Karl sings praises of DeMarcus Cousins

VF21

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#1
#1
In the pre-game interview in Phoenix, George Karl made it clear he understands just how good DeMarcus Cousins is. I just got a chance to transcribe it, and thought it was well worth sharing:

Cuz is one of the most talented big guys I've ever seen play the game. Last night was one of the best big guy performances I've ever seen or coached. I'm mean, he won the game at the defensive end of the court, not the offensive end of the court. His savvy at the offensive end of the court, you know - we have to get better at getting him better shots. I gotta get better at getting him better touches and we gotta work together offensively cause he's skilled. He's highly skilled and can do anything, any aspect of the game of basketball. But I was really excited last night because defensively he was (shakes head)...they had no answer for him. I mean, he was that good in the middle.
 
gunks

gunks

Hall of Famer
#3
#3
It will be interesting to see what Karl comes up with next year as far as our offense goes.

We won last night playing "Malone ball" and riding Cuz.

Karl knows what he has.... The best big in the NBA. I'm going to remain optimistic that he'll adjust his offense to Boogie. It'll just take some time and roster tinkering.
 
VF21

VF21

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#4
#4
gunks said:
It will be interesting to see what Karl comes up with next year as far as our offense goes.

We won last night playing "Malone ball" and riding Cuz.

Karl knows what he has.... The best big in the NBA. I'm going to remain optimistic that he'll adjust his offense to Boogie. It'll just take some time and roster tinkering.
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Karl also gave praise to Malone, but I didn't hit the record button fast enough. Said he wants to use the Malone system but with more offense (or words to that effect). He did specifically say the "Malone system" which almost made me drop my beverage of choice.
 
spok22s

spok22s

G-League
#5
#5
VF21 said:
Karl also gave praise to Malone, but I didn't hit the record button fast enough. Said he wants to use the Malone system but with more offense (or words to that effect). He did specifically say the "Malone system" which almost made me drop my beverage of choice.
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Interesting.. :)
 
S

sdballer

Starter
#8
#8
The_Jamal said:
*mumbles something about Karl being a crazy old cook Nellie-ball loser who's going to marginalize Cuz*
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Where was all this crowing from the "pro-all things kings" crowd when we lost 8 of 9 about a week ago?
At that time it was all about patience. 4 wins later and messages from the same crowd all have an I told you so slant.

If we can't read too much into awful losses maybe hold off on patting yourself in the back until we've had more than one good stretch-especially when it's the only stretch where we seem to have focused more on defense than getting into a scoring match.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#9
#9
sdballer said:
Where was all this crowing from the "pro-all things kings" crowd when we lost 8 of 9 about a week ago?
At that time it was all about patience. 4 wins later and messages from the same crowd all have an I told you so slant.

If we can't read too much into awful losses maybe hold off on patting yourself in the back until we've had more than one good stretch-especially when it's the only stretch where we seem to have focused more on defense than getting into a scoring match.
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Because, the "anti-all things kings" crowd (for lack of a better label and since I'm apart of the pro-all things kings crowd and you and others are apparently the opposite?) arguments have always been dumb with regards to what Karl has done this season and can reasonably accomplish this season. And I said that many times. The 4 game win streak doesn't change that.
 
S

sdballer

Starter
#10
#10
The_Jamal said:
Because, the "anti-all things kings" crowd (for lack of a better label and since I'm apart of the pro-all things kings crowd and you and others are apparently the opposite?) arguments have always been dumb with regards to what Karl has done this season and can reasonably accomplish this season. And I said that many times. The 4 game win streak doesn't change that.
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One crowd feared that Karl would rely on his pace days from Denver at the expense of defense, which seemed to be the desire of the front office. When we were losing games by playing crappy d and putting up points (all while Karl echoed the front office positions), those early fears were cited by us. You and others told everyone to be patient, to understand that there wasn't enough season here to determine what Karl was going to do. Which is a fair point, but only if you don't turn around and jump on an even smaller sample size to prove you were right, especially when it was by playing the way we hoped Karl would (from his Seattle days) led to the wins.
 
VF21

VF21

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#11
#11
sdballer said:
Where was all this crowing from the "pro-all things kings" crowd when we lost 8 of 9 about a week ago?
At that time it was all about patience. 4 wins later and messages from the same crowd all have an I told you so slant.

