Sacramento Kings Playing a Dangerous Game with DeMarcus Cousins-Bleacher Report

[Chubbs]

"Close to five years later, after surviving botched beginnings and forging renewed hope, the Sacramento Kings are still the team that isn't doing DeMarcus Cousins any favors.

Not long ago, Cousins took the hardwood as the NBA's most prominent misfit. Talented, but immature. Passionate, but self-destructive. Good, but not great..."

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...laying-a-dangerous-game-with-demarcus-cousins

 

[Padrino]

"Close to five years later, after surviving botched beginnings and forging renewed hope, the Sacramento Kings are still the team that isn't doing DeMarcus Cousins any favors.

Not long ago, Cousins took the hardwood as the NBA's most prominent misfit. Talented, but immature. Passionate, but self-destructive. Good, but not great.

Signing him to a four-year max-contract extension in 2013, while a harbinger of good faith, was considered the ultimate risk. Franchises cannot tether futures to turbulent talent and come out the other end unscathed.

Yet Cousins quickly became a pleasant exception, maturing over the course of last season, through this summer's FIBA World Cup and into 2014-15.

That contract extension and his potential as a centerpiece were no longer in question. The Kings began the season on fire by their standards, at 9-5, with Cousins at the center of it all—a superstar anchoring a possible playoff contender while battling for rights to the NBA's "Best Center" honor.

Mere weeks later, everything has changed. From the coach to the culture, the 14-20 Kings are fading fast. Mike Malone is out, Tyrone Corbin is in, postseason basketball is but a fantasy and, most importantly, Cousins isn't happy."

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...laying-a-dangerous-game-with-demarcus-cousins

the notion that "the sacramento kings are still the team that isn't doing demarcus cousins any favors" remains the most disconcerting thing to me. terms like "franchise center" don't even do boogie justice. he's a once-in-a-generation big man. hell, when it's all said in done, he might be a once-in-a-century big man. i'm not sure the nba has ever seen a talent quite like demarcus. more to the point, he's not that difficult to build around; he's a winning lottery ticket, but everybody that has revolved through the kings' brass since big cuz was drafted has contributed to the squandering of that winning lottery ticket... everybody except michael malone. prior to vivek ranadive's white horse moment, the maloofs were busy sabotaging the kings for financial reasons. they were broke, and they acted like it. i've said it before and i'll say it again: what's the new regime's excuse?

what pisses me off more than anything else, though, is that kings fans spent the better part of four years complaining that demarcus cousins couldn't play defense, and that the kings would never win a championship with cousins because of his defensive liability. but, to open this season, demarcus took ownership of his skill set and applied it fully to the defensive end. through the first fifteen games of the season, he completely transformed himself and his team on that end of the court, so much so that rim protection had become a strength of the starting five rather than its greatest weakness. mike malone had brought out the best in demarcus on the side of the floor where the kings have long needed to see massive improvements. and the front office dismissed those obvious improvements as utterly unimportant. they've prioritized an ill-formed "philosophy" on the offensive end over a defense-first mentality that lead to wins, as if it's the front office's job to make those decisions, rather than the head coach who was achieving measurable results. if i were vivek, i'd toss pete d'allesandro on the sideline for a game just to watch him squirm before i canned his a** for good...

 

[Iced Espresso]

I wouldn't worry about Cousins yet. He has 2 guys here in Rudy and Evans still.

He's the type of guy to kick in the owners door and say fix it or I want out, and if it ever got that bad, I think Vivek would comply.

 

[k_dubb90]

Hopefully PDA doesn't deal dmc for a javale McGee type of player because of 'fit'

 

[Chicken Chaser]

Hopefully PDA doesn't deal dmc for a javale McGee type of player because of 'fit'

Don't worry, PDA isn't an idiot. He said so himself.

 

[randymoss1881]

I wouldn't worry about Cousins yet. He has 2 guys here in Rudy and Evans still.

He's the type of guy to kick in the owners door and say fix it or I want out, and if it ever got that bad, I think Vivek would comply.

Cousins won't be staying here cause reggie Evans is here. Gay is leaving the minute he has his player option you can book that.

 

[chasen4r1]

Don't worry, PDA isn't an idiot. He said so himself.

Lol oh yeah thats right. Glad we got that settled!

 

[Sac.Kings]

It's just hard to be a fan at the moment. Whatever DMC does I wouldn't blame him. I'm following him. He is the only bright spot along with Ben that I care to watch. PDA has effectively ruined this season and at this rate the future. That man needs to go. It's clear he has no clue what he is doing.

Anytime someone has to publicly defend themselves by stating that they are not in fact an idiot, 9/10 times they are. The gerbil is not that 1/10 exception.

