Bottom line is, people wanted him gone and in large degree it had a lot to do with his demeanor on the court which is one of the reasons they thought you could not build a winner around him.
Both arguments are ridiculously flawed and based on unsubstantiated bullpoopoo. He gets a bad rep because he has been on bad team with an unprecedented lack of talent around him. His demeanor is no different to KG's except KG is a winner and Cousins is someone that you can't build a winner around. He has less ejections this year that Blake Griffin who those that want Cousins gone get all flustered when his name is brought up.
DeMarcus Cousins is THE best big man in the league bar none and he is precisely the type of player you build around. Back in the days when the league had genuine big men, DeMarcus Cousins is the type of player you dream about getting. In the modern game, where the game has evolved to small ball only because there are no genuine big men out there that you can jump on their shoulders and let them carry you home, people get infatuated with the prettiness of shooting 3PT and run and gun basketball and forget that the absolutely hardest position to fill in the entire league is a superstar big men. Cousins, when at his best is absolutely a top 5 player in the NBA and that is ABSOLUTELY the player you build around. In the play off series when the jump shots stop falling, give me an un-guardable big man like DMC to terrorize in the low post any day of the week.
Well I have no issue with what you say in this post is the bottom-line. I'm simply nitpicking that demeanor ON COURT/ ability to win and "(locker room) cancer"/ all those sarcastic remarks about Cousins being a puppy-stomper and wife-beater are separate issues, and I want to make sure that distinction is made because for the most part, rational fans aren't critical of Cousins as a person. Nobody in their right mind questions his loyalty to the team and his contributions to the community, kids etc. So when we talk about fans being dumb for wanting to trade Cousins, let's not lump the rational ones who are talking about doing so for basketball reasons with the one or two trolls who want to do so because Cousins is some thug.
As for the bolded part ... let's wait and see, keeping in mind that Cousins is also not your prototypical superstar low post big man. His versatility is what will allow him to win IMO, so it's not as simple as saying "Old way with big GOOD, small ball 3 point shooting BAD!".