I guess he just isn't USA basketball material
This is possible. He is set up to be a featured offensive player, not a stay out of the way dunk and defend guy, and the current USA teams are extremely perimeter oriented.
HOWEVER, as mentioned, until Zach dropped his single throwaway line in a long article, that was picked up by an opportunistic hack somewhere and spun into its own story, the reports out of Team USA camp had been that he was doing well. If this report capped or repeated what others said that would be one thing. But an uncredited single line reference in an article where the author is generally trying to create a negative image of Cousins anyway? I consider Zach Lowe one of the better NBA writers, but that's still considerably suspect. Who did he talk to exactly?
This is what we were hearing while the camp was on:
James Ham @James_Ham 20m
Cousins is man handling Anthony Davis. #TeamUSA
Sean Cunningham @News10Sean
From what I've gathered over past few days with Team USA, DeMarcus Cousins should be a lock for next yr's FIBA World Championship #NBAKings
“He’s done fine,” Colangelo said. “He came in with a great attitude, he has worked real hard [and] he had a good day today in practice. But a lot of people did.”
Then several weeks later Lowe comes out with a "sources say".
