DeMarcus Cousins

bajaden said:
Tryus Thomas has hops. You want to trade Cousins for him. Larry Bird didn't have any hops. Vlade didn't have any hops. People passed on Kevin Love because he didn't have any hops. The only thing I know for sure that hops will get you every time is a good glass of beer. So they're not overrated. :D
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Mmmmm hops lol.
 
mcsluggo said:
yeah, if forced to, i would be able to screw up my face and accept a young Tim Duncan.
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If only he had Tim Duncan's abilities on the other side of the court.

That will always be the concern. The franchise centers have been called franchise centers because they pretty much always dominate on both ends of the court. Hakeem, Shaq, Robinson, Ewing etc. Just dominating as the best player on the court both way. Cousins has come a long way already and its looking good now that he will be able to become an adequate defender, but he'll never be anywhere in those guys', or Duncan's class. And so we have a gem of a talent, but its more of a one way advantage ala Brad Daugherty or Rik Smits or something. Maybe the better compaisons really are to a PF like Webb then the true legendary centers. I am really geting impatient to get Whiteside out of the D-league and see what he can do, because a some point going forward I think we're going to nee a shotblocking defender at PF to compensate for what Ousins does not do there. Its too bad, but you really can't complain too badly when you take two trips to the high lottery and both years come away with All Star talent.
 
BMiller52 said:
For this team to win consistently in the next couple years, it's going to have to be on the back of Mr. Cousins. You can build a team around a good center a lot easier than any other position. If he keeps getting better, we have a shot to be a lot better next year.
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Totally agree with this.. The offense should be going through him, and he should be touching the ball almost every trip.. Been saying this since seeing him in college.
 
Cousins could probably gain a lot of inches on his vertical by shedding the extra weight. He is still a young kid, he might be able to get a lot more athletic in a year or two.

Also, Bibby and Peja lacked hops. But, that didn't stop them from being really good players.
 
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Bricklayer said:
If only he had Tim Duncan's abilities on the other side of the court.

That will always be the concern. The franchise centers have been called franchise centers because they pretty much always dominate on both ends of the court. Hakeem, Shaq, Robinson, Ewing etc. Just dominating as the best player on the court both way. Cousins has come a long way already and its looking good now that he will be able to become an adequate defender, but he'll never be anywhere in those guys', or Duncan's class. And so we have a gem of a talent, but its more of a one way advantage ala Brad Daugherty or Rik Smits or something. Maybe the better compaisons really are to a PF like Webb then the true legendary centers. I am really geting impatient to get Whiteside out of the D-league and see what he can do, because a some point going forward I think we're going to nee a shotblocking defender at PF to compensate for what Ousins does not do there. Its too bad, but you really can't complain too badly when you take two trips to the high lottery and both years come away with All Star talent.
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At the same, it's not like Cousins is completely useless on defense. We've already seen him improve exponentially on the defensive end since the beginning of the season. Will he ever average 2.3 blocks a game over his career like Duncan has? Probably not. I do believe, though, that DeMarcus will become a very good, above average defender in this league though. He's that much of a competitor that I think he'll will himself into defensive prowess. If he drops a good 15 pounds of baby fat from his frame, I think it would make a world of difference on that end of the floor.
 
On a related side-note, I am really really tired of the national media focusing only upon the "antics" of DeMarcus Cousins rather than the fact that he's rapidly becoming one of the top post players in the league.
 
Tetsujin said:
On a related side-note, I am really really tired of the national media focusing only upon the "antics" of DeMarcus Cousins rather than the fact that he's rapidly becoming one of the top post players in the league.
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For real! I think the Suns announcers were the first team to actually praise DMC, rather than bash on him. They even thought it was funny when he was jawing at VC, but didnt make a big deal out of it. Every other announcing team has been like "Omg, look at him scowl after that call, what a lazy malcontent thug! lolz".

RE: DMC's defense. I think he has good potential as a man defender. He has length, strength, and is very agile for his size. He just needs to dedicate himself to that end of the floor, which I think he has been doing. He isnt shutting anyone down, but he's getting noticably better. (He's gone for terrible to below average, its a start).

Dude is never going to be a weakside shotblocker, or scare guards out of the paint. But he's gonna take up space, and will hopefully not get trashed by opposing Cs night in and night out. At least he isnt a wimp like Hawes (who, ironically enough, is a far superior shot blocker to Cousins). If Whiteside figures it out, I think we could have our frontcourt's D solved. I remember during summer league Cousins had a quote that was kind of like: "I like playing with Whiteside, I funnel guys towards him and he blocks the shot". It kinda sounds like pawning off your defensive assignment, but whatevs...They're buds. :p
 
Sluggah said:
I don't remember Webber's defense. What was it like?
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In case that wasn't being faceitious: it was ok. On and off according to his interest. Had the great natural tools when young and a was a big shotblocker for a PF and stroing rebounder, but did not always use them.
 
Bricklayer said:
In case that wasn't being faceitious: it was ok. On and off according to his interest. Had the great natural tools when young and a was a big shotblocker for a PF and stroing rebounder, but did not always use them.
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To add to this if I remember correctly Webber was a WAY better team defender than a man defender. Meaning he did very well witht he 4 others on the floor. I remember the Kings being one of the league leaders in allowing the lowest opp fg% for a few years in a row. The Kings always had a way of getting under the skin of the other team defensively. They (as a whole) were very underrated defensively which has a lot do to with how fast they shot the ball. The other team would average 102ppg on us but we were allowing a buttload of shots because we were taking a whole bunch ourselves.
 
mcsluggo said:
yeah, if forced to, i would be able to screw up my face and accept a young Tim Duncan.
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Conceptually I agree with everyone here. It's just fun imagining him with hops. You'd be looking at a more skilled Shaquille O'Neal.