 

[Iced Espresso]

Cousins won't be staying here cause reggie Evans is here. Gay is leaving the minute he has his player option you can book that.

No but Evans is a guy who has seen it all, a good guy to talk with about long term benefits and reminders on what is best for longevity. And Rudy will take what is best for Rudy, and if we don't get somewhere by then may as well rebuild.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

they took DeMarcus' lock to be an All-Star this year and ripped it to shreds

 

[kingsboi]

It would be a damn shame for Boogie to rot here if this is the type of team they are going to put out there. I mean how long do you have to suck to be good again? I'm sure we can ask Minnesota that question....they've been the worst team in the last decade and the Kings are right behind them peeking over the shoulder.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

they took DeMarcus' lock to be an All-Star this year and ripped it to shreds

I do think that viral meningitis might just share a wee little bit of blame here.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I do think that viral meningitis might just share a wee little bit of blame here.

he still would have been fine. But now that the FO has assassinated the season, DMC is back to being looked at as a "guy putting up stats on a crap team" which will hurt his case. As well as getting some national attention for his attitude again. As he had the Marcus Smart incident as well as the video of him standing around on offense that went viral....

of course the national media ignores his extremely professional post game comments during this disastrous time though

 

[Padrino]

I do think that viral meningitis might just share a wee little bit of blame here.

the whims of fate are often damning, aren't they? had demarcus not contracted that pesky little virus, things may, indeed, have looked much different. the kings may have finished that punch-up of a november schedule on a stronger note, and they may have feasted on all of those much weaker december opponents, and mike malone may have begun 2015 by fortifying his position as head coach of the sacramento kings, such that pete d'allesandro may have had no legitimate reason to fire him. boogie may have then gone on to secure his first all-star appearance, and the kings may have then gone on to compete for the final western conference playoff spot. hell, 9th or 10th in the west is often nothing to sneeze at, and would have certainly constituted a vast improvement in the demarcus cousins era. it's a butterfly effect moment, to be sure, but it's hard for me not to wonder what might have been, if not for viral meningitis...

 

[Bricklayer]

I do think that viral meningitis might just share a wee little bit of blame here.

They effectively made his viral meningitis much worse.

They took the storyline: "wounded superstar returned from terrible illness to gut out limited minutes and help the league's surprise team get back to its winning ways" and changed it to "problem child regressing for mocked lottery bound franchise". Under scenario 1 there is every chance we are .500 right now and well thought of and Boogie is flat in. Under scenario 2 were are held in contempt again, and all the old excuses to keep Boogie out are back.

 

[kingjatt]

the notion that "the sacramento kings are still the team that isn't doing demarcus cousins any favors" remains the most disconcerting thing to me. terms like "franchise center" don't even do boogie justice. he's a once-in-a-generation big man. hell, when it's all said in done, he might be a once-in-a-century big man. i'm not sure the nba has ever seen a talent quite like demarcus. more to the point, he's not that difficult to build around; he's a winning lottery ticket, but everybody that has revolved through the kings' brass since big cuz was drafted has contributed to the squandering of that winning lottery ticket... everybody except michael malone. prior to vivek ranadive's white horse moment, the maloofs were busy sabotaging the kings for financial reasons. they were broke, and they acted like it. i've said it before and i'll say it again: what's the new regime's excuse?.

This is something the front office has failed to realize. Its also why Pete needs to be gone before we lose DMC. With the way things are going under Pete any reasonable person can see DMC asking for a trade down the line, they are doing every single thing wrong in regards to setting him up for sucess.

 

[BenThePizzaGuy]

Why and how would Cousins leave the Kings? He's being paid a long-term, guaranteed contract.

 

[NowImLost]

Why and how would Cousins leave the Kings? He's being paid a long-term, guaranteed contract.

He'll probably demand a trade. Then, we will return to the dark times, my fellow Kings fans. I pray to sweet Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Moses and Jacob that this doesn't happen.

 

[BenThePizzaGuy]

He'll probably demand a trade. Then, we will return to the dark times, my fellow Kings fans. I pray to sweet Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Moses and Jacob that this doesn't happen.

I fully understand what you're saying but does that mean the Kings front office needs to abide? He is being paid.

 

[Bricklayer]

I fully understand what you're saying but does that mean the Kings front office needs to abide? He is being paid.

If it ever reached that point Boogie would be just about absolutely the last player in the league you'd want to be throwing out there against his will.

The thing is, its not their yet, but we are already on borrowed time. Borrowed Boogie personality time really. 5 years in the number of superstars who would tolerate this relentless nonsense and still have loyalty to your franchise might number approximately 1. If we were talking about Kevin Love, or Carmelo, or Cp3 or Bron or just any number of them, and they were going to miss the playoffs, again, possibly miss the All Star game, again. never ever get to win or have fun? We'd already be ****ed. We are now already treading entirely on Cuz's goodwill. When it runs out there will be nobody left out there taking our side. Not after this last mess.

