Im Still Ballin
07-03-2021, 02:22 PM
George Karl recently responded with a laughing emoji to a twitter post comparing prime Demarcus Cousins to Embiid and Jokic.
I supported DMC for the longest time, but eventually turned on him. He was simply not a winning player, and never was going to become one. I remember when he was traded -- I celebrated, while others on this forum, Twitter, and Reddit, said it was a bad trade.
To sum up my thoughts on the man when he was healthy, in his prime:
- Consistently 20-30 pounds overweight
- Endurance issues because of excessive weight
- Lazy and emotionally unstable
- Erratic, bad shots, turnovers, and fouls
- Always whining about calls
- Never got back on defense fast enough
- Lazy/low effort on defense
- Took way too long to get into the front court on offense
- All of his problems would intensify in the clutch
- Terrible leader
- Targets rookies
One of the most un-clutch players I've ever watched.
Here are some Reddit comments I thought were accurate:
Cousins gets so overrated because of his box score stats.
He was frequently on the leaderboards for fouls, turnovers, and FGA blocked. He wasn’t a good rim protector, had okay efficiency and a horrible attitude.
Even when he left the Kings, the 17-18 Pelicans ended up statistically better when Cousins wasn’t playing. In the games he did play, they were barely any better with him on the court.
That was always my problem too. You could watch literally any Boogie game and you'd see him give up at least 6 (and usually more like 12) points for no ****ing reason by turning the ball over and whining, or just slapping someone out of frustration, or just giving up completely free layups.
When you realize that great players are worth an +8-10 increase in net rating per game, you can actually watch as Boogie negates almost all of his talent to turn himself into a slightly better than average starter.
Who cares if you score 25 a game but give up 35 with 6 turnovers and 5 plays that completely ruin your teams momentum per game? And I'm not even going to start on how he terrorizes his rookies.
I'm not the best person to get a rational Cousins take from since I always hated his oncourt play and demeanor but one thing I think a lot of people would agree with is that Peak DeMarcus Cousins is the best player you wouldn't want on your team.
Sure he could get you a 25/10/5 game but he'd foul 5 times, turn it over 5 times, not get back on defence while whining to refs 10 times a game, throwing tantrums and forcing bad shots while not trusting his teammates.
He obviously didn't have a great roster to work with but he was an issue too. Even in NOLA I feel like the Pelicans played better without him.
Thank you! I've never seen a player give away so many points in so many different, unforgivable ways. He must have averaged 6-12 points (for the other team) on plays where he just slaps someone, refuses to run back on defense so he can complain til he gets a tech, or just throws the ball away on his Tragic shit.
Such a shame really. Put Tim Duncan's brain in his body, and he'd have been an elite player. He'd have actually
- Been in shape
- Got back on defense
- More active on defense
- Got to the frontcourt on offense faster
- Taken better shots
- Less turnovers
- Less fouls/technical fouls
Combine that with great size, good mobility, and good shooting. Despite his shitty conditioning and personality/character traits, he was coming into his own. Once he transitioned from the post to the 3pt line, he became a far superior player.
His true shooting percentage was closing in on 60% TS, with good volume.
I supported DMC for the longest time, but eventually turned on him. He was simply not a winning player, and never was going to become one. I remember when he was traded -- I celebrated, while others on this forum, Twitter, and Reddit, said it was a bad trade.
To sum up my thoughts on the man when he was healthy, in his prime:
- Consistently 20-30 pounds overweight
- Endurance issues because of excessive weight
- Lazy and emotionally unstable
- Erratic, bad shots, turnovers, and fouls
- Always whining about calls
- Never got back on defense fast enough
- Lazy/low effort on defense
- Took way too long to get into the front court on offense
- All of his problems would intensify in the clutch
- Terrible leader
- Targets rookies
One of the most un-clutch players I've ever watched.
Here are some Reddit comments I thought were accurate:
Cousins gets so overrated because of his box score stats.
He was frequently on the leaderboards for fouls, turnovers, and FGA blocked. He wasn’t a good rim protector, had okay efficiency and a horrible attitude.
Even when he left the Kings, the 17-18 Pelicans ended up statistically better when Cousins wasn’t playing. In the games he did play, they were barely any better with him on the court.
That was always my problem too. You could watch literally any Boogie game and you'd see him give up at least 6 (and usually more like 12) points for no ****ing reason by turning the ball over and whining, or just slapping someone out of frustration, or just giving up completely free layups.
When you realize that great players are worth an +8-10 increase in net rating per game, you can actually watch as Boogie negates almost all of his talent to turn himself into a slightly better than average starter.
Who cares if you score 25 a game but give up 35 with 6 turnovers and 5 plays that completely ruin your teams momentum per game? And I'm not even going to start on how he terrorizes his rookies.
I'm not the best person to get a rational Cousins take from since I always hated his oncourt play and demeanor but one thing I think a lot of people would agree with is that Peak DeMarcus Cousins is the best player you wouldn't want on your team.
Sure he could get you a 25/10/5 game but he'd foul 5 times, turn it over 5 times, not get back on defence while whining to refs 10 times a game, throwing tantrums and forcing bad shots while not trusting his teammates.
He obviously didn't have a great roster to work with but he was an issue too. Even in NOLA I feel like the Pelicans played better without him.
Thank you! I've never seen a player give away so many points in so many different, unforgivable ways. He must have averaged 6-12 points (for the other team) on plays where he just slaps someone, refuses to run back on defense so he can complain til he gets a tech, or just throws the ball away on his Tragic shit.
Such a shame really. Put Tim Duncan's brain in his body, and he'd have been an elite player. He'd have actually
- Been in shape
- Got back on defense
- More active on defense
- Got to the frontcourt on offense faster
- Taken better shots
- Less turnovers
- Less fouls/technical fouls
Combine that with great size, good mobility, and good shooting. Despite his shitty conditioning and personality/character traits, he was coming into his own. Once he transitioned from the post to the 3pt line, he became a far superior player.
His true shooting percentage was closing in on 60% TS, with good volume.