This kid is going to be a 20/12 guy for the next 10-15 years. Can't wait to watch it all.
 
Before we get all carried away with comparisons to future HOF'ers, lets remember that when Duncan came out of Wake Forest, he was a senior, and was considered one of the most fundamentally solid centers to come out of college in quite a while. What was the biggest knock on him? He wasn't athletic and had no hops. So before we concede that Cousins will never be as good as Duncan in certain facets of the game, perhaps we should just wait a tad and see. Not saying he will, But he should be a sophmore in college right now.

As I've said before, Shaq is a different deal. You just don't find guys that stand 7'2" in shoes, weigh 300 pounds, and have a vertical leap of aroung 34 inches, and run like a deer. The last one before him was Wilt, who was a world class hurdler as well as being over 7 feet in shoes. Wilt could also dribble the ball like a guard, which I might add, got him in trouble at times.
 
cfechter said:
Conceptually I agree with everyone here. It's just fun imagining him with hops. You'd be looking at a more skilled Shaquille O'Neal.

This kid is going to be a 20/12 guy for the next 10-15 years. Can't wait to watch it all.
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I think that he can average more than that given that in recent games as he's grown, he's already nearing those numbers as a rookie with a team that is still trying to figure out how they can use him.
 
I think its important to note that Cousins is NOT very fundamental right now. He's very sloppy with his footwork, is very prone to throwing up junk when posting up, and lacks solid go-to moves that he can rely on.

That being said, he's monstrously talented and often scores anyways.
 
As long as Cousins keeps getting 20 shots or more a game, I am willing to take his lumps with his goods because the best way to learn will be to get comfortable with the ball in your hands and learning from your mistakes, which he clearly shows progress these last couple of games. He's been playing more within himself and that's a great sign.
 
Andre87 said:
the only bummer in all of these is that he didnt reach 10 reb plateau since the memphis game:)
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Let's hope he attends the Whiteside School of Fitness this summer, because that's the only way he'll be able to consistently battle on the boards and still go to work in the low block as often as he does (or should).

Stay the hell away from the Whiteside Institute of Fouling Nuances, though.

Really though, watching his growth rate go through the roof in what seems like a couple of weeks time has been a lot of fun. In spite of the inconsistency of the whole team in general, seeing him tangibly get it like this after all the dramatics is one of the reasons to keep optimistic about the team.
 
Dr. Spaceman said:
Let's hope he attends the Whiteside School of Fitness this summer, because that's the only way he'll be able to consistently battle on the boards and still go to work in the low block as often as he does (or should).

Stay the hell away from the Whiteside Institute of Fouling Nuances, though.

Really though, watching his growth rate go through the roof in what seems like a couple of weeks time has been a lot of fun. In spite of the inconsistency of the whole team in general, seeing him tangibly get it like this after all the dramatics is one of the reasons to keep optimistic about the team.
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Couldn't have said it better. While the schedule will only get harder, its things like this that will make the season for us, and give us momentum going into next year.
For me, the most impressive part of Cousins game is his vision. Yeah, some of his dishes inevitably become turnovers, but I can honestly say I've seen him make some better passes than our guards. He is so skilled, as long as he is on the floor, he is going to fill some part of the stat sheet. We have seen direct proof of this, as he's cut down his travels/fouls, his playing time has gotten consistent, and his numbers have skyrocketed.
 
HighFlyingMonkey said:
I think its important to note that Cousins is NOT very fundamental right now. He's very sloppy with his footwork, is very prone to throwing up junk when posting up, and lacks solid go-to moves that he can rely on.

That being said, he's monstrously talented and often scores anyways.
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There's absolutely nothing wrong with Cousins footwork. Its great until he tries to push through a triple team with it. His problem at times is his decision making in the post. The one thing every scout raved about was Cousins footwork for such a young guy. His decision making will improve as he gets experience. He does need to improve his post moves. Right now he's just making it up as he goes along.
 
Andre87 said:
the only bummer in all of these is that he didnt reach 10 reb plateau since the memphis game:)
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If you watch the game carefully, sometimes the player that does the work doesn't always get the rebound. There was at least four occasions where Cousins blocked out two opposing players and Casspi ended up with the rebound. The stat line doesn't always tell the whole story. By the way, I thought Casspi was excellent last night. He brought a lot of energy to the game.
 
bajaden said:
There's absolutely nothing wrong with Cousins footwork. Its great until he tries to push through a triple team with it. His problem at times is his decision making in the post. The one thing every scout raved about was Cousins footwork for such a young guy. His decision making will improve as he gets experience. He does need to improve his post moves. Right now he's just making it up as he goes along.
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His footwork has been an issue, but he's learning rapidly. The reason he gets called for so many travels is that he doesn't get a low enough center of gravity to keep his pivot foot down; he has quick feet and often tries to go through moves going as fast as he can, so his pivot foot doesn't stay planted. Its understandable, thats the AAU mentality in him to throw out these moves as quickly as possible as opposed to being methodical and calculating.

That being said, he's showing vast improvement in it lately, and it has a lot to do with his recent surge in production. I'd hazard a guess that he averaged 2-3 travels per game throughout November and December; he only had one travelling call that I can remember last night. I can't help but wonder if Bill Walton is coaching him directly because his learning curve has been incredible.

The next step in his development would be to add signature moves he can consistently count on, like a jump hook, because this "invent finishing moves as you go along" is nice until the opposing defenses start taking away your comfort zone.
 
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