Is George Karl the Right Coach For DeMarcus Cousins?

As I’m sure everyone knows by now, George Karl has been hired as the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings.

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After much deliberation about who would be the permanent replacement for previous head coach Mike Malone and interim coach Tyrone Corbin, the Kings decided to go with Karl, one of the winningest coaches in NBA history, as they feel he could be the one to bring Sacramento back to relevancy in the Western Conference.

Now I’m sure there are very few fans and analysts of the game that disagree with the hiring based on the fact that they feel Karl couldn’t do a good job with this particular team. Karl has proven that he can take a team with few pieces and turn it into a regular season juggernaut in a short amount of time, and he’s in luck because there’s some real talent on this Sacramento roster.

There’s even a potential superstar: DeMarcus Cousins.

Cousins has been putting up monster numbers this season, averaging 23.8 points and 12.5 rebounds per game while dishing 3.3 assists per game as well. To put it simply, Cousins has been an offensive machine, as he has been the go-to guy for the Kings in the post. Cousins has all of the athletic talent to be a dominant force in the league.

When talking about big men, there are very few that can actually handle the ball in transition and either make the pass or finish at the rim themselves having gone the entire length of the court. Big men just aren’t supposed to be able to handle the basketball end-to-end like Cousins can. Even in the half court, Cousins likes to face up his man and get around them with a dribble-drive move, which leaves you sitting there saying to yourself, “Isn’t that something that only guards can do?”

The biggest knock on Cousins over the years has been his attitude, as he tends to lose focus in games sometimes and succumb to his temper by accumulating technical fouls and comments from the referees. This year, Cousins hasn’t displayed his anger as much, although there have certainly been times where he has taken a play or two off, and yes he did throw Boston Celtics point guard Marcus Smart to the ground in a game. Even Charles Barkley doesn’t think he has been a worthy-enough player to be a voice in the coach selection process.

However, Cousins has seemed to be on the floor more this season, even though his fouls per game are a career-high 4.2. Cousins has been able to keep his head in the game late in contests, and that has made a difference in a number of games for the Kings, as they have had a reliable scorer on the floor to keep them in games and even win them at the end of regulation.

With Cousins being the building block of this team, and him having the most problems of anyone on the team, can Karl be the coach that actually reaches him and teaches him how to control his emotions properly?

I for one certainly wouldn’t put it past Karl. He’s dealt with plenty of stars before, from Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton all the way to Carmelo Anthony. He even had Anthony, J.R. Smith and Allen Iverson on the same team at one point — talk about an ego factory.

If there’s anyone that can approach Cousins with enough confidence, it’s Karl. Karl will be able to speak with Cousins in a professional manner and be there for him, but he will also challenge Cousins in ways no other coach has probably challenged him before. Karl knows how to get the most out of his players. After all, just a few years ago in 2013 Karl coached a Denver Nuggets team without any stars to the third-best record in the Western Conference at 57-25, one that also happened to be a franchise record.

Karl knows how to mold talent into something truly special, and if he can do the same thing with Cousins, well then I would hate to be the rest of the league that has to face him every night. Cousins is already the most overpowering center in the league. If he becomes the most dominant AND the most skilled, then we are talking about a potential all-time great big man.

I can’t wait to see what Karl and the Kings can do in the second half of this season. He and Cousins are going to be a dangerous tandem in the West. Who knows? Maybe they can even enter the eighth seed conversation when all is said and done.

*Statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.

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