Sacramento Kings: Is DeMarcus Cousins Worth all the Headaches?

DeMarcus Cousins, left, has been the subject of trade rumors. @hoopshabit feels as though the KIngs need him for the future.(Photo Credit: Matthew Addie, Flickr.com)

The Sacramento Kings, as I have reported on numerous times in recent weeks, are at a crossroads in their franchise history. With a potential sale and a potential change of scenery on the horizon, it is the perfect time for the owners, whomever they may end up being, to completely revamp their product from the top of the organization down to the equipment manager.

Of the top five questions that remain to be answered, a daunting query at that, is to decide whether talented big man DeMarcus Cousins is worth all of the headaches that he has given the team over the last three years. He is one of the very few draft picks in the last seven or eight years to pan out for the Kings; he brings a lot of athleticism and intensity to the franchise. He does, however, bring a small grocery list of negative karma to the team and it is to be determined if he is worth the hassles.

The Positives:

With his size and quickness, he has the potential to be one of the top big men in the NBA. He has the ability to alter shots and to create opportunities for himself and his teammates. He is the ability to post up on defenders and make good on the opportunities. He can play a variety of roles on the floor and has the ball-handling skills of a decent guard.

The guy is one of the very few positives coming out of Sacramento right now on a team of a bunch of underachievers and overpaid mediocre talent. He finished the 2012-13 season with career highs in field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, assists per game and a career low for personal fouls. He has the ability, when motivated, to change the entire direction of the game and force opposing defenses, even at his young age, to adapt to him and his style of play.

When Cousins is motivated, happy and playing with intensity on both ends of the court, he has the innate ability to rise to a level higher than his teammates and the opposition. There are not a lot of big men in the game that possess the ability to run the floor like he can and shift to different positions if needed.

The Negatives:

I am not giving any earth-shaking news when I say that this kid has a temper and a short fuse. The naysayers will point to his baker’s dozen (plus) technical fouls this season and nearly half-dozen suspensions. Rasheed Wallace he is not, however, and one can say it is a byproduct of his intensity and a bit of guilt by reputation. In 2000-01, Wallace had 41 technical fouls and nine ejections. Let’s put this all in the proper perspective.

If there is one part of his game that needs to improve, it is his effort on the defensive end of the court. His laziness, at times, can be exploited by opposing offenses as he tends to miss some of the defensive rotations out of nothing more than indifference. He is not much of a shot blocker, despite his size, length and quickness, either, and that is a bit baffling.

There also seems to be a clear inability to adapt to authority. His problems with authority are well documented from high school to blowouts with Calapari at Kentucky, to both head coaches at Sacramento since he has been on the team. He is not a guy that likes to be told what to do and he is not afraid to speak his mind.

What to do:

Given his tremendous talent and upside, coupled with the fact that the Kings do not have a single guy on the roster that you would consider to be a franchise player, you have to keep the guy and learn to build around him. The team and the franchise need to take this opportunity to lay the foundation around Cousins, with coaches and personnel that can carry the team into the NBA elite. He cannot do it alone and trading him guarantees that he does not make a difference.

He needs a better point guard to spread the floor and create more opportunities for him inside. He needs some veteran help on the post and that is only going to happen through trades or free agency. He needs a head coach that can cultivate the team and get Cousins to adapt to his style of play.

Kings coach Keith Smart is 48-93 in his two seasons at the helm of the franchise. (Photo: Flickr, Keith Allison, commons.wikimedia.org)

One of the great things about Phil Jackson, in all the years that he was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, was that he was able to manage the players and their personalities. Nobody could possibly think that the only reason the Bulls won so many championships was because of talent. There were so many egos and so many difficult personalities on those teams that the coach needed to be a guy that demanded respect while, at the same time, knew how to manage his players.

The key to this is getting a new head coach in place that is a proven winner and that will earn Cousins’ respect, while, at the same time, allow him to be himself within well-established boundaries. Cousins is young; he needs a consistent message from the coach that doesn’t vary depending on how the team, or he, is playing.

There is no doubt, however, that the Kings need a franchise player to build around. Cousins is that guy and once the team ownership and coaching situation is sorted, the building process needs to happen around him. Not without him.