ever. Neymar in the World Cup? Nope because FC Barcelona doesn't want its best player to hurt himself in international competition (Probably not the best example since he came dangerously close to actually getting crippled.) Hockey in the Winter Olympics? Nope because we don't want our NHL players gutting a booboo.

I suppose this same reasoning would apply to All Star games as well. We don't want to lose Player A to injury so therefore he shouldn't compete.

I understand you're trying to apply this argument to exclusively Cuz but what really makes his situation all that different from Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, or even Lebron for that matter?
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#15
I understand you're trying to apply this argument to exclusively Cuz but what really makes his situation all that different from Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, or even Lebron for that matter?
I'm a Kings fan and want what's best for the Kings, plus Cousins stamina ALWAYS worries me, where as with those guys that got naturally massive motors, Cuz not so much he's a naturally heavy guy who get's monstered in the paint 82 games a season.

I'm just looking at it from say the organisation's point of view if I were in charge I woud not want my players risking injury playing in a physical 2nd tier comp. Again it's not a bad thing if he makes it but yeah I would not mind him missing out.

I remember Deron Williams saying he should not have competed in one of the World cups/championships cause it wore him out.
 
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#16
By this rationale, no professional player should be doing any international sporting ever. Neymar in the World Cup? Nope because FC Barcelona doesn't want its best player to hurt himself in international competition (Probably not the best example since he came dangerously close to actually getting crippled.) Hockey in the Winter Olympics? Nope because we don't want our NHL players gutting a booboo.

I suppose this same reasoning would apply to All Star games as well. We don't want to lose Player A to injury so therefore he shouldn't compete.

I understand you're trying to apply this argument to exclusively Cuz but what really makes his situation all that different from Anthony Davis, Steph Curry, or even Lebron for that matter?
:eek: you must not watch a lot of soccer if you think he is FC Barcelona's best player
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#17
:eek: you must not watch a lot of soccer if you think he is FC Barcelona's best player
I was trying to play along with his "developing young talent" reasoning. Not to mention his name currently springs to mind as a recent big name casualty in international competition.

Not that FC Barcelona would be perfectly fine with Messi blowing out his ACL in an international friendly or anything.
 
#18
I'm a Kings fan and want what's best for the Kings, plus Cousins stamina ALWAYS worries me, where as with those guys that got naturally massive motors, Cuz not so much he's a naturally heavy guy who get's monstered in the paint 82 games a season.

I'm just looking at it from say the organisation's point of view if I were in charge I woud not want my players risking injury playing in a physical 2nd tier comp. Again it's not a bad thing if he makes it but yeah I would not mind him missing out.

I remember Deron Williams saying he should not have competed in one of the World cups/championships cause it wore him out.
I think it's crucial for the franchise that Cousins believes he can be a superstar in Sacramento. That includes being recognized as such, and so far the team's fumblings and lack of wins have prevented Cousins from receiving All Star recognition despite his stellar individual stats. Being named to the USA team would help mollify those concerns somewhat, which is why I sincerely hope Cousins makes the team. Otherwise, if he starts to see a pattern of being passed over for various perceived lesser talents, the risk of his discontent with the Kings grows.
 
#19
I think it's great Cousins keeps pushing for a spot. Great coaching, great competition.

I guarantee you Colangelo would rather not deal with Cousins, but I think Cuz is starting to break him down a bit. Haha.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#20
Am I the only one that's kind of against him playing for team USA?

#1: He's the only high impact player/borderline superstar in the making the Kings have
#2: He's risking injury and possibley fatiguing himself (his cardio has never been the best)
#3: It's a 2nd tier comp which really doesn't do anything for the organisation that's paying him

I mean it's nice if he makes it but at the same time it's not really doing anything for us I rather a fully fresh Cousins playing for us from game 1. I would not mind another player who plays limited mins/role getting a spot but man it's a big risk imo for a guy who will be the face of the team and earning 15mil +. Rest up,work on that jumper/post game and come out breathing fire from game 1.
Normally I share some of the same qualms. International ball doesn't mean anything to me, and it is a risk. In fact thee is even an additional factor: I think that entire generation of political 'my brand let's team up" corporate entities that entered the league in the early to mid 2000s may have first formed up their plans to try to all gang up to control the league in the NT. For the most part I don't even want Boogie exposed to that lockerroom. Think it poisoned Kevin Love early, and while DeMarcus Cousins is smarter and far less of a follower, I don't want him sitting then in a whispering NT lockerroom, while we bungle about and send him off to another losing season.

