Sacramento Kings: DeMarcus Cousins Becoming An All-Time Great

DeMarcus Cousins has been one of the few bright spots for a team that hasn’t made it to the postseason in what seems like an eternity.

The Kings’ glory days from when Chris Webber ruled the low post and Jason Williams’ flashy behind the back passes fueled the screaming fans of Arco Arena are over. If the Kings want to return to the playoffs and contend like they did a decade ago, their polarizing franchise player has to put the Kings on his back and he’s taking steps in the right direction.

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The passion Cousins plays with is something that few players have. He brings it every night and while this is definitely a good thing, this passion has led to emotional outbursts when things don’t go his way. He led the league in technicals the past couple seasons and has been among the leaders in the category in his four years in the league.

Coach Mike Malone is aware of this and is playing the role of referee in practices. From Jonathan Santiago of Cowbell Kingdom:

"“Following practice Wednesday, Sacramento Kings head coach Michael Malone said that Cousins isn’t the only player he plans to hold accountable when it comes to drawing the ire of officials. Malone plans on drilling his team to carry themselves in practice the same way they do in games or else face the consequences.“I told our guys from now on if somebody’s acting up or going too crazy (you’re getting a) technical foul,” Malone said. “And if you get two, you’re gone.“I’m kind of looking forward to being Joey Crawford a little bit this year, you know what I mean?” Malone added with a smile. “Me and Joey have a lot in common.”"

Cousins set an unrealistic goal of five technical fouls this season. He seems to be setting himself up for failure though. The upside to this ambitious goal is that even if he ends up with 10 for the season, it’s still a huge improvement from his first four years in the league and it wouldn’t be anywhere near the 16 which would lead to an automatic suspension. This should be another interesting storyline to follow.

He’s a fiery competitor and no coach would complain about his frustration after losses but his lack of maturity was a little too much at times. After a disappointing loss, he refused to let Isaiah Thomas shake hands with Chris Paul.

Cousins has shown that he has the potential to be an all-time great. He averaged 22.7 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists last season. In the history of the NBA, only eight players have put up these numbers by their age-23 season, per Basketball Reference. Every player on this list is a Hall of Famer. Cousins has also steadily increased his field goal percentage in his first four seasons and has plenty of room to improve after shooting 50 percent last season.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/11/2014.

Before Vivek Ranadive bought the Kings, there was some speculation the Kings might trade Cousins due to his immature behavior in his first few seasons but Ranadive would not let this happen. Ranadive wants to win now and made it clear that he believes in Cousins by signing him to a max extension before the start of last season.

It won’t be easy making the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference but with a committed and maturing Cousins, the future looks very bright.