Demarcus
- Thread starter bloom
- Start date
bloom
Starter
Can you please explain why you think hat he's not a winner, leader and a good teammate?
Thank you so much for your input, I hope you’ll stick around for the next several years and hopefully then we’ll see if what you said is right or not…Everybody is entitled to their opinion (thanks for yours) and as long as our GM keeps him around – I’m happy.
I’m happy we have Demarcus here and I’m enjoying every moment of seeing him play and grow. Something that has made me happy these last 2 games is that Coach is giving him the ball at the end of games and allowing him to take control (pass or try to score). I can’t wait to see him continue to grow in the Sacramento Kings jersey.
ArcoKings
Starter
I agree with you 100%. Cuz is still a young kid and is learning. As the season progresses he will gain more confidence and will mature. His fouls will decrease, too, and as a result his minutes will increase. You can't judge a guy after playing only 20 games. This guy will be a beast. Keep the faith. Go Kings!
gunks
Hall of Famer
Cuz definately has a nasty skillsket. Post moves, decent midrange, amazing passer, bruising rebounder, good court vision.
It seems like he can only maintain a high level of play for short bursts, so hopefully he takes getting into good shape seriously. If he does that he's a 20/10 guy easily.
Also, the Randolph comparisons make me laugh. Cousins is anything but a black hole/stat stuffer. He is a willing passer, and I've never seen a player that big dive for so many loose balls.
It seems like he can only maintain a high level of play for short bursts, so hopefully he takes getting into good shape seriously. If he does that he's a 20/10 guy easily.
Also, the Randolph comparisons make me laugh. Cousins is anything but a black hole/stat stuffer. He is a willing passer, and I've never seen a player that big dive for so many loose balls.
Yeah Cousins is good not only because of his individual talents, but the fact that he can play within the team makes him such a valuable player, any team would love to have him. Hes not a blackhole in any way. Tyreke is a very talented individual player, but he needs to learn to play amongst the team instead of trying to have the team play around him.
Oskor
Bench
that he leaves Sac for LA.
Sorry... bad joke but it's the first thing that came to my head when I read those words.
ArcoKings
Starter
RookieOfTheDay
Starter
Yeah I just saw that. I like Barkley but he irked me a little there. Cousins may have his problems but he's not even close to the Kings' biggest problem. In fact, he's one of their biggest bright spots. I really hope he ends up having a really good year to prove all these haters wrong.
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kingsboi
Hall of Famer
What's puzzling to me is everybody acts as if he's going to be that way his whole career. You just can't tell these things right now, yes he might stay that way or he might shape up. It's a gamble and we took one, but we took it mostly because of his high ceiling so there would be nothing more satisfying for him and Kings fans in general than to prove that he can be a force every night.
Well, in Barkleys defense, I believe the only game he saw the Kings play this is season was that godawful games against the Clippers on thanksgiving, after which he called PW a genius for winning four games with this team (...), and a couple of days later Cousins was kicked out of practice. If that game coupled with the news of Cousins' behavior was all I saw from the Kings, I would probably feel the same way he does.
RookieOfTheDay
Starter
I think people make way too much out of a player's body language, facial expressions, personality etc. in general. Not everyone reacts to things the same and it's silly to expect them to. I pay much more attention to what a player accomplishes on the court while they're playing basketball than to what their personality is. There's been some great players who didn't have the best personalities, that's the way it is sometimes. Not every player is going to be a Ray Allen. You're going to have your Ron Artests, Rasheed Wallaces, Latrell Sprewells, etc. as well. So while Cousins may not have the ideal "attitude", he's producing well above the curve for a rookie and that's much more important to me than if he argued with a coach, made a pouty face, threw a headband, or whatever.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
The only person less qualified to talk about DeMarcus and character issues is Ron Artest.
Not really... Barkley's background does not make his saying that he feels Cousins is volatile and immature any less credible. It is true, we would be better off if Cousins was more mature and under control wouldn't we? Charles isn't saying that he was the ideal player or anything, just that he feels Cousins has maturity issues, and that doesn't help our team at the moment. Nothing wrong with that IMO. I didn't hear what he said entirely so I'm just basing my opinion on this short statement of course.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
I think what people confuse sometimes with him is his will to win, he hates to lose and its obvious, hence his pouty mood. He is a big time competitor and he shows his emotion, I love that about him. I don't want a emotionless player who looks like he doesn't give a crap, I'm talking about you Tyreke...so what people in the media and other fanbases just see "oh, he got kicked out of practice, we saw that coming 100 miles away".
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
Do you really believe that?
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
That's the problem though, you can't base a player on one game that he was struggling in. I'm not saying he didn't struggle in other games as well, he did, but to make an assumption like Sir Charles did was just straight up ignorant on his part.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
I love Barkley, but he's probably forgotten his own youth. He wasn't the most mature player to come into the NBA. He just showed his immaturity in a different way. He's entitled to say whatever he wants. As can I, you, or anyone else that wants to opine on the subject. But the best thing that could happen for Cousins sake, and the Kings sake, is for people to stop talking about it.. These things start to have a life of their own after a while. He's a competitor, and hates to lose. So he shows it in his facial expressions. Thats who he is, and I would rather have someone sitting on the bench looking unhappy when were losing than someone cracking jokes and laughing it up. But thats just me.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
Yeah, we wouldn't want him pulling a Derek Anderson on us, now would we?