If we can't read too much into awful losses maybe hold off on patting yourself in the back until we've had more than one good stretch-especially when it's the only stretch where we seem to have focused more on defense than getting into a scoring match.
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I was one of those who said we needed to have a little patience before labeling George Karl. That was while we were on a grueling road trip. Now we're home and Karl has had a bit of time to at least get a fundamental start on assessing what he has and acting accordingly. I do not see an inconsistency.

I just don't understand the need to pigeonhole everyone into certain categories. It reduces a complex set of individuals into meaningless trivialized groups that really mean nothing.
 
S

sdballer

Starter
#12
#12
VF21 said:
I was one of those who said we needed to have a little patience before labeling George Karl. That was while we were on a grueling road trip. Now we're home and Karl has had a bit of time to at least get a fundamental start on assessing what he has and acting accordingly. I do not see an inconsistency.

I just don't understand the need to pigeonhole everyone into certain categories. It reduces a complex set of individuals into meaningless trivialized groups that really mean nothing.
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I think you're missing the point. If you (meaning Jamal and others doing the same) want to be someone that asks everyone for patience this season, its understandable. I actually agree that Karl deserves time, even while I am concerned with the style and statements made. But don't be on the side of patience and then try to rub people's noses in the first sign of success. I'm thrilled we won the last 4 games. I hope it's the start of something new. But I'm not quite ready to eat crow because we won 4 games.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#13
#13
sdballer said:
One crowd feared that Karl would rely on his pace days from Denver at the expense of defense, which seemed to be the desire of the front office. When we were losing games by playing crappy d and putting up points (all while Karl echoed the front office positions), those early fears were cited by us. You and others told everyone to be patient, to understand that there wasn't enough season here to determine what Karl was going to do. Which is a fair point, but only if you don't turn around and jump on an even smaller sample size to prove you were right, especially when it was by playing the way we hoped Karl would (from his Seattle days) led to the wins.
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I didn't jump on anything. You jumped to that conclusion on your own.

I've said this whole time that I'm waiting for the start of next season to evaluate Karl's system and how well we respond to it. That's what's fair to Karl and the players, especially after the season they'v gone through.

But I"m not going to apologize about being excited about a 4 game win streak where we're playing pretty damn good basketball. I place more weight on numbers and sample size than pretty much every poster on KF, but sometimes you just got to enjoy the product on the court.
 
VF21

VF21

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#14
#14
I thought some were trying to put Coach Karl into a certain slot way too early. I believe firmly that he is going into the HoF because he can adjust and adapt to the players he has once he knows their strengths and weaknesses. I think the past 4 games have shown that much to be true. I also firmly believe we will see more improvement before the end of the season, because having a good coach the players will listen to is fundamental to improving the product on the court.

I'm going to enjoy every step of the journey, even if we take an occasional wrong turn. What I'm not going to do is dump on George Karl and call him demeaning names to further my own philosophy.
 
S

sdballer

Starter
#15
#15
The_Jamal said:
But I"m not going to apologize about being excited about a 4 game win streak where we're playing pretty damn good basketball. I place more weight on numbers and sample size than pretty much every poster on KF, but sometimes you just got to enjoy the product on the court.
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You didn't jump on the small sample size to "try and prove the doubter wrong"? What else did your comment mean? You were just trying to express excitement in the win streak by taking a swipe at anyone that was concerned by what we were seeing?
 
VF21

VF21

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#16
#16
sdballer said:
You didn't jump on the small sample size to "try and prove the doubter wrong"? What else did your comment mean? You were just trying to express excitement in the win streak by taking a swipe at anyone that was concerned by what we were seeing?
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The amount of oversensitivity around here (and I'm as guilty as anyone else) has reached epidemic proportions.
 
S

sdballer

Starter
#17
#17
VF21 said:
I thought some were trying to put Coach Karl into a certain slot way too early. I believe firmly that he is going into the HoF because he can adjust and adapt to the players he has once he knows their strengths and weaknesses. I think the past 4 games have shown that much to be true. I also firmly believe we will see more improvement before the end of the season, because having a good coach the players will listen to is fundamental to improving the product on the court.

I'm going to enjoy every step of the journey, even if we take an occasional wrong turn. What I'm not going to do is dump on George Karl and call him demeaning names to further my own philosophy.
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That's fair. It's why I wasn't addressing anyone like you that was just expressing excitement over the win or hope that this was a sample of the Karl we were going to get. I was addressing those that felt the 4 game win streak was proof that others were wrong.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#19
#19
kingsboi said:
the Malone system?
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Feature Cuz and Gay, defensive schemes.

