Ed Davis looks very promising. Rockets laughing when Raptors passed up on Patterson... Let's see who laughs last.
all i am saying is there have been people that have had success in the summer league and not done anything in the pros .. so to be declaring anything based on summer league performance is premature .. that is all .. i am not saying it cant be a good thing .. im just saying there is not enough data to say he should have been 2nd pick just yet especially when character issues played a role in his fall .
i dont know about that .. when i see someone scores 42 .. i m not going wait let me see how many rebounds he had b4 i can determine if its a good game or not.. 42 points zero rebounds and zero assists is still a pretty good game .. if they guy is hot enough to score 42.. do u really care if he passes obviously the ball is being put in the hole
To me, he should have been #1. I know, John Wall is amazing, but big men (quality big men) are just so hard to come by these days. And Washington already has Arenas. Sure, Wall is already better than Arena, but imagine Arenas and Cousins playing a 1/5 game. And that vid on the first page? I've never seen big men go for no-look passes before, haha. Look for that to change when good defense is being played / Coach Westphal tells him to stop.
You know, I was really high on him pre-draft. I was praying the Rockets could get him. I still think he is going to be good, but after seeing him a bit in summer league, I got a VERY STRONG Derrick Coleman vibe from him. You know - one of those guys who has a pretty good career averaging around 20/10 for most of his career yet finds himself on team after team because of his attitude and ultimately ends up a disappointing "what could have been" type player. Skill wise, he reminds me a lot of Rasheed Wallace with his versatility. I don't get the low basketball IQ criticism - the kid is very smart with the ball. He's got size, skill, smarts, and I don't think he is a trouble maker as some had him pegged so much as he is too emotional in the heat of the moment... What scares me though is he has a real negative energy about him when things don't go his way and he handles it by taking his head completely out of the game - takes plays off to sulk, etc. He has also seems to have two gears - the one that will make him an instant star, and one that is frankly a star player coasting. Most of the fouls I saw him pick up where because he was stuck in that second gear and was just slow on his feet. Then a few plays later, he would have some amazing quick footwork. It was a bit puzzling...and of course when he did get called for fouls, he really overreacted to them but not in a Rasheed "I'm trying to work the refs" kind of way. I said this earlier and I still feel this way - his ceiling depends a lot on the type of guys who you can surround him with early in his career. Ultimately I don't think the Kings have the type of players that will influence him positively(they won't influence him negatively either) - rather they have a bunch of young guys who are still trying to figure it out and grow into true basketball professionals. Not a lot of veteran guys to lead by example on that team which makes me thing Cousins will ultimately continue doing his own thing. If Houston had managed to get him, he probably would have picked up some better habits earlier that would have helped his career long term and would have been influenced by some of the leaders and positive culture we have in Houston around playing with heart. As it stands, I think he is going to be a decent player, but not quite a yearly all-star like he should be. ...as for the King's long term progress - I'm going to say it here. As constructed with Evans and Cousins as the core pieces, this team will NOT be a legit title contender even if Cousins is a 20/10 guy and Evans is a 25/6/6 guy. I don't think either of those guys will every be the type of guys who can lead their team deep into the playoffs. In particular, I think Evans is waaayyy overrated. Reminds me too much of Stevie Franchise - guys who are reliant on athleticism and size but who don't have much of a shooting stroke and aren't smart with the ball. I would like to see the Kings utilize Evans as a slashing SG along side a real floor general at the point rather than play the PG charade with Evans. ...my 2 cents.
Dude finished with 5-18 while dropping 16 and 10, and actually finished with a triple-double (16,10, and 10 fouls).
It's too early to say Cousins should have been the 2nd pick. I'm still not sure if he will keep his composure when the real games start. Players will bait him constantly, officials will miss calls and Cousins will have to suck it up. I saw him arguing and complaining too much in summer league. This is a red flag for me. glimmertwins, it's also too early to judge 'Reke. Most good/great players take it up a notch or two in their 2nd seasons. 'Reke has a lot of room for growth so let's give him a chance to mature. Personally, I don't have much regard for Paul Westphal as a coach. He's not the guy to develop players like 'Reke or Cousins. He enabled 'Reke far too much last season when he should have reigned him in (and I'm not talking about the silly 20/5/5 thing late in the season).
The other thing that I noticed was that Whiteside has horrible hands. Can't catch the ball at all. Cousin's found him wide open at least 3 or 4 times and he couldn't make the catch.
I agree with you for the most part although I think it's because of Westhpal and that young team that the Kings and their two star players will ultimately be a bit of a disappointment. I 100% agree with the point about reigning in 'Reke last year. They let him do too much outside of the offense and he wasn't really forced to think inside their offensive system....too much or him trying to take guys on one on one and forcing his way to the hoop in a crowd of defenders. It worries me though because I don't see that changing for Evans for at least the next couple of years and how is he going to react to the next coach who might ask him to show some restraint after 3 years of doing his own thing? Same goes for Cousins. This team needs a Scott Brooks or even a Skiles(although he is maybe to extreme opposite) to bring along the young guys.
Granted, he did get some technicals in college, but not once was did he take the bait of a player. In the second round of the NCAAs, Chas McFarland of Wake Forest ("dirty" player) tried his best to get Cousins get kicked out of the game and not once did Cousins take the bait even when he was he got swiped on the head by a blatant flagrant foul.
Wall has not played a single NBA game and he is better than Agent 0. Pretty bold statement. People tend to forget the guy came off a major knee injury last year. Gilbert will put up BIG numbers this year. It is just the summer league, and Demarcus has a long ways to go. 12 ppg and 8 boards rookie season. Thats my prediction.
I agree he settled down in college after the first couple of times I saw him. But the NBA is another level when it comes to baiting, questionable calls and general frustration on the court. The 82-game grind of a season will be big a challenge for Cousins composure. I wish him well. The NBA could use another dynamic, low-post player.
I just caught today's summer league game. He doesn't look that great. He seemed to be tired and winded. He tried to take some shots outside of 2 feet from the basket and kept bricking.
With overweight, low-motivation guys like him the danger isn't in the first year, he still pretty excited about everything. Its in the 2-4rth years, when the novelty of being an NBA player wears off and the grind of playing so many games takes its toll, not to mention losing a lot of games. Oliver Miller looked decent his first year too. We'll see how he turns out a few years from now.
he's doing horrible tonight and his body language is BAD. Like not caring anymore, just jacking shots up from outside and not playing defense.
Cousins wins Rookie of the Month for July. I think this award is ridiculous for summer league. <object width="388" height="394" classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" id="ep"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="movie" value="http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/.element/swf/1.1/cvp/nba_embed_container.swf?context=kings&videoId=teams/kings/2010/07/18/demarcusROMmov-1375814" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><embed src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/.element/swf/1.1/cvp/nba_embed_container.swf?context=kings&videoId=teams/kings/2010/07/18/demarcusROMmov-1375814" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="388" wmode="transparent" height="394"></embed></object>
