HUH? When did Westphal throw a punch? Sorry but that doesnt hold water. It is the flustrations of a season for Cousins that has been marred by horrific officiating, poor team decision making, and questionable coaching as well. BUT, Westphal just writes up the play. He doesn execute the play, nor can he tell his players how the play is going to unfold. Cousins was flustrated about not being able to take the winning shot. Greene isn't the veteran Cousins should be getting in the face of. Greene has little to no effect on any Kings games. Greene is trade bait which hopefully the Kings will be able to get rid of in the offseason. Cousins is the future of this team regardless of whether the rest of the team likes it or not. He did not handle this situation appropriatly, but he is a rookie. These kind of actions normally STAY in the lockeroom. It shows a complete breech of lockeroom etiquette that we even know of this situation. This was a very POORLY handled situation by the coaching staff, the veteran players, and of coarse Cousins as well. Sure he wanted to win the game. Sure he thought he had an advantage under the rim. He may have even been open on the play. BUT, Evans went for the win. There is no shame in that and it was a good open shot that the offense created. Cousins is too young to be demanding the ball at the end of games EVEN though he SHOULD be getting the ball in those situations. The Refs have unfortunatly taken that option away from the Kings with their horrible officiating with regard to Cousins. He gets hacked on a regular basis. In fact, he is usually fouled at least twice every time he makes a post move, but it just isn't getting called by the NBA refs who seem to have an agenda against Cousins and the entire Kings team. The Kings COULDNT go to Cousins because the odds are he would have been fouled, and he would have missed the shot, and nothing would have been CALLED! That is the REALITY of the situation. Cousins is clearly fed up with getting called for ticky tack fouls on one end and getting hammered on the other end with no whistle. This is a horrible situation that should have been handled IN THE LOCKEROOM! It shows how fragmented the lockeroom is, and how Westphal seems to be loosing control. But to BLAME Westphal for this blowup is not right. Cousins is volitile, and the coaching staff knows this. What Greene was doing trying to get in Cousins face is totally incorrect. Perhaps if it had been Dalembert or Beno, the only veterans ON this team, it would have been different. Cousins is the best player the Kings have right now. Evans has been inconsistent, even though he had a wonderful game. Evans outside shot is NOT reliable. They had time to get it into Cousins and have him make a play or make a basket. That was not how the play unfolded. It is a horrible situation now where Cousins thinks he is being Disrespected when in reality the Refs are very harsh on him and the coaching staff knows this and was trying to run a play to get someone else open other than Cousins on that last play. This whole situation could have been avoided if the Refs were to change their disruptive inconsistent foul calling against Cousins, but that is going to happen for this whole year if history is any measure of how refs disrespect rookies.
But the realities are Cousins is SICK of loosing. He thinks he is a better option at the end of games than a wishful prayer of a shot by Evans from 3. If Evans was more consistent, and he MADE more of those shots, it would not be a problem. BUT, Evans does NOT makes a majority of those shots.
At least to this point, Evans has not shown that KILLER instinct to be able to stick that dagger in other teams and win the game. Until he CAN finish games strong, the Kings need to look at ALL options down the stretch. Their late game execution has been plain awful. Maybe they should stop running plays that isolate Evans on the wing EVERY SINGLE TIME when he can't seal the deal in those situations? I am not defending Cousins for his blowup in the lockeroom after a loss. I understand his flustrations, and he is a very young rookie. If the Kings are ever to get out of this late game collapse rut, they need to be more diverse in their late game executions. And maybe the coaching staff needs to look at their late game play calling to see how they can become more diverse and less predictable at the end of close games. I mean who did not think that somehow, some way Evans was going to take that last shot? He is NOT a reliable outside shooter. Too many times Evans has had the ball in his hands late in games this season, and TOTALLY BLOWN the whole play and failed miserably? It's time for Wedtphal and the rest of his staff to start running plays for OTHER players on the court who can maybe execute the plays down the stretch to win games. Maybe that player ISNT Evans. There are many Very Good players in this league who can execute throughout the game but defer at the end of games because they dont have the Intestinal fortitude to make that dagger shot. Evans has a track record of FAILING at the end of tight games. So WHY DOES THE COACHING STAFF KEEP GOING TO EVANS TO SEAL THE DEAL??? If it is because Westphal is insisting no matter what that Evans be the MAN at the end of games and he fails, then Westphal needs to go. He MUST know at this point that Evans is not a leader yet, and is just a very good player who dont have what it takes to be a finisher at the end of games. Perhaps Cousins believes he IS A FINISHER? Maybe he ISNT afraid to take that last shot?? We may never know as long as all the end game plays run out of time outs are going to go to Evans to huck up a prayer.
This is all part of a deeper problem the Kings have of not enough experienced vets on the team, CBA backups coming off the bench, and having the lowest payroll in basketball. This team plays great considering their league low salary and lack of any serious veteran help. In the offseason, the Kings are looking to bring in good veteran help to solidify this roster. But as it is now, there is no one who can stand up and say he will be a leader because the good players on this team are all rookies and 2nd year players. I believe that Green, Casspi, Thompson, Head, Landry and Jeter are all lower tier players who the Kings should look to trade in the offseason for REAL NBA Veterans who can produce and are NOT affraid to win games in the final seconds. This team MUST have more Talent, Leadership, and above all more poise. That only comes from Veterans, and the Kings do not have any Veteran difference makers. Benching Cousins for complaining about not getting his chance to be the big shot maker at the end will NOT solve this problem. It will only exacerbate the problem. I think that even though PW has done a decent job of getting these young players ready to play, and playing pretty good, he has not been able to create the kind of team enviroment that winning teams have. Westphal must learn to adapt, or next season veteran free agents will not be the only thing that is NEW.