People who are anti Mike Malone aren't very bright. He was one of the best and hottest commodity assistant in the league when we got him. His season's Tom Thibodeau, credited with at least half of Golden State's success under Mark Jackson, and the defensive focus which stays with them until today. If anything we burnished his credentials and so he'll be a head coach again next year, but he's more than qualified to be George's, or anybody's, lead assistant, and to bring his defensive system along with him.
 
VF21

VF21

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#20
#20
sdballer said:
That's fair. It's why I wasn't addressing anyone like you that was just expressing excitement over the win or hope that this was a sample of the Karl we were going to get. I was addressing those that felt the 4 game win streak was proof that others were wrong.
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It goes both ways. As I just said above, I think most/all Kingsfans posters need to get back a bit of their thicker skin. Things get way too heated for way too little reason IMHO.

Spirited debate is fun but things have gotten so contentious around here it just seems like everyone is either walking on egg shells or saying "damn the torpedoes" every time we turn around.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#21
#21
sdballer said:
You didn't jump on the small sample size to "try and prove the doubter wrong"? What else did your comment mean? You were just trying to express excitement in the win streak by taking a swipe at anyone that was concerned by what we were seeing?
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Equating Karl to Keith Smart and calling him a "Nellie Ball loser" is not "expressing concern." It's making an asinine statement that deserves to be swiped at. And I do that all the time on a variety of topics and have for years.

For everyone else, my motto was the patience thing.
 
S

sdballer

Starter
#22
#22
The_Jamal said:
Equating Karl to Keith Smart and calling him a "Nellie Ball loser" is not "expressing concern." It's making an asinine statement that deserves to be swiped at. And I do that all the time on a variety of topics and have for years.

For everyone else, my motto was the patience thing.
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That's fair.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#23
#23
sdballer said:
That's fair. It's why I wasn't addressing anyone like you that was just expressing excitement over the win or hope that this was a sample of the Karl we were going to get. I was addressing those that felt the 4 game win streak was proof that others were wrong.
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When did I do this?
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#25
#25
At any rate, the comments above should help easy any concern that Karl isn't going to use Cuz to the fullest extent he can. When a basketball lifer calls you one of the most talented bigs he's ever seen, that usually suggests he's going to use the hell of out him.
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#28
#28
The_Jamal said:
Equating Karl to Keith Smart and calling him a "Nellie Ball loser" is not "expressing concern." It's making an asinine statement that deserves to be swiped at. And I do that all the time on a variety of topics and have for years.

For everyone else, my motto was the patience thing.
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I think a lot of people on here judge what Karl did in Denver just by his work post-Melo because Karl didn't play much small ball prior to that when you consider for the majority of the time he had Camby @C (later on Nene) and either Nene/Kenyon Martin (neither stretch 4's both brutes @PF) along with Birdman off the bench, those 4 guys are a massive frontline along with 7 foot fill in's like Franciso Elson and I'm sure there's another I can't think of right now (like Reggie Evans/Johan Petro (7 footer for a couple seasons).

Karl was forced into playing small ball with the roster he had cause it was what was best for that team. I have faith Karl knows what he's doing weather it's playing small ball, big ball or in-between ball he will figure out what the best rotation is for this squad.
 
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rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#29
#29
Well I for one think it's great our guys are showing improved confidence under Karl, getting some of their swag back, once again tasting what it's like to win. That's important, we need momentum going into this summer as again I'll bring up that even though this season has been a train wreck of incompetence and Vivek/PDA became the laughing stock of the league earlier on, do not under estimate the potential pull a Rudy/Cuz pairing under a HOF coach in Karl can have in free agency if we finish this thing out strong. Top tier free agents? No, can't afford them anyway but one or two 2nd tier FAs could do us a lot of good.

And let's be honest, there were warning signs, there were red flags. Still are. But it appears we're committing more time to defense and the reality also is this is not only a poorly constructed roster but Karl is also still figuring out what he has. So red flags or not, I've told myself I'm not going to judge severely until the fall, after this summer and some roster turnover and after a full training camp. This summer will tell us a fair amount, and Oct/Nov will tell us how well can start fitting it together. I expect at least 3-4 new rotation players coming in and our system to be tweaked around talent/players we don't yet have.

That's why I'm not getting too high about 4 wins right now. They weren't against great teams either but this isn't that important for the fans, it's about the players who will be here next year buying into Karl, confidence growing, relationships and chemistry forming and the free agency angle I mentioned above. Winning helps all that, so good for the guys in the locker room. It's a step, a small one, a baby step, but that's pretty good to see after we've be tumbling backwards downhill since Dec 15th.
 
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