Cousins picked 3rd in R.O.Y.

[startingtohurt]

By ESPN, with Wall and Griffin ahead of him. They said based on talent alone he could very well get it, but his character and depth we have at that spot could hurt him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=SummerForecast10-ROY

 

[NME]

Last year, the guy who wasn't pictured in the chart and had one vote at the bottom won it.

Congrats to Derrick Favors!

 

[funkykingston]

It looks like last year Griffin got 16 votes, Tyreke 3 and Johnny Flynn 1.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=Predictions0910-ROY

Hard to fault those predictions since the runaway favorite was lost to injury for the year and the guy who go the second highest number of votes did win it.

It is interesting to note (and a good, albeit relatively meaningless sign) that most experts see the fifth pick in the draft with a better chance at ROY than picks 2, 3 and 4.

Griffin's return from injury makes him a more difficult player to gauge, but he definitely has the talent to make a huge impact. But with Wall getting the keys to the team on day 1 will lead to him being ROY barring injury. He'll have the green light to shoot and be able to rack up stats on a worse team. Cousins will have to work on his conditioning and will share minutes on an (all of a sudden) deep frontcourt rotation for the Kings.

I don't think back to back ROYs is out of the question, but I think things are set up better for Wall than Cousins.

 

[NME]

It looks like last year Griffin got 16 votes, Tyreke 3 and Johnny Flynn 1.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=Predictions0910-ROY

That was a different vote once we were well into the preseason. This is what they had for the same "Summer Forecast" ROY prediction:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=OffseasonPredictions09-ROY

Griffin in a landslide with 43, Harden and Flynn each with 3, Curry with 2, Tyreke and Thabeet each with 1, Jennings with 0.

 

[NME]

The assumption seems to be that Griffin is 100% healthy. Is that for sure the case? It seemed strange that he was working out with the Clipper's SL team but not participating in games. With some knee surgeries, it's the second year back where they're fully themselves, but I don't know about the type he had.

 

[kennadog]

Last year, the guy who wasn't pictured in the chart and had one vote at the bottom won it.

Congrats to Derrick Favors!

LOL!

Considering that Cousins was the 5th pick, I think number 3 in the voting is pretty good. You could even consider Cousins the 6th pick, since there's two number ones in the running this year (Wall/Griffith).

 

[funkykingston]

That was a different vote once we were well into the preseason. This is what they had for the same "Summer Forecast" ROY prediction:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=OffseasonPredictions09-ROY

Griffin in a landslide with 43, Harden and Flynn each with 3, Curry with 2, Tyreke and Thabeet each with 1, Jennings with 0.

Gotcha. Since the format wasn't the same I assumed there was an earlier article but didn't find it. Interesting that Brandon Jennings didn't appear at all.

I'm very curious to see how Griffin looks this year. His game wasn't predicated on great athleticism, but he certainly was a better athlete than most gave him credit for and he likely won't be completely healthy until next season.

Based on the last few summer league games I think Cousins' inability to play big minutes will hamper him in the ROY race at least to start the season. He may well have an year like Curry did last season where he comes on strong toward the end but can't overcome the big start that Wall has.

And that's of course assuming that Wall plays well from the beginning. Things are certainly lined up correctly for him to start the year.

 

[Boogie-havoc]

Griffin is a questionmark, if he can stay fit etc.

But I think it's preety safe to say if nothing goes wrong, Wall will be the pick.. he's gonna have good minutes at the Wizards, and pad his stat-sheet.. I really can't see Wall not winning it, him being the point guard etc he'll have lots of the ball.

 

[nickmcclure]

By ESPN, with Wall and Griffin ahead of him. They said based on talent alone he could very well get it, but his character and depth we have at that spot could hurt him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=SummerForecast10-ROY

How could his "character" (which is always eluded to negatively with no evidence to support it) disqualify his ROY candidacy?

 

[The Hammer]

How could his "character" (which is always eluded to negatively with no evidence to support it) disqualify his ROY candidacy?

I do find this trend to be quite an interesting social phenomena. My position is that I love the guy, think he has a great heart and a great personality and will be a positive locker room presence. But none of that is what the media picks up on. What Cousins is is emotionally expressive in his facial expressions and at times his body language. This does not necessarily translate to "character issues", but when Cousins is feeling frustrated, or god forbid TIRED (like after 6 games in 7 day fer chrissakes) it shows, or at least it does now. I have absolutely no doubt about his character. But in the media's desparate attempt to sensationalize every goddamn little thing, this is what it gets pawned off as. It's so easy to see how everywhere he goes he's loved by the fans, but misunderstood/misportrayed by the larger media. For Cousins, I hope he never loses that emotionality and expressiveness, but what I think might help him succeed in this whacked out media culture, is to realize that his body language will have an effect on how a sensationalistic media chooses to portray him, and that he can control that body language message. I really believe it's not so much his colorful comments that are the cause of this, but rather almost strictly his body language, which is really almost all that the cameras pick up on the court. A player can raise their voice, say strong words, even have a minor tiff with a coach or player, all of which Cousins did (really only a few times in college) and many times nothing is made of it, but if their BODY LANGUAGE is pouty or frustrated or mopey, all manner of accusations will fly. Why? Because that's what reads on TV. So the press is then kind of forced to make it an issue. My hope for Cousins is that he realizes all of this and learns to curtail and focus his body language WITHOUT losing that tremendous passion, charisma, charm, and killer instinct that makes him so great. I believe he can and will either very quickly or somewhat quickly. Why? Simply because he's smart, and he'll figure this out, if he hasn't already, as he is thrust into the magnifiying spotlight/house of mirrors that is known as professional sports stardom.

