Yeah that's true. They were forcing it to Cousins down low. I wish Bledsoe had played better. Wall didn't really do much until the end. Disappointing performance but they are young so this is expected in an hostile environment. I knew if this game was close at the end that Downey would kill us.
I only saw the last 2 minutes tonight, but from watching prior games, Cousins has really come a long way this season. He clearly has a chance to be a major impact player on the next level. His size and brute strength are overwhelming sometimes and will translate, plus he has a lot more offensive skills than I realized at first. Cousins has to keep his head on straight and I think that will be a problem. He's made progress this season but we'll see. The anger and nastiness he plays with are important to his success but he has to learn to channel his emotions properly. I wish him the best. IMO, there is no chance at all he comes back to UK for a sophomore season because he's shown enough to be a high lottery pick already. This loss was good for UK's team. The perfect record gave them a false sense of security. Now that they know the taste of defeat and understand they can be beaten, their focus and intensity should improve, at least for a few games. A couple more losses before March are likely.
Cousins is beasting in the 1st half of the Vandy game. He still is showing his immature ways at times though in this game.
I'm in love with the potential of DeMarcus Cousins. Its like he's some ungodly mixture of Erick Dampier size with Amare Stoudemire skill set.
The key is the potential I hope that he reaches that potential.. he could be Shaq-esque if he does... meaning no one would be able to stop him one on one.
Shaq-esque? I don't see it. We may never see another player as physically dominant + athletic as Shaq. Forcing double-teams doesn't merit a comparison to Shaq. Cousins has a serious upside, but I don't see that kind of utter domination in his NBA future.
I remember watching Shaq in college.. and he was a lot like what I see out of DeMarcus. The difference is Cousins can hit a jumpshot and typically free throws as well. I'm not saying he's as good as Shaq in his prime in the NBA, I'm saying he has the potential to be that dominant offensively. Let's put it this way..he has way more upside than say.. Greg Oden or Blake Griffin.
I'd go with Greg Monroe.. he's more mature and Cousins is suppose to be a top 5 pick.. doubt Rockets get that high of a pick
Shaq's last couple of years in college were a joke. He got hit, pulled and scratched so hard it was truly ridiculous. It got so bad Dale Brown publicly told him to go to the NBA before he got hurt. Plus, the physical difference between Shaq and Cousins is enormous. Cousins is very strong, but he isn't nearly in the class of Shaq (in college). Nobody is comparing Cousins now to Shaq in the NBA. Cousins has no chance to be that good. He doesn't have the body nor the head on his shoulders. Lot of guys have more potential than Greg Oden. Blake Griffin? We'll see.
Yeah, I'm aware, I saw the same thing. I've always been a college fan, so I was watching the SEC when he was playing at LSU. The teams basically cheated because they couldn't do anything at all to stop him... Keeping in mind Shaq had more than just a year in college I can't compare Cousins now exactly to Shaq's college years... hence my Shaq-esque comment. Now go read some of the quotes about the pushing and pulling they are already doing to Cousins. I'm not saying it's a sure bet, but he's a lot better inside than I ever thought he would be when he came along with Coach Cal and he can be much much better.
Cousins has developed faster than I think anyone could have expected. Now he has to react positively to the fact that teams have adjusted to account for him. He has to learn teams will collapse to prevent him from scoring and do what is best for his team. Coach Cal should tell him his pts/game won't affect his draft rank. Everyone can see what he might develop into offensively and it's impressive. The only obstacle to Cousins' career looks to be his maturity and ability to handle adversity. This is another area Shaq has him beat by a mile. Looking back on it, young Shaq had a very good head on his shoulders in college. I guess his mother & stepfather had a lot to do with that.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=ApBZjpKJMx2uI72v.VOjnV_evbYF?slug=jn-cousins031610&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Very good article on Demarcus.
Unless Morey pulls a magic trick he will be long gone before we draft.. Frankly, if the Bulls continue to loose games and we continue to win some, we will fall short from drafting any guy people have been talking about on this board (Monroe, Aldrich, Whiteside,...). I think Morey will try to adress our frontcourt issues in the FA/trading and get a win-now star PF such as Bosh or Amare. And knowing how Morey and his team drafts, they are absolutely not drafting for need. 99% of the picks they have made in the past were absolutely unpredictable. Therefore, I have absolutely no idea of who Morey plans on picking, and frankly, I doubt anyone here does!
