Nope
Furillo: Time for Kings to get rid of Cousins
- Thread starter VF21
- Start date
Nope
Is this on a sliding scale between Bill Fitch and Larry Brown?
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
Yes I do -- that you don't have a valid one.
The Kings don't win much because they don't have complimentary talent surrounding their best player. And their management has been a train wreck.
Funny, but Cuz gets blamed for the constant coaching carousel, but nobody seems to recall the fact that there were 4 coaching changes from 06 - 09 well before Boogie ever put on a Kings uniform. Adelman to Musselman to Theus to Natt to Westphal. This circus was well underway beforehand and has continued with ownership changes, GM changes, poor draft day decisions and bad trades.
First, please explain or prove how any of the above was DeMarcus' doing. Secondly, find me just one player that has succeeded and won in a similar situation. And lastly, find just one player -- ONE -- that is currently succeeding and winning with equivalent talent, or lack there of, that has surrounded Cuz the past 5 years.
Since leaving the Kings, the likes of Thomas Robinson, Jimmer Fredette, and Nik Stauskas are either end of bench players or complete washouts. Rudy Gay, the supposed 2nd best player on the team, has never won anywhere he's been and isn't at all a good compliment to Cuz. And the only all-star level player that seemed to compliment Cuz the best was allowed to leave for no compensation whatsoever.
Basketball is a 5-on-5 team game. You need other complimentary players to succeed. While many may not like his demeanor or complaining, DeMarcus Cousins has proved himself an elite #1 option. Furthermore, he's proved himself as a willing and capable passer when teammates get open and can make shots. The problem has been and continues to be that those teammates don't convert those shots consistently and, most of all, most those teammates can't play a lick of defense. Some of the defense can be blamed on the coaching tactics or not stressing that part of the game enough, but, whatever the reasons the point remains. This team doesn't win consistently because of front office instability and poor decision making, lack of defense on the court and the inability of complimentary teammates to consistently make shots when they are open.
Those same problems existed when Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin were the #1 options from '06 thru '09. Same goes for Mitch Richmond during his 7 years in Sacramento. It doesn't matter how good 1 player might be, if all those negatives exist, you aren't going to win. Placing blame at the feet of 1 player is beyond naive.
I agree completely. Cousins is often frustrating and and an obvious target of ire due to his on court behavior. He also makes me question his mental toughness and how well he would do in the playoffs if the going gets tough. Will he dig down and propel his team or let himself be taken out of the game. But that would require the Kings to make the playoffs and they haven't had a team good enough to do that.
The Sacramento Kings have had, really ONE hall of fame player. Unless we want to count Sarunas Marciulionis' one season (53 games) or Ralph Sampson's two seasons (51 games) in Sacramento at the end of their careers (both retired a season afterward) then there is just Mitch Richmond. I loved the Rock. As a kid he was my favorite. Great shooter, great scorer, great defender. Solid dude. Nobody thought he was the reason that the Kings made the playoffs just once (with a 39-43 record) during his seven years with the team. The sentiment was almost universally more sympathetic. "The Kings need to get Mitch more help out there". But that's also because Richmond was easier to like. He didn't yell at the refs, get T's at the same rate, berate coaches or generally act as surly and/or combative as Boogie during or immediately following games.
But Richmond also wasn't as good a player as Cousins.
CWebb will probably eventually make the hall but (barring injury or some dramatic change) so will Cousins. And while his behavior makes him an easy scapegoat he's not the biggest problem with the Kings. It'd be a shame if he has to be dealt for the hope of draft picks and the illusion of cap space before people see that.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
http://www.coachwooden.com/pyramid-of-success
The greatest basketball coach in history believed in Culture. At the beginning of every year he began with a blackboard and chalk writing and talking about what makes winners. He didn't do this to be quaint or for PR. He did it because he thought in a deep way what winning requires. He did it in order to mold young men into winners, in basketball, and in life. He didn't begin teaching basketball with 3 on 1 drills. He began with Culture.
