Sam Amick on Cousins:

[bajaden]

Some insights on his support system. Worth the read..

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/06/25/demarcus-cousins-ready-to-be-great/

 

[Superman]

In addition to being the head coach at LeFlore during Cousins' prep years, Otis Hughley has coached for the league's NBA China program and worked Pete Newell's "Big Man Camp" for years. He estimates he has worked with more than 200 NBA players, none of them, in his opinion, as good as Cousins.

"You knew he had to keep pushing through the adversity that people would try to throw his direction," Hughley said by phone after Cousins was drafted. "He still weathered every storm, still grew with each experience. And he just continued to grow and develop.

"DeMarcus is not even close to being what he's going to be. It'll be really, really scary to see what he can become. He's amazing. In my mind he's the best player in the draft."​

 

[Showtime]

I will be looking forward to Cousins shutting up Bynum fans in his matchup with Andy next season.

 

[Megalodon]

DMC will be a beast.

 

[Superman]

Bill Simmons on Cousins:

5:00: The case for Cousins dropping to No. 5: He's so immature that (A) he's been most compared to Rasheed Wallace and Derrick Coleman; (B) Cousins and Minnesota would have been a worse match than Cisco Adler and Mischa Barton; and (C) John Thompson defended him as a top-five pick by saying, "You can calm down a fool before you can resurrect a corpse." Any time someone uses the word "fool" as he's defending you, there are probably some major red flags.

The case for Cousins haunting Philly, Jersey and especially Minnesota: He's the draft's most polished big man and a guaranteed 20/10 guy in the pros if his head's right. And also, in 2010: (A) Zach Randolph made an All-Star team; (B) Lamar Odom won his second straight title; and (C) Ron Artest made the biggest shot in Game 7 of the Finals. If there was ever a year to roll the dice with Cousins, it's 2010. We have a crapload of head-case momentum right now.

5:00: The Kings smartly grab him at No. 5. Cousins and Tyreke Evans in back-to-back drafts? Yikes. Major talent haul for a small-market team. I wish the Stern/Cousins handshake could have lasted for 25 minutes. Stern sized him up the way a lion looks at a potentially troublesome cub. That was great.

5:02: ESPN's graphics guy gives Cousins "MUST IMPROVE: MATURITY." Knew that was coming and it still made me laugh. That was like giving Ben Roethlisberger "MUST IMPROVE: OFF-FIELD CONDUCT."

...

5:05: Cousins on the general public's biggest misconception about him: "They think I'm a monster off the floor, I'm nothing like that. I'm just a kid that likes to have fun." I mean, he does have the nickname "Boogie." He might be right. By the way, I love whenever someone defends a head case (like we've seen with Cousins this past year) with the "He doesn't drink or do drugs" defense. Oh, even better … so he's NATURALLY a head case?

5:06: Van Gundy sums up the Cousins conundrum perfectly: "You need to rebound the ball, you need an interior presence to win in this league. … You can get a guy in shape. If he loves the game, he'll get in shape. If he loves to play, he'll be a good teammate. And you can't find guys who can rebound the ball like this guy does." Translation: In the right situation, with the right coach and supporting cast, this guy could be a monster. Maybe Minnesota passing on him was a blessing.

(PS: Sorry to spend so much time on Cousins, but he's the most important 2010 rookie. If he makes it -- a big if, but IF he makes it -- that's the home run pick. I like John Wall, but you can count the impact under-30 bigs like Cousins on one hand. And you wouldn't need to use all five fingers. I mean, Andrew Bogut made an All-NBA team last season. So … yeah.)