NBA: Top 10 Candidates For Most Valuable Player Award In 2016-17
10. DeMarcus Cousins
A bit of a long shot here, but DeMarcus Cousins is probably the best center in the NBA right now. Under new head coach Dave Joerger, who knows? Maybe the Sacramento Kings won’t be too much of a dumpster fire to prevent Boogie from conjuring up some legitimate MVP chatter for the first time in his career.
DeMarcus Cousins said he's excited about the "options" in the Kings' offense, likes playing in the high post
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) October 3, 2016
Unfortunately, a good coach can only make so much of a difference when the front office spent its summer adding a bunch of rookies and washed up wings for Cousins’ supporting cast. Rajon Rondo, Quincy Acy, Marco Belinelli and Seth Curry are gone, with Rudy Gay likely to follow suit soon enough.
That leaves the Kings relying on new additions like Matt Barnes, Arron Afflalo, Anthony Tolliver, Ty Lawson, Jordan Farmar and Garrett Temple to help Boogie get over the 30-win threshold for just the second time in his career.
That’s not going to be good enough for a playoff spot, nor will it be enough for Cousins to plop himself in the middle of the MVP conversation. He’ll probably put up an MVP-caliber 27-12-3-1-1 stat line again, but without the accompanying team success, it’ll be another wasted year for Boogie’s elite skill set.