bajaden
Hall of Famer
I'll take your word for it and won't worry (maybe a just a little).
One thing that concerns me about your report is that Cousins wasn't listening to Ellie when Ellie told him to get inside. If the kid doesn't do what the coach tells him to do, I would hope the coach pulls him out of the game and lets him sit for a while. Wouldn't you?
Ha ha, I think he was listening all right, he just was too exhausted, at least in his own mind, to do it on a regular basis. As far as pulling him out of the game. Well I think Cousins would have been very happy if Ellie had pulled him out of the game. He practicly begged to come out of the game, so it wouldn't have been much of a punishment. Fact is, Ellie was punishing him more, if you want to look at it that way, by keeping him in the game. Make no mistake about this though. Cousins has a great relationship with Ellie and Westphal. He listens to what they have to say. It may take him a moment or two, but he does respond to them. His relationship with Ellie is close to a father and son relationship. Ellie gets tough with him when he needs to. But he also sticks up for Cousins with the ref's and when an opposing player starts to get a little ugly with him. When Cousins finally had enough of Steimsma and threw him out of bounds, Ellie gave him a high five and a thumbs up.
Now having said all that. I'm sure that if Cousins doesn't respond to the coaching staff during a regular season game his butt will be sitting on the bench for a while. Remember, this was summer league. And it was about getting Cousins into shape as much as seeing what he could do. He wasn't going to get into shape sitting on the bench. Regular season, different story...
