Sacramento Kings: Will The Kings Move On Without Cousins?
By Marcus Bass
Mentioning Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins always comes with special consideration or a caveat. Typically his main criticism begins with “If Cousins can improve his attitude…” Its turned into a person adage for Cousins, and it’s traveled with him on every step of his young four-year NBA career.
If O.J. Mayo says you have issues, maybe the rest of the league should take notice. It’s not as if Mayo is the picture of hoops mental health either. Whether it’s a sharp elbow to Mike Dunleavy Jr’s dome, a punch to Patrick Beverley‘s mid section, or a cheap shot to Mayo’s groin, Cousins has had his share of on the court issues resulting in suspensions, fines and ejections.
Cousins has had a total of 59 technical fouls and eight ejections in what’s considered a young and talented but reasonably troubled dichotomy of a career. He’s had a public feud with former Kings coach Paul Westphal, suspension for fighting with a teammate, and although there’s been whispers of him maturing while controlling the paint for Team USA, word is Cousins was dangerously close to a fight with Jonas Valanciunas of Lithuania.
At what point do the Kings say enough is a enough? How much are Boogie’s antics a detriment to the Kings team and their overall agenda? Last season Cousins averaged career highs with 22.7 points and 11.7 rebounds. He ranked top ten in overall rebounds collected (831), points per game and player efficiency rating (26.1). Cousins was also eighth in turnovers and third in personal fouls.
Therein lies the issue with Cousins. You can’t mention his positives without acknowledging the drawbacks. All players have them in the league. Some guys can fill it up on the offensive end but stink on the defense (hello James Harden). Other players are more known for their defensive abilities and are the last guy you want standing alone at the three point line with the clock counting down to zero and the ball in their hands. The variation of skill is all relative, and it’s more common than the we recognize.
What’s most frustrating with Cousins is that you can teach better defense with players who want to learn (how’s it going James Harden?). You can bring in a shooting coach to work with guys that desperately need to improve their touch from distance. What do you do for a young immature millionaire who seems uninterested in improving his attitude? There’s no immediate fix for that, and pressing the matter can have equally fair or disastrous consequences. Certainly the Kings have been and will continue to favor a more fair outcome, while encouraging Cousins to defeat his attitude problems.
The issue of whether Cousins should remain with the Kings is two-fold. First the Kings as a whole are not good enough to walk away from DeMarcus. Elsewhere in the league, once it’s understood that the attitude is here to stay, championship ready teams wouldn’t give him a second thought. He’d be shipped out faster than you can say “technical foul.”
The fact that the Kings are still in rebuilding mode or in their case what should be referred to as NBA purgatory is a saving grace for Cousins. As the talent level of the organization grows and expectations increase, there will be less tolerance for anything that can be considered what’s commonly referred to [in team press releases] as “conduct detrimental to the team.”
That’s a catch-22 for Cousins as well. While the Kings sit in the competitive Western Conference, they’ll be drafting in the top 15 for at least the next two or three years. Should he not display the amount of growth his supporters are hoping for, it’s not completely out of the questions for Cousins to be moved if the Kings are able to find a better or adequate replacement in the draft.
In Cousins’ corner is his talent level, coupled with the well-known fact that there aren’t many true centers left in the NBA. They’ve been devalued and labeled as boring by the NBA’s marketing team, while silently sought for and celebrated by coaches and league personnel. Centers are true Jedi in the league, they’ve become myth, much like a unicorn. And Cousins play has been nothing short of thoroughbred. He’s the unquestioned leader and most valuable player in the Kings stat line, however if he can’t get over those mental hurdles Sacramento may be forced to move on without him.
Eventually the Kings won’t be able to afford their team being stuck in the mud due to Cousins’ problems. Sluggish or no positive momentum as a result of attitude and not basketball is a serious cancer, and one that any team will elect to remove immediately. With his immense talent, it would be career suicide for Cousins to be moved. He’s already been labeled as the league’s top head case. It would be unfortunate for himself and the Kings if years from DeMarcus Cousins was the subject of “what if” articles.
I don’t want to see that. The Kings don’t want to see it. It’s up to Cousins to realize that he doesn’t want to meet that fate either.