Demarcus is a top 10 player in the league. Personally, I would like the Kings to be able to work things out and win a title with him. You don't trade away 24 year old top 10 players and come out ahead (all but never).
Ok, I'm glad that was thrown in there, albeit in the middle of a long post when I think that should be bolded and put in double size bright red font.
That saves me from having to do what I did with Bobby a couple of months ago when he was pushing the same line and go through the long and sad history of franchises stupid enough to trade away franchise bigs, or lose them outright. Its an enormous no no. Wrongheaded to even think about it.
Instead I'm going to go with these lines:
1) Narrative.
We have talked around here a lot about the national narrative around Cuz. It was very distinct and blatant, a lazy cliche that he was a hotheaded cancer, more trouble than he was worth, a terrible defender etc. and nothing he could on the court was going to change that. Last year he put up one of the best statistical lines for a 23yr old big EVER...and they had turds like Joakim Noah and Al Jefferson on the All NBA team instead of him. It should stand as a humilation to all those voters. Alas my roasting of a few dozen of them via emails is about all the punishment that will be meted out.
And then of course the narrative finally changed, in large part because of Coach K taking him onto Team USA. It was the breakthrough he needed, it became acceptable to admit his greatness. The Malone burst of winning basketball at the start of the season cemented that new narrative. Because of the patheticness of our franchise it was still a close thing, but in the end he snuck into the All Star game, got that 2nd Team All NBA. This time all it took was a young Shaq stat line.
That's national narrative. We've discussed it often, because narratives are real, and humans generally being weak of mind and easily led, they will buy in, and it has consequences. People can be completely unfair. They will refuse to recognize the nose on their face, or they will overhype others. Rarely will they clear the clutter and look at actual achievement. So the narrative matters.
And that brings us back around, because its not only NATIONAL narrative that matters. Local narrative does too. And that is of course what so many of the leaks games were by this nasty front office, often blatant sliming, and leaks, and innuendo. Why? To create a narrative. To soften up the soft minded, To build momentum, to change hearts and minds etc. Its absolutely what was being done. And you know when Pete proudly said I'm a politician? Well...bingo. That's the game. And you don't play the game because it doesn't matter. It does matter. Hell, it should come as no surprise to anybody who's ever played those games themselves, or just anybody who steps back and analyzes it that I play those games too. The exact extent of my influence is and has always been undefined, but its not nothing, I am aware of that, things I say do matter to some degree, they filter out. If I were to jump out and start a thread, "so, let's say we trade Boogie, what can we get?" it joins and aids a very stupid narrative being pushed by people who don't know their NBA history or don't care. So I don't do it. I will not aid that narrative, I will not make it permissible or acceptable. I will NOT contribute to softening the public who legitimately doesn't know any better to an idea so destructive.
And Dave, your bully pulpit is larger than mine. It matters when you speculate like that. It matters when you throw it out. It matters that you don't lead off each and every such discussion or speculation with your line above: you apparently know the disaster trading a young franchise big can be. Then SAY it. Shout it out via your bully pulpit. Because narrative matters. If the narrative is "hey look at all these packages maybe we should consider, and ooh, that would be cool and..." it makes it easier for it to happen. If the narrative is "trading away a young HOF big is perhaps the most destructive thing that can happen to any NBA franchise, dating back at least to Milwaulkee being forced to move Kareem, Barkley forcing a trade, Shaq leaving, Dwight leaving etc." that matters. It becomes unacceptable. It becomes off the table, not to be considered. It gives support to Vlade if that is his stance, it makes Karl pause before playing any more games. It matters.
2) and it also matters because of who DeMarcus Cousins is. I knew him early, not because I know everybody early, but because certain of his personality traits very much resembled mine as a young man. He demands and craves trust. Give it to him, and he'll run through walls for you to prove it was deserved. Don't, and you've lost him. Betray him, and he'll flat turn on you. Firing Malone was idiotic precisely because he had found a combo father figure friend he trusted. That's how you get him to buy in. He values loyalty above all else. Not drama. Not speculation. I'm your guy. End of subject. And every single stupid Karl comment or idiot like Grant firing up the we could trade him angle has the chance to decrease his sense of trust and loyalty. To make a guy who wants to commit to people who commit to him, feel insecure instead and as if he's in a camp of enemies. And so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. People with narrative power push the narrative that we should be talking trade, it makes Cuz insecure, it increases the chance he is indeed eventually traded. And hence again, it matters. To Boogie it matters. Doesn't matter whether it should. We have benefitted immensely from having a guy like that as the franchise guy. He's not really a professional, and that is to our advantage. If he were any of the modern generation of "my brand, my brand" egomaniacs, he would already have calculated we were holding back his own brand/fame/money. But Cuz is kinda a kid. He wants it to be like college. He wants a father figure/friend as a coach, a supportive front office, and loyal fans. And so if you have a bully pulpit, big or small, and ESPECIALLY one that he or his may read or listen to, you kinda gotta choose sides. And if you recognize the paramount importance of his staying, then if you are a fan you have to work towards making that happen. Which means pushing the narrative towards "don't even think about it", not pushing it towards "hey we're not committed, its gotta be considered".
