Who do you think should start at C?

Who should start at center?

  • Demarcus Cousins

    Votes: 74 50.3%

  • Samuel Dalembert

    Votes: 73 49.7%
  • Total voters
    147
Give it to Dalembert to ease the pressure off of Cousins and also let him know that he has to earn his playing time. A guy with questionable character issues can be tamed and could be a monster ON the court IF the coach plays him right. Think of him being a possible Zach Randolph (pre-Memphis) or a Rasheed Wallace who have all the talent in the world but don't put it all together because of character issues. Also, consider how out of shape this guy was coming into the draft and also only playing about 24 minutes a game in college. The guy doesn't have the conditioning to be a full season starter.

Let Cousins show he wants to be out on the floor, and then give him the starting position and bring Dalembert in to bring a guy off the bench who can play solid defense and bring some energy.
 
Start him. Keep him on the floor until hes exhausted. This is a future elite bigman in the NBA. This guy could conceivably be the best center in the league in a few years.
 
Chupacabra said:
Start him. Keep him on the floor until hes exhausted. This is a future elite bigman in the NBA. This guy could conceivably be the best center in the league in a few years.
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I think I have been swayed into believing he needs to get minutes, and minutes now. As long as he doesn't come to camp 290 + we should start him and let him know he is our guy and we will live or die on his play. LETS GO DeMarcus !!!
 
Both sides of the coin seems to be equally reasonable, but I am leaning towards starting Dalembert at the very first game and until Cousins signified he is more than ready to take the responsibility from Dalembert.

Delembert is not Brad Miller, nor is he some washed-up center. Actually, he had proven to be a very capable veteran center upto now. Dalembert needs to showcase himself before his contract expires. A little bit of help and respect from the coaching staff won't hurt. I think Cousins is a good enough kid to understand.

I just hope the minutes get divided equally to both of them. Maybe about 24 minutes each or more depending on match-up?
 
Kingster said:
Dalembert. Even if Cousins was great in training camp, I'd still start Dalembert because he's an NBA vet and Cousins has a lot to learn. Keep Cousins hungry, working hard, and earning every minute.
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This.
...but I want Cousins to start so he can win Rookie-Sophomore MVP, Rookie of the Week, Rookie of the Month, Rookie of the Year.
 
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I really dont think Cousins has alot to learn before he can start. If Cousins averages the amount of minutes he deserves I expect no less than 15/11.
 
NowImLost said:
This.
...but I want Cousins to start so he can win Rookie-Sophomore MVP, Rookie of the Week, Rookie of the Month, Rookie of the Year.
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The Kings aren't in it for those types of awards, they're in it to win some games. That stuff is gravy if it happens, but is really trivial in the larger scope of things.
Chupacabra said:
Start him. Keep him on the floor until hes exhausted. This is a future elite bigman in the NBA. This guy could conceivably be the best center in the league in a few years.
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That's the best way to injure him...Playing anyone to extreme fatigue is a horrible idea. The injury risk increases 200 fold...With the depth the Kings now have up front, there's no reason to play anyone to fatigue.

I'm with the start Dalembert in training camp and let DeMarcus earn it crowd. I would love him to rise to the challenge, as opposed to handing him the starting spot on a silver platter. Summer league's gonna be fun!
 
I say start both. Dalembert at PF and Cousins at C. Landry can go back to being an electric sixth man, and JT always plays better off the bench. Dalembert can guard 4s, this way he can play weakside shotblocker with Cousins as the main post defender.
 
HighFlyingMonkey said:
I say start both. Dalembert at PF and Cousins at C. Landry can go back to being an electric sixth man, and JT always plays better off the bench. Dalembert can guard 4s, this way he can play weakside shotblocker with Cousins as the main post defender.
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I don't think Dalembert is good enough offensively to be played at the 4. And while JT can play a bit of center I don't think we should make that his main position, which would be the case if we were bringing him off the bench together with Landry.

I'm for letting Cousins start to get more minutes with Tyreke. If his production isn't that good yet then make him earn his minutes, but let him get used to playing with the rest of our starting line up.
 