Yes, but that's the way things have always been. You don't really believe that every NBA commentator/analyst watches every team's every game, right? Yet they still have to say something, so they go on the little they did see. And we can criticize them all we want but we are just as guilty of doing the same thing (of course, we are not getting paid the money that they are being paid to express their opinions..). Last season everyone here was busy trashing Curry, Jennings and Rubio. I guarantee you that 90% of those people have not seen these players play more than 3-4 games the entire season. And most of the criticism those guys got on here didn't even have to do with the way they played against the Kings (which was the only times those "critics" saw them). It was more generic criticism intended to downplay their abilities while hyping up Tyreke's. That's what fans do most of the time, and while we like to think that people who get paid to express their opinion should do more research than that, the reality is that when someone like Barkley has a choice whether to watch a Boston game or a Kings game, he will always choose Boston. Not only because they are much more enjoyable to watch (and boy, are they...), but also because aside from the constantly shrinking Sacramento fan-base, nobody who follows this league really gives a crap about the Kings, and for him to wasted his time to become more educated about arguably the worst team in the league is just bad for ratings.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
Here's a thought though. Last night when he decided to talk about the Kings & DeMarcus, he didn't really have to say anything about it. He could of just said something about Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, Landry Fields. I don't think he was forced to make an opinion about DeMarcus. He decided he felt the need to because he was a big name coming out of the draft and he had attitude problems from the get go. Like I said, regardless of whether he cares or not to watch this team, you don't make quick judgements like that 20 games into the season.
Again, I didn't hear what he said entirely, so I'm basing this on what you originally posted, "He said he feels sorry for the Kings and that Cousins is "volatile" and immature and what not". I don't really think this is an unfair assessment or one that is labelling Cousins permanently. Who here wouldn't agree that Cousins, at the moment, is slightly immature/volatile? I certainly do, but that's not too big a problem because I believe he'll learn to control his emotions as better as he gets older. Next, who here thinks that if Cousins were already more mature and hot-headed it'd be better for the team? To me, that's basically what Charles is saying - that the Kings, as bad as they've been playing, really could have used a more stable and consistent player that we could rely on.
Baja, I agree with you, I'd rather have someone who really cares about the outcome of the game and doesn't want to give up. Where Cousins needs to improve is not letting things like getting called for lame fouls get to his head, to remain collected despite frustration, to continue to play within himself even when he feels like he needs to make up for a mistake. And these will all come with maturity as a person and as a basketball player. At the moment he's still very fiery and emotional, and you're probably right that the less people talk about it the better. But if he continues to seem very reactive and angry on the court, people won't stop talking about it. It's a chicken and egg thing, and to me it makes more sense for Cousins to control his emotions better and let his play do the talking. At that point, if the media is still calling him out just for having an unhappy face then **** them, because we'd be having the last laugh anyway.
Again, I don't see what Barkley's immaturity when he came into the league has anything to do with his assessment of Cousins, because it appears to me that he is just painting a picture of Cousins now, especially based on the game he saw, and how it affects the Kings. Now if he went on to say Cousins has attitude problems, will always be a zach randolph type player or something like that then I'd agree it's not a fair assessment.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
I heard Barkley's comments. It didn't seem to me it was based on Cousins getting thrown out of practice. Seemed to me Barkley has been talking to those close to the Kings. Maybe Westphal himself? He obviously didn't think he could get into the details.
Cousins is just going to continue to be a work in progress. I just hope the entire Kings organization have thought long and hard about how they are going to handle him. To me they've got to put as much though into how develop him and assist in his maturation as all the work they did in the last draft. After all, now they have a huge investment in him. They've got to make it pay off.
One question that just hangs out there is: How long is this maturation process going to take before he becomes what most would call mature? Three years? Five years? Ten years? If it takes longer than three years, then maybe it's not the Kings that see him pan out - maybe it's the team the Kings trade him to, or the team after that.
Cousins is just going to continue to be a work in progress. I just hope the entire Kings organization have thought long and hard about how they are going to handle him. To me they've got to put as much though into how develop him and assist in his maturation as all the work they did in the last draft. After all, now they have a huge investment in him. They've got to make it pay off.
One question that just hangs out there is: How long is this maturation process going to take before he becomes what most would call mature? Three years? Five years? Ten years? If it takes longer than three years, then maybe it's not the Kings that see him pan out - maybe it's the team the Kings trade him to, or the team after that.
Funny, I got the exact opposite impression. It seemed to me he was basing what he said on reading a media blurb or two and maybe taking a quick glance at Cousins' season stats. Did he have any impression that Cousins was contrite about getting thrown out of practice? Did he acknowledge that Cousins has played very well in three fo the last four? No. His opinion was formed on the basis of less information than the average Kings fan has, not more.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Oops, I forgot Latrell Sprewell
Kingster
Hall of Famer
You may be right. It's just that when they were talking about Cousins getting thrown out of practice, it seemed to me that Barkley shrugged that off as no big deal; it was the other stuff, whatever that is, had him concerned.
When I think of Cousins, I think of the book, Captain's Courageous. I think of the boy that came from the affluent family who thought the world revolved around who he was. When he got thrown into the sea and got picked up by the fishing vessel, they didn't believe who he said he was, and probably even if they did believe him, they didn't care. They only cared about the job that he did on their ship to help them catch fish. The Captain ends up smashing him the face when he talks back. The boy had to get knocked around a few times before he finally got it.
nickmcclure
Bench
Exactly. Consider the source here people. CHARLES BARKLEY is calling a player immature.
SMH.
N
nbaFan
Guest
ya think, finally. I was beginning to think I was a man on my own island
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