You wouldn't give up Chandler Parsons for him? I would have to atleast consider that. Tough call, imo. (Half the price of Omer Asik, btw)
Hell no. Don't even have to consider it. The Rocket's positions at 1, 2, 3, and 5 have great synergistic stats. All they're missing is PF who rebounds 8 times a game and is either a stretch 4 or a strong defender. As far as I've been hearing, Cousins has the rebounds, but not the range (and likes 2's which Moreyball hates), nor the defense (which is apparently dependent on how happy he is any given game).
Big no to Cousins from me. The kid needs to grow up, and I don't think we have the personnel (at least in terms of Rockets players) to help him mature. I don't really care about his stats, he plays on a terrible team so those stats are somewhat padded, but my main point is he'll never reach his full potential until he grows up and starts acting like an adult, and I doubt that'll happen in Houston. Hopefully it does happen at some point for him, and if/when it does, more power to him.
I wouldn't give up Parsons. He has too much value. He's cheap, he fills the scoresheet and he murders teams in the 4th quarter(50% shooting, 56% behind the arc). He's never going to be a star - but he could definitely start for a team that wins a title - and I think he'll have a nice long career. He's also signed cheap as hell for the next three years. Chandler Parsons has a lot of value in a trade, and I wouldn't squander that on a deal for DeMarcus Cousins.
One thing to consider: the Rockets will have max level cap room this coming offseason and quite a bit of salary flexibility both now and going forward until they decide to use their flexibility and assets (on the aquisition of a available star player). They need to consider the opportunity cost of a Cousins move. Having Cousins may be nice, but perhaps not at the cost of getting a better, more proven star player (Free agent Dwight Howard? Kevin Love? Aldridge?) later in a more favorable deal. So, much like "rental Dwight" this past summer, there is a limit to the amount of asset that you put into such a risky bet.
Then what the hell was the point of trading for him then? Look, everyone who wants Cousins on the team can't really justify the cost of trading for him. Sure Cousins has a lot of talent, but it doesn't seem like he has the work ethic to ever translate his potential into production. BeeBeard is right, most of the people who's saying he's worth Asik and/or Parsons have never seen him play and think that just changing teams will suddenly make him into Shaq 2.0. The guy's shooting 40%-ish from the field as big man. If he was a stretch 4 then that might be acceptable, but from what I can see he's just a low post-mid post guy. It's already his what, 3rd year, and I still haven't seen any improvement on his game since his rookie year. In fact, seems to me like his game has actually regressed, he wasn't this shot happy in college. And what do you want to do with him when he gets here, anyway? Cousins is not a jumpshooter, and if all you want is someone who can catch passes and finish, then Greg Smith already does that. Cousins also isn't a good defender, so at the end of the day you'll be getting him just for rebs and passing, and I don't think that's worth losing Asik and Parsons, especially when Cousins has some cancer tendencies.
For those who are in favor of trading for Cousins, were you in favor of picking up Andray Blatche as well? Just asking, because Blatche has been pretty awesome and most of this board (including myself) were strongly opposed to Blatche. I'm a bit indifferent about Cousins. I'm certainly pro-Cousins if you can get him for the cheap or even a somewhat reasonable deal. Make no mistake about it though, he's a risk and I certainly would not give up the world for him.
DeMarcus Cousins in his third NBA season: 16.6 PPG, 9.6 rebounds, 41% shooting Eddy Curry in his third NBA season: 14.7 PPG, 6.2 rebounds, 50% shooting Is DeMarcus Cousins better than Eddy Curry?
So what could other teams offer to get him? I can see the Warriors offering Barnes and a filler for Cousins and Evans. Suns could ask for a similar deal with Gortat (although they have a head case in Beasley there already) Bobcats could offer the pick they got off Detroit + Mullens for Cousins Pelicans can offer Ryan Anderson and a future 1st for Cousins and Hayes
I won't claim that I have watched every Sacramento Kings game since Cousins entered the league (I doubt there are any Kings fans who have), but I've seen enough to know that Cousins is a ball hog who is not skilled enough to be the scorer he wants to be. The guy has a quickness or size advantage over almost anyone guarding him, but he is not skilled enough to take advantage. He's bad in the post because he plays below the rim and avoids contact. He's not great at facing up because teams just induce him into shooting jumpshots. The Kings made a big fuss about putting him in the high post and running offense through him (since he is a capable passer), but again, this just had the effect of inducing more jump shots out of him. The only thing I can say for Cousins is that he's been capable on the boards, and he's decent at man defense when he's interested. Otherwise, he's a mess of a player offensively who doesn't possess the athleticism or skill to be the player he thinks he is. Some compare him to Zach Randolph, but Randolph was playing point forward in McDonalds All American games and had more skill in his pinkie finger than Cousins does right now. Some team will have to morph Cousins into a defensive oriented big who can bang on the boards and maybe finish some PnR plays. That team is not the Rockets. By the way, almost all of this is evident if you check out Cousins' progression offensively statistically.
It doesn't matter if he has offensive "skills", his shots don't go in at a good rate. Asik isn't a scorer but he's an elite defender and above average rebounder, since we have Harden and Lin who's real good at making plays as long as Asik can catch the ball and score layups he'll be fine. Everyone on the team except for Harden may be replaceable but a lot of them like Lin, Asik and Parsosna are so much better than Cousins. He's supposed to be a big man but his FG% belongs to a guard.
Blatche's shooting at 0.496% though, and he's known as a high flying shot blocker. Cousins isn't athletic, avoids contact and is shooting at a measley 0.41% LOL that's like out of the league bad.
How is Asik only an above average rebounder when he is constantly among the Top 5 of rebounders? He is very good, close to elite if not elite already.
Well dayum. If he's not even as good as Asik near the rim, and if he likes the 2 that much (which Moreyball hates) then the Rockets really have no use for him.