Jespher said:
The Kings aren't in it for those types of awards, they're in it to win some games. That stuff is gravy if it happens, but is really trivial in the larger scope of things.
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I don't think the needs of the franchise are necessarily at odds with individual achievements. The whole team was united behind getting Tyreke his Rookie of the Year award last year and it gave us something to root for even when it was clear we were well out of the playoff picture. It'd be nice to see Tyreke return the favor and make it his personal mission to get DMC that award this year. More attention paid to Sacramento means more media exposure, more televised games, and a return to respectability. Obviously all of that comes with winning as well, and that always comes first -- but it's a good thing to see our players winning national honors of any kind. It's good for our franchise and it's good for their confidence as well.
 
Jespher said:
The Kings aren't in it for those types of awards, they're in it to win some games. That stuff is gravy if it happens, but is really trivial in the larger scope of things.
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I think all Teams including the Kings should be into this kind of individual awards, but not to the point that the whole team suffers losing. Somehow, there should be a balance.
 
I voted start Dalembert but really don't care which center is tipping ball in the air for the Kings at beginning of games. It's PW who decides and no one else. As usual, arguments on who starts are not that important as who finishes the game. If Dalembert starts and gets his 25 or so minutes but Cousins finishes the game with around 20 minutes consistently coming up big in crunch time - that's way more more important than whining over who starts.
 
I think that DMC expects to be able to come into the league and dominate at his position.

So for that reason alone, I'd like for him to be our starting Center.
If he comes right out of the gate and get's killed by other centers, then I think that will motivate him even more to get right physically, so he can dominate the match-up the next time it comes around.
If he comes out of the gate and dominates other Centers, isn't it best to learn that as quickly as possible so we can win games with our new dominate Center?

In my opinion it's going to be a win/win. Either he does great, so you want him out there, or he doesn't do as well as he thinks he should, and it spurs him to become a better player more quickly.

Ultimately, the expectations should be that he is our starting Center of the future. If we do end up keeping Sammy beyond this year, it's going to be a role off the bench. So if that is how it's going to play out eventually, you might as well start Sammy off the bench to get a feel of how that is going to work out in the future.

With all of that said, if Cousins clearly shows to Westphal that he isn't up to start on Day 1, then I say start Sammy, and ease Cousins into it off the bench. But if it looks as if Cousins could have success starting, then I think you need to see how a Cousins/Tyreke pairing works from Day 1.
 
These poll results are too conservative. Granted, this offseason and draft has so far brought major changes to our team. However, the Kings are coming off of a 25 win season and they just drafted a player that is believed to be one of the major pieces on this team. Cousins doesnt need to develop his game by sitting on the bench. There is flat out no good reason not to start him and give him a majority of the minutes. Why anyone would want to bring Cousins off the bench is beyond my reasoning.
 
Chupacabra said:
These poll results are too conservative. Granted, this offseason and draft has so far brought major changes to our team. However, the Kings are coming off of a 25 win season and they just drafted a player that is believed to be one of the major pieces on this team. Cousins doesnt need to develop his game by sitting on the bench. There is flat out no good reason not to start him and give him a majority of the minutes. Why anyone would want to bring Cousins off the bench is beyond my reasoning.
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Starting is a privilege not a right. For someone who has been flagged with maturity issues, no matter how exaggerated or even fabricated they may be, its a very important concept he should be taught right off the bat. If he wants to start, he needs to out hustle his competition and prove that he is ready to start. Landry and Dalembert to start the season Jt and Cousins to end it.
 
Kings Faithful said:
Starting is a privilege not a right. For someone who has been flagged with maturity issues, no matter how exaggerated or even fabricated they may be, its a very important concept he should be taught right off the bat. If he wants to start, he needs to out hustle his competition and prove that he is ready to start. Landry and Dalembert to start the season Jt and Cousins to end it.
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Enough with the "maturity" issues. NONE of his coaches have indicated anything of the sort. They say he his emotional, that he cares, and that he's 19. Oh gee... he's a unique personality too!! Oh no!! I don't buy for a second that Cousins has one iota of any kind of maturity or attitude "issue" or whatever you want to call it. So what if he yelled back and forth with his coach. That same coach has never said he has attitude problems. He has said they've been communicating in a passionate way because they both care, and that was the style of their relationship. Maturity/attitude issues have to do with not respecting the game, not respecting the coach. Cousins never ONCE has displayed that. Yelling does not necessarily equal disrespect. It does necessarily equal passion and emotion. You want that. Cousins is a winner. Not one of any of his previous coaches has indicated attitude or maturity issues. It is a 100% media fabrication. People are allowed to be emotional. Have you heard even one single Kentucky fan say any one negative thing about the guy?? No! All we've heard are amazing stories such as people's best friends little sister's crying that he's leaving, 40 year Kentucky fans saying they cant' think of a player they have missed or will miss more, etc. etc. etc. Cousins is a winner with a heart of gold and we are lucky to have him.

