Cousins has a lot of growing up still to do. But a few things are clear imo. The relationship with he and our coach is going south. I don't see it getting better. Let this last too much longer, I'd think Cousins and his agent will remember all of it when we put our contract extension on the table two years from now.
Also, while Cousins has blown up in the past, he also come out every single time looking extremely sorry for his actions, and apologized. That did not happen this time. Nothing close to an apology. In fact, to this minute, it appears both he and his agent strongly refute Westy's side of things. Immaturity is a common theme with Cousins. Lying however, is not.
Some think Westy is doing the right thing, and handling this the right way. Really isn't middle ground to be had. Either our head coach is handling it correctly, or he is not, and therefor should be let go. Can't have our had coach handling this partly correctly, and act as if that is an ok standard for a pro franchise. Either Westy knows 100% how to handle Cousins and this situation correctly, or he's the wrong man for the job. I don't think he has handled this correctly at all.
I ask myself why Cousins high school and college coach knew how to deal with Cousins personality more effectively. I ask why Westy has had issues like this in every NBA stop he's been a head coach. I ask why players have come out publicly and questioned his system. Then I ask, why don't other well respected coaches around the league have situations like this pop up?
I get the strong impression Westy lied, and if not, and it wasn't a flat out lie, he stretched the truth publicly on multiple occasions. Even if disciplining Cousins was thr right move, if he was anything less than 100% truthful with the media, and I don't think he was, then we're making excuses for a coach who has been around the league for two decades, and basically saying him not being truthful isn't as big of a problem as DeMarcus's immaturity, and therefor it's ok.
That is a toxic situation which will not improve.If the FO sides with a coach who wasn't truthful with the media while throwing Cousins under the bus, the chances sky rocket that Cousins does not sign an extension here. At that point it isn't about who's the coach, but that our FO sided with a liar over a franchise cornerstone.
Are there other coaches that would have prevented a scenario like this? I think so. Are there other coaches who can get through to Cousins more effectively? I think so. Have these problems occurred more than once before in Westy's previous stops? Yes they have. Is Cousins the only immature kid to come into the league? No he isn't, and other coaches have prevented this kind of a scene from happening. In his time here, which youngster on our team can someone point to and say Westy has had a great, or even solid effect on? Can't think of one.
So yes, as I said, Cousins has a lot of growing to do. But I also think, we have an atmosphere here which lends itself to blowups like this. Yes Cousins has to grow, but is this the type of environment where an immature young adult will grow? No. I can't think of a single player we drafted aside from Peja, who excelled and played here during their prime. I'd go as afar as saying this goes beyond coaching, and that our organization as a whole is horrible at fostering and developing young talent.
If anyone would like to refute that, and give me any examples besides Peja of a player we drafted and excelled into his prime with us, I'm all ears.