 

[Glenn]

I fully understand what you're saying but does that mean the Kings front office needs to abide? He is being paid.

No the FO doesn't have to abide. The trouble here is that I doubt the Kings would want Cousins if he didn't want to be here.

I doubt if he will demand a trade.

 

[SacramentoKings]

He'll probably demand a trade. Then, we will return to the dark times, my fellow Kings fans. I pray to sweet Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Moses and Jacob that this doesn't happen.

Return to the dark times? When did we get out of the dark times? Last time I checked, we've sucked for a long time.

 

[SacKings384]

I'd hold no ill will towards Boogie if he asked out. There'd be teams lining up at the door to take him too.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Why and how would Cousins leave the Kings? He's being paid a long-term, guaranteed contract.

Because he'd still get that contract, and he wouldn't be playing in a dumpster fire situation anymore.

he's already wasted 5 years of his career here and gotten nothing out of it. (except the USA medal).

if this franchise keeps sinking thanks to the incompetent management, why would Boogie want to waste his prime here when he could go somewhere else and flourish as one of the greatest bigs ever, and be on a winning team?

 

[lawlman91]

As much as I like to contribute to the doomsday narrative, I don't think Boogie is anywhere close to asking for a trade; but nonetheless, the recent turn of events has made it more and more possible, even if miniscule.

 

[NowImLost]

Return to the dark times? When did we get out of the dark times? Last time I checked, we've sucked for a long time.

Well, when the team was actually competing and playing adequate defense during those what, 9 games, where they were starting to catch fire? Yeah, I was talking about that little ignition. Just a tiny sliver, where we reached towards the light and to potential brightness...now cast back into the fires of the DARK by Weasel. My blood boils.

 

[Bricklayer]

As much as I like to contribute to the doomsday narrative, I don't think Boogie is anywhere close to asking for a trade; but nonetheless, the recent turn of events has made it more and more possible, even if miniscule.

Important events are coming up. We have to find a way to stabilize and get Cousins to that All Star game, and we have to get him onto an All NBA team.

I have repeatedly mentioned what I would do if I was one of his reps, and its no joke. He's got multiple mes in his camp by this point, anybody earning $14mil a year does. And its unlikely any of them have even my attenuated Sacramento connection. We simply cannot any longer be seen as an anvil around his career prospects. Failing again as a team is bad enough, but if he is again denied the personal accolades "my" advice would be getting more and more strident. We can;t count on him to be some selfless saint who would just never ever ever abandon us out of the goodness of his heart forever as a potential HOF career gets pissed down the drain. We're on the clock, but maybe at least the personal accolades might buy us a little more time. Maybe.

 

[IfAt1st]

I have echoed Brick's sentiments and insistent timetables regarding DMC for a long time.
Vivek and PDA are playing with fire BIG TIME if they think yanking Boogie's chain is going to end up successfully for them.

There is no way in hell Boogie is going to play hard for them, after they stabbed "his" coach in the back. It's as plain as day out there, seeing Boogie's play on the court.
He is being put in the position of: if he plays well and the Kings win, it directly refutes "his" coach's importance.

This season (and potentially, his career) is lost as long as that dynamic is on the court.
He will be talking to his buddies around the league and putting out feelers asap if he believes the FO s not "with him".

And the FO is NOT "with him", currently - they have made it very clear, with coaching, personnel, and public statements.

 

[Glenn]

I'd hold no ill will towards Boogie if he asked out. There'd be teams lining up at the door to take him too.

There will be teams looking for a bargain in a trade. Teams must understand that the best Boogie was a Malone coached Boogie. That would not guarantee any other coach would match up well with him. Hmmmmmm, maybe that would get Malone a job.

 

[VF21]

Don't shove Boogie out the door quite yet. Right now we need to be exhorting everyone wearing a Kings uniform without the name Cousins on the back to suck it up and freaking play. Cousins made it very clear - he wants to surround himself with warriors. This is one time I wish Doug Christie could be a special advisor to the team on how to be that warrior. Doug was it for Chris and Vlade and we need his kind of mentality. Who doesn't remember Doug going out early with an injury and coming back OUT OF THE LOCKER ROOM when Peja got injured? That's a warrior mentality. Who doesn't remember Doug clocking Rick Fox? Warrior mentality again. About the only guys I see show that attitude are Omri and Darren.

I'm not going to worry about Cousins leaving. I'm going to focus on doing whatever I can to encourage the rest of the team to be who he needs/wants them to be.