The greatest basketball coach in history believed in Culture. At the beginning of every year he began with a blackboard and chalk writing and talking about what makes winners. He didn't do this to be quaint or for PR. He did it because he thought in a deep way what winning requires. He did it in order to mold young men into winners, in basketball, and in life. He didn't begin teaching basketball with 3 on 1 drills. He began with Culture.
Shaqfuey
Bench
This argument is made time and time again on this forum whenever Cousins "keep or trade" topics emerge. You can't look at the record of "with/without" as an accurate gauge of what the team would be like for one easy, simple to follow reason: The Kings would get players in return for Cousins! The assumption of "no Cousins = loss" literally has to assume we (the team) are playing a man down. Of course, none of us can say that we would be better, but its hard to imagine they'd be much worse than the win/lose record overall with Cousins.
http://www.coachwooden.com/pyramid-of-success
The greatest basketball coach in history believed in Culture. At the beginning of every year he began with a blackboard and chalk writing and talking about what makes winners. He didn't do this to be quaint or for PR. He did it because he thought in a deep way what winning requires. He did it in order to mold young men into winners, in basketball, and in life. He didn't begin teaching basketball with 3 on 1 drills. He began with Culture.
Somehow I don't think George Karl is following that strategy since his first order of business was to trade Cousins this Summer. Karl is the one who did not follow this pyramid of success.
Boogie_Fever
G-League
You will not get equal value for Demarcus Cousins. Your best bet is to trade him for picks and hope you can draft another top 10 player and build around him. Based on the Kings history of developing players, good luck. We lucked out and drafted the best big man of this generation. We freaked it up by not properly building around him. And now, a majority of fans want to run him out of town because, I don't know, you guys believe the moronic things coming out of Voison and Peaches' mouths.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
http://www.coachwooden.com/pyramid-of-success
The greatest basketball coach in history believed in Culture. At the beginning of every year he began with a blackboard and chalk writing and talking about what makes winners. He didn't do this to be quaint or for PR. He did it because he thought in a deep way what winning requires. He did it in order to mold young men into winners, in basketball, and in life. He didn't begin teaching basketball with 3 on 1 drills. He began with Culture.
Great pyramid to look at. Vivek, Vlade and the players should take a look at this. The Kings probably only have two traits on that pyramid, friendship amongst the players and loyalty from Cousins.
Do the names Kenny Thomas, Brian Skinner and Corliss Williamson ring any bells?
Let's not try to draw any similarity between trading an injured (and basically done) Webber with one of the biggest albatross contracts in the league at the time, and trading an up-and-coming two-time all-star on a very affordable two-year contract. If we trade Cousins, we will not get a crappy "flexible pieces" package in return. If you think Vlade is stupid enough to trade Cousins for a bunch of franchise anchors in return maybe it's time to change your screen name.
Let's not try to draw any similarity between trading an injured (and basically done) Webber with one of the biggest albatross contracts in the league at the time, and trading an up-and-coming two-time all-star on a very affordable two-year contract. If we trade Cousins, we will not get a crappy "flexible pieces" package in return. If you think Vlade is stupid enough to trade Cousins for a bunch of franchise anchors in return maybe it's time to change your screen name.
My point wasn't the player going out, so much as the players coming in. For years, people around here clamored about trading Webber and fantasized about how good we'd be once he was gone. Then it happened...and I will always believe it was the start of our demise. (YOMV).
It's all about being careful what you wish for. And please don't ever question my loyalty to Vlade Divac. Them's fighting words.
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
To me, this whole DeMarcus Cousins thing is akin to blaming Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman or Sam Jackson for the fact that the Star Wars prequels were bad movies. No matter how good a top flight actor might be, they can't overcome a terrible story, bad dialog and a past-his-prime director that believed placing them on the same screen as Jar Jar Binks was a great idea.
The Kings have their Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro 'A' list actor, they just have him surrounded by 'B' and 'C' level supporting actors and some of the worst writers, producers and director in the industry. That's never going to amount to a good movie.
The Kings have their Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro 'A' list actor, they just have him surrounded by 'B' and 'C' level supporting actors and some of the worst writers, producers and director in the industry. That's never going to amount to a good movie.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
KingsFanSince85
All-Star
^^ HAHA.. That's a pretty darn good example. Several academy award winners among that group.