And I have no doubt that Westphal will make him earn the starting spot, just as he did with Tyreke. I just think that he will earn it after about half an hour of the first practice. Westphal has shown an ability to handle young players quite well.
 
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Its a fairly simple question if you just answer it "whoever earns it" (not one of the poll options obviously). It only generates conflict if you think somebody should start for other reasons -- seniority, or just by draft position or hype or for the future. I think there is an argument for starting Dalembert regardless -- that he will stabilize our defense and help us set a tone, whereas Cuz will still be figuring it out like most kids, and we would have instability in the middle again until he did so. But if he earns it, which in this case would mean either considerably outplays Dalembert and shows he's going to be a star, or shows himself to be reasonably close to Dalembert as a rebounder/interior defender, it would be silly not to start him. Which I think most would agree with. At which point the results of this poll really become more of us trying to predict who WILL earn thestarting spot, rather than who SHOULD earn the starting spot.
 
If he is mature then he can take starting from the bench. I think we should start Dalembert since I want to win games now, of course that doesn't mean I don't want to develop him. I think he should get 20-25 minutes depending on what he can handle. If he does deserve the starting spot I have no problem starting him, but for right now I have Dalembert penned in for starting.
 
I should note that my stance on this one is not entirely consistent with my general outrage at Mikki starting over Spencer/Jason for instance. But i think that's because of several things. First of all of course Dalembert is >>> Mikki. for a few days there before the draft we were happy at the thought of being able to start him rather than suffer through more of Spencer's erratic play. But even more importantly we are in a different place now. We are coming back up the other side, we've done the hit rock bottom and bounce thing, and it looks like a heck of a bounce. So while two years ago I thought we should be actively trying to lose to accelerate things, and absolutely needed to find out about our kids to know if they were going to be part of the future, now things have turned. This upcomign season is the first one in a long time where winning games will be important. The More the merrier. I declare the rebuild more or less complete. And I am not really worried that a guy like Cousins is going to be forgotten baout, or that we won't know whether to build aroudn him or not. Of course we will. Whether he starts from Day 1, form the All Star break, not until next year, he is still obviously abig part of things. So the pressure to rush things is off. If anything I might be a little more concerend wiht proper handling of Whiteside, who as a 2nd round pick is sitting in a more vulnerable position and could get squished/forgotten about. But Cuz will be here, he'll be in the rotation, and sooner or later he will start. So I am not concerned wiht us squishing him. we know what the team is going t look like now, and he's part of it.
 
Bricklayer said:
Its a fairly simple question if you just answer it "whoever earns it" (not one of the poll options obviously). It only generates conflict if you think somebody should start for other reasons -- seniority, or just by draft position or hype or for the future. I think there is an argument for starting Dalembert regardless -- that he will stabilize our defense and help us set a tone, whereas Cuz will still be figuring it out like most kids, and we would have instability in the middle again until he did so. But if he earns it, which in this case would mean either considerably outplays Dalembert and shows he's going to be a star, or shows himself to be reasonably close to Dalembert as a rebounder/interior defender, it would be silly not to start him. Which I think most would agree with. At which point the results of this poll really become more of us trying to predict who WILL earn thestarting spot, rather than who SHOULD earn the starting spot.
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Your answer is in the poll. It's Dalembert. If and when Cousins earns the spot, he gets it, but Dalembert starts in that spot at the very beginning.
 
