Not a fair comparison IMO because Beasley's game is fundamentally flawed. But Cousins' game is not. Beasley is a tweener, Cousins is a legit 4/5. Beasley is mostly a jumpshooter, and not a great one at that. Cousins play around the basket. Yeah, Cousins take way too many jumpers and suck horribly at them. But his inside play, especially rebounding, is legit. And he does have one top skill in rebounding. And his overall size can potentially make him an above average defensive player.
Everyone, please just say NO to Cousins! 1. We are not winning the championship this year, so let's let the team gel for a full season before making any big moves. They all seem to like playing together, and we're starting to really look good. Why fix it if it isn't broken? 2. I"ll take the Asik/Smith combo over Cousins any day. Even though Cousins would add a low-post threat, this team will never have trouble scoring baskets. It needs a lot of help preventing baskets though, so I'd stick with Asik over Cousins for that. 3. We still got a bunch of other young bigs. I don't know if any of them will ever be all-stars, but let's just wait and see. What's the point of drafting players if you're not gonna develop them? 4. Do you really want to tie up our cap space with a guy like Cousins? There's really no way of knowing how he'd affect the team. I'd rather save our cap space for a proven winner and character guy than a guy like Cousins, who's brief NBA track record speaks for itself. Yeah, Cousins is young, but so is our entire team. We are in no rush. Let's just sit back and enjoy watching the most exciting team since the Nash Suns, grow up before our eyes.
For a headcase like Cousins to work out for a team, there needs to be a veteran presence that Cousins will respect/listen to. Dunno if Rockets have that right now. Rox do have a star in Harden and a vet in Delfino - but I doubt Cousins is likely to listen. McHale is respected but he's the coach, not a player on the floor. Cousins would be best served on a team w/ serious vet star power (of the CP3, Kobe, LBJ level) whom he will be forced to listen to because of their place/importance on the team and the league. Otherwise, he'll just act out and throw the chemistry of entire locker rooms off. SAY NO to Cousins.
Yeah, I think Cousins is salvageable in the right environment. Specifically, a winning (or at least competitive) team that can benefit from his skills but are not totally dependent upon him. He needs to know that his playing hard can actually help the team win more than 25 games. He needs to know that the team isnt a mess from ownership down. You also need a situation where the coach can just bench and ignore him and move on to compete in the next game if he acts up.
Letting inadequate pieces, as great as they may turn out, gel for a full season does not give the 2nd all-star caliber player this team will require to advance to championship-level quality. I didnt even read the rest. Not trying to be a dick, but this isnt the 93-94 Rockets with one of the greatest players alltime at the peak of one of the greatest careers of alltime leading a seasoned squad to the promised land. This team had 98 starts, combined, ever, in an NBA game before this season began. We can use another allstar before we even speak of championships in the future.
If you trade for Cousins at the deadline, a timer of one and a half seasons starts. After that time, you have to make a decision on whether or not to pay to keep him around and if you do decide to keep him, it won't be cheap. What are you willing to give up for that scenario? Cousins is intriguing but not only are you gambling on him putting together off the court, he also actually has to become productive player. High risk, high reward.
I would love DeMarcus in Houston I think he would do well with this team. The Kings are a toxic environment & I think DC just needs a change of scenery. Yes we have a young team but we are also very selfless & mature. We may not have veterans but we do have mature players & I like the team culture. I don't think DC would ruin our culture in fact I think our culture would be something that appeals to DeMarcus. Also, I don't know if DC needs veteran players per se, I think he needs a supportive environment & I think the Rockets organization is the perfect environment for him. A young up & coming talented team, that could really develop into something special down the road, with an organization that has a reputation for being very player friendly. I am laughing at some of the comments I am reading on this thread. The Rockets desperately need an upgrade at the PF position & I think DC would be that ideal player (aside from Love he is next on my list). Beggars can't be choosers right now, the Rockets are definitely begging & don't get it twisted DC is ridiculously talented, raw but talented. And he has a lot of room to grow as well just like Lin Harden Parsons Asik Smith. Just a few thoughts.
I want Cousins on the Rockets more than any fan, but I don't trust our ability to handle bad-behavior players. Terrence Williams.. Kyle Lowry (to some extent).. Tracy McGrady.. Royce White.. I'd love to be proven wrong though, but outside Artest (who at that time was starting to mature and came in an established veteran team with championship aspirations) we haven't been able to transcend these kind of players into mature guys.
I would say not worth the gamble if you have to give up too much for him. Cousins needs to go to a team with vet leadership to straighten him out. This young Rockets team is the wrong place for him. It would damage his chances of reforming as well as damage the Rockets locker room chemistry and set back the rebuilding effort after the Rockets are forced to deal him at a loss to solve the problem. He's just too much of a headcase and this team, as currently constructed, is too young and fragile to absorb his antics. You need a bunch of hardnosed vets with star power to keep him in line. And his scoring doesn't seem to have the type of efficiency that MoreyBall looks for. He has talent, yes. But his red flags are exactly the wrong ones for this young Rockets team still struggling to find its identity. Such a young team is much too impressionable and its long term growth and culture can be seriously destroyed by his character issues. It's a shame that the Rockets aren't the right fit for him. My gut feeling is that having him in Houston will end in a disaster much worse than T-Will or Royce White situations. At least T-Will wasn't on a young impressionable team, and Royce White is being kept segregated from the team. And neither of them are as bad as the Cousins situation in the Kings locker room. Nor can you blame it all on a crappy Kings organization, since I think he had clashes with coaches prior to entering the NBA, so it sounds like a behviour pattern. He will make a very nice piece on some veteran team. If the Rockets were a couple of years further down the road, I would gamble on him. But not at this stage, when the culture, chemistry, and identity is still being formed and not robust enough to absorb this headcase. A locker room cancer can be disastrous, no matter what the talent, especially for a young team where the impact will be disproportionate. It can create a lot of collateral damage on the development other young guys who are still trying to learn the NBA, as well as turn off other free agents from wanting to come here.
No we're not desperate. Sure we need an upgrade but definitely not desperate. We're actually doing ok with 2Pat, Morris and Smith. What we need is more time for all our PFs to develop. That and hope we get a hardworking and proven star PF thru free agency.
Patterson is out with a bone bruise. They're waiting to see if it'll get better in two weeks with rest. If not, they may need to use the more invasive procedures mentioned by Morey, that Patterson shied away from by seeking a second opinion. Besides, some speculate that Patterson would be a steadying influence on Cousins, since they know each other. So if anything, getting Cousins may well mean needing to keep Patterson in order to maximize the chances of helping Cousins adjust and reform. Houston doesn't have any 1st round pick to trade. You would need a third team to give up some 1st round picks. Houston's own 1st round pick is conditionally pledge to the Atlanta for the next several years, and thus unavailable for use in another trade for the next few years, until such time as the pick is conveyed to Atlanta when the Rockets make the playoffs. I'm sure they can probably get better than Douglas + Morris for Cousins from some vet contender team that can handle the locker room cancer issues with Cousins.
Wishful thinking. If Chuck Hayes cannot be a steadying influence for this guy, nobody can. Certainly nobody on our roster.
People have to remember it's one thing to take a gamble on a player with character issues with a late 1st and 2m/year, it's another to take another with all your last assets and a (very likely) 15m/year max long term contract. That guy better be a sure thing, or at least as sure as someone like Harden. Anyway, I doubt that the Rockets have enough assets that the Kings would like to want if they do move Cousins.