 

[fnordius]

How could his "character" (which is always eluded to negatively with no evidence to support it) disqualify his ROY candidacy?

There are a couple of possible answers to that. One is that he could be insufficiently motivated and not get into good enough shape to play his best, or something like that. The other is that the selection process for RoY is not very different from the process for picking the 6th grade class president.

 

[Kings Faithful]

The key for Cousins to win ROY over Griffin is scoring and his minutes. I think he is already going to average more RPG and APG given the same amount of floor time as Griffin. I could see Griffin averaging anywher between 14-20 a game and Cousins anywhere between 12-18. We'll see how Wall pans out. I think everyone expects him to be really good, but we will have to see just how good.

 

[kennadog]

"Character issues" for Cousins is similar to reports by the media that Evans is hated by his teammates and at least one article that called him uncoachable. Or how about the report that Evans' "attitude" was part of the reason he didn't make Team USA. The media really astounds me by the way they say negative things about people with absolutely no proof. It's like reading a tabloid all too often.

 

[est.1999]

The media blows.

 

[Kingsguy881]

The media blows.

This.

 

[Bricklayer]

However they largely have this one right. Cousins really does appear to have about the third best chance when you consider our roster vs. the obvious starting/starring roles Wall and Griffin are going to be thrust into. And one of the factors that could hold back Cousins from making a move on them is just the general maturity questions. Is he going to stay in shape, avoid fouls and Ts, earn the confidence of the coaches. Or are there going to be times when they are simply going to trust our deep corps of veteran bigs instead. Given how pee poor the last two yahoo/espn things were about the Kings, I'm actually fairly impressed on this one.

 

[Kingster]

How could his "character" (which is always eluded to negatively with no evidence to support it) disqualify his ROY candidacy?

I think "temperment" is the word that should be used. Character implies some moral delinquency (stealing, drug using, etc). I've never heard Cousins is morally wanting. Cousins has temperment issues, which obviously won't disqualify him from ROY candidacy; it will just make it more difficult to play as well as he could without the temperment issues.

 

[kennadog]

I think "temperment" is the word that should be used. Character implies some moral delinquency (stealing, drug using, etc). I've never heard Cousins is morally wanting. Cousins has temperment issues, which obviously won't disqualify him from ROY candidacy; it will just make it more difficult to play as well as he could without the temperment issues.

And I think there's a significant difference between "character issues" and maturity. No argument from me that Cousins has some maturing to do.

 

[est.1999]

Brick, I don't think anyone disagrees with the rankings. We're all just dumbfounded by the character issues label cousins is getting.

 

[D13]

I do find this trend to be quite an interesting social phenomena. My position is that I love the guy, think he has a great heart and a great personality and will be a positive locker room presence. But none of that is what the media picks up on. What Cousins is is emotionally expressive in his facial expressions and at times his body language. This does not necessarily translate to "character issues", but when Cousins is feeling frustrated, or god forbid TIRED (like after 6 games in 7 day fer chrissakes) it shows, or at least it does now. I have absolutely no doubt about his character. But in the media's desparate attempt to sensationalize every goddamn little thing, this is what it gets pawned off as. It's so easy to see how everywhere he goes he's loved by the fans, but misunderstood/misportrayed by the larger media. For Cousins, I hope he never loses that emotionality and expressiveness, but what I think might help him succeed in this whacked out media culture, is to realize that his body language will have an effect on how a sensationalistic media chooses to portray him, and that he can control that body language message. I really believe it's not so much his colorful comments that are the cause of this, but rather almost strictly his body language, which is really almost all that the cameras pick up on the court. A player can raise their voice, say strong words, even have a minor tiff with a coach or player, all of which Cousins did (really only a few times in college) and many times nothing is made of it, but if their BODY LANGUAGE is pouty or frustrated or mopey, all manner of accusations will fly. Why? Because that's what reads on TV. So the press is then kind of forced to make it an issue. My hope for Cousins is that he realizes all of this and learns to curtail and focus his body language WITHOUT losing that tremendous passion, charisma, charm, and killer instinct that makes him so great. I believe he can and will either very quickly or somewhat quickly. Why? Simply because he's smart, and he'll figure this out, if he hasn't already, as he is thrust into the magnifiying spotlight/house of mirrors that is known as professional sports stardom.

