I'd offer Morris, one of the rookies, and a pick and nothing more. Would rather deal Patterson but he might be a stabilizing force for Cousins. The more that I think about it, Cousins would be an ideal fit at PF for this team. Cousins, Asik, and Smith would be an awesome PF/C combo.
Well maybe how this is going..the Kings wont be asking for too much for this guy and just want to trade him out of town. Rockets and Kings love doing trades with each other lol. Lot of our players are playing good right now.
Whats interesting here is the Dan Fagan hire. Any agent can tell the Kings that DeMarcus is now requesting a trade, and let that go public to force their hand, but when you hire Fagan, you must want to go somewhere in particular. Reason being Fagan is widely known for brokering trades. The Dwight Howard trade being the most recent one. Cousins and Fagan dont necessarily have the power over the front office that Howard did with Orlando given that status of each of their respective contracts. -Also another thing I thought that was funny was Mark Stein(a usually respectable source) starting tweeting away about how the Heat would be a player for Cousins.... REALLY MARK. Seriously, no analyst that has covered the NBA in the past decade would ever mention this without some sort of reasoning. Everyone knows A. The Heat are going to be going way deep into lux tax here in the future, and unless they are giving up one of the big 3, they dont have the cap space to take on salary in trade. and B. They have ZERO assets other than the big 3 to give up in trade. So the fact that Stein is mentioning Heat already tells me that agents are buzzing nonsense into his ear already or he's just drunk tweeting the night away. Lets all hope that Fagan's power to broker a deal comes crashing down to earth pretty soon because the NBA cannot handle another forming of a superpower to one of the destination cities AGAIN. The Rockets have some assets to get a deal done, and take back salary as well. I would be shocked if Morey wasn't going to be in contact with the Kings GM going forward to try and at least create leverage for the Kings GM against whatever deals Fagan is trying to broker. In the end though NBA powers that be will probably try and back the Kings into a corner and get this rare NBA talent to the team of their liking.... which probably isn't Houston.
What ceiling, though? His numbers are way down. Does that look like a man climbing up closer to his ceiling, or a man who just had a good sophomore year--just like the vast majority of players--and is now regressing back to the kind of player he'll probably be most similar to from this point on? Has it occurred to some people that he might just not be a very good basketball player? There's a point where the promise of production in the future fails to the lack of production in the present. I think we're already at that point, and no smart NBA GM is going to sacrifice much for Cousins based on his one good season and the theory he can be bullied into shape.
The third year is generally when star talents really start to come into their own. And people see that happening right now with DeMarcus Cousins? Really? Look at those stats and tell us that with a straight face.
Taking stupid long 2s is normal for players of any age. It was the favorite play of T-Mac. It was Scola's favorite shot. Everyone loves long 2s because the defense always give you that shot. It's too tantalizing. It's credit to the Rockets coaching staff that our players are so disciplined at not taking them. That said, I'm hesitant on Asik. Parsons I'd be willing to part ways with in a heartbeat. I think he's replacable. But legit NBA center that can defend and rebound may simply be worth too much.
I don't see OKC doing anything because of their cap situation. They are going to build around Westbrook/Durant/Ibaka, the latter being a very good young player who has just gotten better every year. With Cousins...the Rockets have too many front court players right now, they can't keep all of them and all of them can't possibly develop on this team as it is right now. Practically it seems as though some of them were either acquired to move later or just a hope by Morey that one of them would pan out. If Cousins is being shopped by the Kings. Morey will make his offer and not budge from it. I honestly think the chemistry would work out eventually. He'd be our only selfish player, both of our guards love to pass to the bigs and we'd have a few chemistry issues as usual but that is going to happen with any trade.
He's 21 on a rookie scale contract and most likely playing on a contract year next year. The Rockets big men coaches are some of the best in the league. The reward is high and the risk is low so what does he cost? The Kings are going to want a low pick, a young stud or worst case something of value and a little salary cleanup. I don't think any team will give up a low pick for the current Cousins and they certainly are not giving up a young stud so that puts them in a cleanup mode. The only bad salary is Salmons so I think if we get Cousins, we have to take back Salmons. I don't think the Kings are interested in paying 15 million for 1 year on a contract so that takes Lin and Asik off the list. Harden is off the table. Personally I think keeping Patterson is a key to Cousins getting back on track and I don't think the Kings would see another meh PF as a deal breaker. They dont want a bunch of small contracts since they have a near full roster. Anything more than 3 means immediate cuts. So you are looking at Salmons and Cousins for: Defino Cook Aldrich or Morris Since that doesn't give them much value other than a 1 year salary cut and we dont have a 1st round pick to give, I think the only way you get them to say ok is to add Parsons. While that will mess up our max FA dream next year, I think the max FA list is really not there next year. However the following year, when we have max money again, there are a few like Monroe, Favors, George, etc that could get max or near max money and fit our young talent search we are in. That is assuming that our 21 year old Cousins didn't pan out. So really it comes down to a Parsons for Cousins trade. I know Parsons is a fan favorite but I think you have to roll the dice on getting more out of Cousins than Parsons.
There is no good reason to bring Cousins in. We aren't the team that was desperate for an all-star caliber player that we were only a few months back anymore. McHale has not been the guy to turn malcontents into team players. He weeds the malcontents out, rather than holding their hands. I, for one, enjoy seeing that from my team, rather than the pandering to player demands we see so often. In additional to being a high maintence 22 year-old child, he's THE MOST INEFFCIENT front court starter in the league. His 41% FG percentage would barely be acceptable as a guard. As a front court player, it's a JOKE. Part of that is low basketball IQ. Part of it is having the work ethic of a young Eddy Curry. The only thing he does well is rebound, which our current center can do without chucking the ball regardless of where he is on the court. Cousins is a trainwreck. The Rockets have plenty of cap space for the coming offseason, and have no reason to take the massive risk on this type of player when other choices are out there. We're only getting better as a team. I'd rather not take the cancer from one clubhouse, and allow them move on while we deal with this clown. I'd be more interested in Josh Smith, Paul Millsap, or Al Jefferson. Dwight Howard, and Andrew Bynum remain unsigned, though Bynum has a myriad of similar issues. Even adding depth like Carl Landry, JJ Hickson, Corey Brewer, Budinger, etc would be better than bringing in someone who has only proved he can get his coaches pissed in a hurry.
get him. he's good. he has big respect for McHale so hell change. besides, id be pissed too if I play for the kings.
Intersting update from the Sacramento Bee: http://blogs.sacbee.com/sports/kings/archives/2012/12/gameday-kings-vs-trail-blazers.html
You have no reason to believe any of that, regardless of whether or not you actually do. Cousins is more likely to punch McHale than he is to fall in line for him. We're talking about a guy who threw punches at fans in Kentucky, swung at teammate Donte Greene, whiffed trying to punch Blake Griffin, and now punched an opposing player in the nuts. What he needs is a wake up call. Not to have his demands met once again. Right now, he's a Malice in the Palace waiting to happen. Only Artest played well in reality, rather than in the minds of people projecting based on perceived upside.
The talent is there, but as with all talented players that are head cases (perticularly those that have not reached their potential), thier value declines at some point. He is still very young and obviously very talented but considering the fact he has regressed and is such a head case what is the kids value?
