Hoops Daily: The Curious Case of DeMarcus Cousins

[kingsboi]

Yay another article on Cousins. Isn't this the 100th something article already about him?

 

[Bricklayer]

His propesnsity to face up and take guys to the basket is part of what will make him so devastating in the future.

Kid already as many effective post moves as any 19 year old we've seen enter the league, but he's never going to be able to jump, never going to be able to be assured of just finishing up over just anybody. But his remarkable skills as a faceup player are the missing ingredient there. 90% of the guys who will be able to withstand the inside pouinding and bother his shots with their length are going to be fundamentally unable to deal with that kind of mobility outside. Its his counter to the stubby problem. And when you combine it with the passing ability allowing us to actually run offense through him ouit there, and Reke's to the basket game, having him with the ability to step out to create spacing is far from a bad thing. If he was naturally soft or passive or any of those things, it could become a crutch. But if anything he's rampantly aggressive. He's just got to mature and fiugure his mix, and he may will be the best offensive center in the game. Think about that.

 

[Vlade4GM]

It's his length, strength, and footwork that's going to create space so he can get shots off. That doesn't apply as much to face-up drives to the basket. Face-up drives utilize his weaknesses, not his strengths. You don't need to be explosive and finish above the rim to be a low post player, you need that more facing up actually, or else you're going to end up with off-balance drives, short shots, and turnovers.

For me, I have no fear that he'll keep stepping from the basket out of passivity, but more out of laziness and impatience.

 

[bajaden]

Baja, quibbling about rounding up is taking this way too far!

His propensity to want to face up and drive to the basket is what I mean when it comes to bad habits. So maybe that wasn't the best term to describe what I mean, but it sounded like an effective saying, so I went with it.

Like I said to brick, I think trying to become that type of player is a misallocation of his talents. Working on post moves and footwork is far more crucial for his game, and polishing it early is very important. I agree with mac that it's not good to focus on improving too many things at once, because that will lead to less focus on each individual aspect. A true post game is hard to develop and needs a lot of focus and commitment, both in games and in practice. It would be much easier to develop a face up game later on than it would low post game. It's been proven time and time again that face-up games are easier to develop at a later stage. With Cousins' strength, length, and quick feet, he'd be crazy to want to focus on being a face-up player (like every single big in the league save a handful) instead of a low post player. That's the generation of bigs now though, they all want to be Amare and Garnett. His spot up J is decent, and that's great for any kind of big to have, but I wouldn't say he's anything special in the triple threat position, even for a center.

Focusing on what needs improvement is my style. I find that going on and on about what is so great about a player with someone who agrees with me to be a form of gushing, and I find that trite and unproductive. It's more apt to stop conversation than to continue it. Especially since I'm more likely to be preaching to the choir here. It should go without saying because I obviously don't have to sell you on his high points. What would be the point in just sitting here agreeing with each other over and over?

I know it's hard sometimes to not see criticism as a damnation, but sometimes it's just criticism. I'm not saying I think we made the wrong draft pick (in fact, I think we were extremely lucky) or that I'd rather have Hawes back.

Point taken. I do agree with you that I want him to polish his post game. I'm hoping he goes to the big man camp this summer. Just about every good big man has gone to that camp. And more than once. I'd also like to see him on a top conditioning program. I know he's listed at 280, and I doubt that he still weighs that because there's no doubt his conditioning is better now than it was at the beginning of the season. so maybe he weighs closser to 270. I'd like to see him get that down to around 260 and have it all be mostly muscle. Almost all of his strength is natural strength, so a little work in the weight room wouldn't hurt. Mostly he needs to work on his base, and learn how to lead with his hips instead of his shoulder. He'll get fewer offensive fouls that way.

So actually were in agreement. I do think his post game is the most important part of his offense. Down the road though, I see him as a guy thats very hard to guard and a guy that can give you 4 or 5 assists a game. He can easily be a 20 and 10 guy. There are times when he almost stumbles to 20 and 10 now. Once polished, he'll be hard to stop.