Bricklayer said:
I should note that my stance on this one is not entirely consistent with my general outrage at Mikki starting over Spencer/Jason for instance. But i think that's because of several things. First of all of course Dalembert is >>> Mikki. for a few days there before the draft we were happy at the thought of being able to start him rather than suffer through more of Spencer's erratic play. But even more importantly we are in a different place now. We are coming back up the other side, we've done the hit rock bottom and bounce thing, and it looks like a heck of a bounce. So while two years ago I thought we should be actively trying to lose to accelerate things, and absolutely needed to find out about our kids to know if they were going to be part of the future, now things have turned. This upcomign season is the first one in a long time where winning games will be important. The More the merrier. I declare the rebuild more or less complete. And I am not really worried that a guy like Cousins is going to be forgotten baout, or that we won't know whether to build aroudn him or not. Of course we will. Whether he starts from Day 1, form the All Star break, not until next year, he is still obviously abig part of things. So the pressure to rush things is off. If anything I might be a little more concerend wiht proper handling of Whiteside, who as a 2nd round pick is sitting in a more vulnerable position and could get squished/forgotten about. But Cuz will be here, he'll be in the rotation, and sooner or later he will start. So I am not concerned wiht us squishing him. we know what the team is going t look like now, and he's part of it.
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man what a speech. got goose bumps. Post of Year award goes to Bricklayer
 
DMC should start. In many ways his game is ready for the NBA. He just needs actual game time to get experience so he can improve even more. Dalembert can play 25-30 mins at both the 4 & 5 spots but he shouldn't start over a potentially dominating young center.
 
Before I voted for Dalembert but if I could I'd change my vote to DMC. They say big men develop slower than any other position, but we really have nothing to lose by throwing him to the wolves early. Some teams don't have the luxury of having a starting C to bring off the bench like we do to help with foul trouble and such.
 
Whatever Coach Westphal decides on this who starts, who cares, after summer league, training camp and pre-season games I'll be fine with it.

Last season coach took over with eveyrone assuming that opening day starting center was the anointed Spencer Hawes. It was Scott May instead. Later he lost his starting job to Hawes with even JT having his run for a time in the middle. I like the way Westphal makes players earn starting positions, their overall minutes, and most importantly who is on the court in crunch time.
 
Here are three reasons to start Dalembert over Cousins and why they should be rejected.
Get more wins. - Most of us agree that we want wins now. What if we get more wins with DMC starting day 1? Dalembert has experience and maturity, Cousins has youth and crude skill. I think it's a tie.
Discipline - Frivolous. "Hey new guy, glad you're with us. I'm the coach!" Why start the season off on that note, when you can start with faith and confidence. He can get discipline in other ways, IF he acts up. Positive conditioning works better, lets give him our love.
Cousins hasn't earned it Neither has Dalembert. All we have is archived footage and scouting reports. Based on this, I'd have to start with Cousins. I'm all for veteran respect, but Cousins demands respect also. He is not an average rookie.

There are many reasons why Cousins should start, ie: chemistry, he might feel sleighted, he might feel embarrassed, he's better, higher stats for ROY, etc. Dalembert is a great player, but he's not the future so only reason 1 makes sense to me. Here's hoping Cousins will make a seamless transition during the summer!
 
I'm not too worried about the maturity issues. Nobody was this worried about Spencer and he had his on and off the court issues there. Fans wanted him to start without really deserving.

Just my best guess, by the time December rolls around, this won't even be a question any more. The only question will be how he can avoid foul trouble and stay on the court for the end of games.
 
I guess I'm just very high on Cousins.

I truly believe that he'll prove in training camp that the Center position is his.
If he doesn't show that he's ready then by all means start Sammy.
But if he shows he's ready, he should start.
Now if I thought that somehow we'd lose 10 more games in the first 30 by starting Cousins, then again, let's win some games and start Sammy, but I just think that if Cousins shows he has it, we'll be in a better position to win games with him in there to start.

And if Cousins starts, I really think you need to start JT along-side him. Cousins offers post-scoring which duplicates Landry's best asset. So you're better off pairing Landry with Sammy.
So if Sammy starts, then Landry should start as well. But if Cousins starts, I think JT should be starting along side him.
 
Uncia03 said:
I guess I'm just very high on Cousins.

I truly believe that he'll prove in training camp that the Center position is his.
If he doesn't show that he's ready then by all means start Sammy.
But if he shows he's ready, he should start.
Now if I thought that somehow we'd lose 10 more games in the first 30 by starting Cousins, then again, let's win some games and start Sammy, but I just think that if Cousins shows he has it, we'll be in a better position to win games with him in there to start.

And if Cousins starts, I really think you need to start JT along-side him. Cousins offers post-scoring which duplicates Landry's best asset. So you're better off pairing Landry with Sammy.
So if Sammy starts, then Landry should start as well. But if Cousins starts, I think JT should be starting along side him.
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I share this same opinion.
 
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