All of that said, this is a the same guy who put up epic numbers for a young player and couldn't even make the All Star team last year. He needs this. He needs anything. A breakthrough where one of the powerbrokers first takes the chance and establishes its ok to recognize DeMarcus Cousins as elite and give him some honors. So you don't complain about this one. he, and we, need the exposure. If we're contending in 6 years and he's going the year before we hope to make a title run? Yeah, I will cheerfully advocate scrubbing the NT stuff.
 
#21
Normally I share some of the same qualms. International ball doesn't mean anything to me, and it is a risk. In fact thee is even an additional factor: I think that entire generation of political 'my brand let's team up" corporate entities that entered the league in the early to mid 2000s may have first formed up their plans to try to all gang up to control the league in the NT. For the most part I don't even want Boogie exposed to that lockerroom. Think it poisoned Kevin Love early, and while DeMarcus Cousins is smarter and far less of a follower, I don't want him sitting then in a whispering NT lockerroom, while we bungle about and send him off to another losing season.

All of that said, this is a the same guy who put up epic numbers for a young player and couldn't even make the All Star team last year. He needs this. He needs anything. A breakthrough where one of the powerbrokers first takes the chance and establishes its ok to recognize DeMarcus Cousins as elite and give him some honors. So you don't complain about this one. he, and we, need the exposure. If we're contending in 6 years and he's going the year before we hope to make a title run? Yeah, I will cheerfully advocate scrubbing the NT stuff.
NT?

Also, Team USA just hasn't gone for the interior offensive bigs since 96. The only guy since then who's a dominant inside offensive force was Tim Duncan and somewhat Alonzo Mourning. And 2004 of Tim Duncan was one of the best defenders of all time as well.

. I think him on Team U.S.A. is a great step forward to him revamping his image around the league. We know that Cuz took great steps forward last season with his on court antics, but the rest of the NBA who doesn't follow the Kings just sees him leading the league in techs and in the top 10 of PF's. Team U.S.A. is a great opportunity for the basketball community to see him and rethink their opinion on them
 
#23
Normally I share some of the same qualms. International ball doesn't mean anything to me, and it is a risk. In fact thee is even an additional factor: I think that entire generation of political 'my brand let's team up" corporate entities that entered the league in the early to mid 2000s may have first formed up their plans to try to all gang up to control the league in the NT. For the most part I don't even want Boogie exposed to that lockerroom. Think it poisoned Kevin Love early, and while DeMarcus Cousins is smarter and far less of a follower, I don't want him sitting then in a whispering NT lockerroom, while we bungle about and send him off to another losing season.

All of that said, this is a the same guy who put up epic numbers for a young player and couldn't even make the All Star team last year. He needs this. He needs anything. A breakthrough where one of the powerbrokers first takes the chance and establishes its ok to recognize DeMarcus Cousins as elite and give him some honors. So you don't complain about this one. he, and we, need the exposure. If we're contending in 6 years and he's going the year before we hope to make a title run? Yeah, I will cheerfully advocate scrubbing the NT stuff.
That's how Cleveland and toronto lost there stars too
 
#24
Huge news today.

Blake Griffin has pulled out of Team USA for this summer.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...blake-griffin-not-participate-team-usa-summer

If they went with 3 bigs you'd figure that Griffin and Love would be locks. With the way that the league loves Anthony Davis, you'd figure that Cousins would just have to be a monster to get in past Davis. Now...the path is much easier for him to make it.

He deserves it and it would be fantastic for him to make the team and win for Team USA this summer.

Also, John Wall has been invited to the 19-man roster, but you figure that with a 12-man roster they still are going to need at least 3 bigs.