Very good assessment... (although breaking it up into paragraphs would be easier to read dude )... I agree!

 

[Boogie-havoc]

Hahah wtf, DMC and Dalambert got 2 votes each in the 'worst newcomer of the year' thingy at ESPN... Darko freaking Milicic got 1 !

 

[bajaden]

Been down in baja with my daughter, so I'm coming a little late to this one. I agree with the preseason rankings. Lets not forget that a healthy Griffin is going to be very good. Anyone that doesn't think Wall is good enough to win ROY is just plain nuts. So I think third is a nice compliment, but not a surprise. There's no question that Griffin, if healthy will get plenty of minutes on the floor. There's also no question that he'll be in top shape, since he's always been a workout freak. Both those things can also be said about Wall.

So the question about Cousins is will he be in top NBA shape, and will he be able to adjust his considerable skill set, to the on court needs of the Kings soon enough to have an effect on the ROY voting. He's a smart kid when it comes to basketball, so I think he will. But it'll be a tough battle, and with Wall playing on the east coast, he'll be hard to beat if he has anything resembling a ROY year.

 

[Kingster]

Been down in baja with my daughter, so I'm coming a little late to this one. I agree with the preseason rankings. Lets not forget that a healthy Griffin is going to be very good. Anyone that doesn't think Wall is good enough to win ROY is just plain nuts. So I think third is a nice compliment, but not a surprise. There's no question that Griffin, if healthy will get plenty of minutes on the floor. There's also no question that he'll be in top shape, since he's always been a workout freak. Both those things can also be said about Wall.

So the question about Cousins is will he be in top NBA shape, and will he be able to adjust his considerable skill set, to the on court needs of the Kings soon enough to have an effect on the ROY voting. He's a smart kid when it comes to basketball, so I think he will. But it'll be a tough battle, and with Wall playing on the east coast, he'll be hard to beat if he has anything resembling a ROY year.

I'm assuming Cousins comes into camp in great shape. It's not like he's Pittman. I think the toughest thing for him is that it's tougher being a rookie center than it is a rookie forward or guard. Wall should have a field day with the way they call the game now. Griffin, less so, unless he can establish a game where he faces his opponent and takes him off the dribble. It's tough being a center in the NBA now. Even a guy like Shaq, who was a lot more explosive than Cousins, took a while before he could exploit his offensive talent. And then on defense, I think he's going to have issues, like most rookies.

PS It's going to very interesting to see if Pittman can withstand the Miami workout regime. If he can survive it, he could help them out this year with some of his beefiness.

 

[mac]

I think I've kinda forgotten just how good Blake Griffin is supposed to be.

 

[bajaden]

I'm assuming Cousins comes into camp in great shape. It's not like he's Pittman. I think the toughest thing for him is that it's tougher being a rookie center than it is a rookie forward or guard. Wall should have a field day with the way they call the game now. Griffin, less so, unless he can establish a game where he faces his opponent and takes him off the dribble. It's tough being a center in the NBA now. Even a guy like Shaq, who was a lot more explosive than Cousins, took a while before he could exploit his offensive talent. And then on defense, I think he's going to have issues, like most rookies.

PS It's going to very interesting to see if Pittman can withstand the Miami workout regime. If he can survive it, he could help them out this year with some of his beefiness.

I have a real soft spot in my heart for Pittman. This kid has worked a lot harder than a lot of other gifted athlete's to get where he is. I wish the best for him. It wouldn't be a surprise if he eventually becomes a star in the league. The kid has a great heart..

 

[bajaden]

I think I've kinda forgotten just how good Blake Griffin is supposed to be.

He's a terrific athlete with outstanding quickness and leaping ability. He's very strong and is a great rebounder. He'll go through a learning process, but is probably ahead of the rest of the field having been through a training camp and a summer league last year. His injury was a cracked knee cap, which, while painful, usually has no chronic effects. So he should be up to full speed going into this season. He definitely has a lot of holes in his game, but I'm also sure he's spent the last year working on those very things. More than anything else, he has that IT factor you want in a player. It should be fun to watch the progress of Cousins, Wall, Griffin, and I wouldn't rule out Turner just yet.

 

[gunks]

Cuz, I think he's going to have a ROY worthy season himself. Double double with some dimes, blocks, and steals thrown in for good measure.

But....I'm betting on Wall. Dude had some nasty summer league games. TOs were an issue, but I think he's really gonna tear it up for the Wizards this upcoming season. He also has more hype. Hype helps, just ask Curry.

Of course if Cuz doesnt get ROY he's probably going to get a massive chip on his shoulder, owing to his competitive nature and all, and come out beasting like a demon his sophomore year. So its all pretty much win/win for us Kings fans.