DeMarcus Cousins wants a max contract or will demand a trade from the Kings

Regardless of his attitude, he's been producing on the court since the first day he entered the league as a teenager, so I don't think it's fair to say it's the pressure of the next pay day that is keeping his production at the current level.
I know he needs to mature mentally plus work harder to reach the next level. That may not happen, but there's still a decent chance here.

I don't necessarily think Cousins is a good trade target for the Rockets. But if you are a rebuilding team or a treadmill team looking for a foundational player like the Rockets last year, you should definitely try your best to get him. Since we have less risky ways to push us into elite status, I would just offer Asik+Jones+future 1st, which I don't think is competitive.

 

And you would give DeNutcase an $80 million max contract so he would stay in Houston?

 

Cousins is very much worth the risk for many teams, but not a necessary risk for ours. We're in a good position to add talent in other ways. We can try to add Dwight or CP3 via free agency. We can target other stars for trade that have less baggage. There's no need to get in a bidding war for Cousins, we're not desperate anymore.

 

Get it, morey get it.

 

It cannot be repeated enough individual talent trumps everything in the NBA. I love Parsons but he's not as talented as Cousins and talented big men are worth more than above average wings. Morey would not nix a trade for Cousins over Parsons.

 

No thank you, go to Dallas, you will fit right in

 

We are not even allowed to give him that much. We've used designated player on Harden, so the maximum we can offer is about 4 year $60 million.
I'll give him that little max contract all day long and twice on Sundays.

Think about it, that's about the amount of money you would have to pay to get a player like Josh Smith.

 

This pretty much sums it all up.

I don't envy Kings brass or their fans at all.

Admittedly, I'm interested. I think he's a great fallback option if we strikeout in free agency. Bottom line: we need a 4/5 that can score and draw doubles. We're never going to be a serious contender running spread PnR's with no inside presence. So unless we're going to pair Asik up with a superstar PF (Josh Smith does NOT count), I think it's wise to leave an option like this on the table.

 

Zach Randolph II

Took Zach 10 years before getting it together. But, how much that had to do with just being in a better environment? Guessing 70%?

 

No he wasn't. This sounds familiar though, 'what' describing a pretty good player as something exponentially better than what he actually was/is.

Coleman was not a great NBA PF. He was never a great NBA PF. He was never actually 'great' at anything. The talk about him having potential to be the greatest PF ever had to do with his versatile skill-set, but that was largely because he came before Webber and Garnett, so a face-up 4 with size and rebounding ability was something of a novelty at the time.

The truth is, Coleman was a strong rebounder with good size and a varied offensive game who was ultimately held back by the fact that he was selfish, overweight, and turnover prone, with poor shot selection and an aversion to playing defense.

Gee, that sounds familiar too.

 

If I were SAC, I tell Cousins and Fegan that I will not offer him a max extension or any extension and that I plan on keeping him and seeing how he does this season before making a decision. I also tell him that I won't trade him unless I get an offer that bebefits my team. Cousins is under contract and will be restricted afterwards so there is no rush to pay or trade him. If he wants max $, he needs to earn it.

 

We couldn't sign him to a 5 year contract even if we wanted to.

It's pretty clear Fegan is trying to exploit the worries of Sacramento's new ownership

 

I'd be curious to see how he'd do on a team with a more established culture. If we had one, I'd be all for bringing him in. But, we're a very young team, so I'd hesitate to trade Asik or Parsons for him. Anyone else I'd totally do it for.

 

I think the Rockets can give him an environment to succeed in. I'd trade Asik/Parsons for him and give him the max. But, chances are he stays in Sacramento and continues to be dysfunctional on a dyfunctional team and everyone will think the Rockets were lucky to not have acquired him, even though he would have been great with us.

 

Not a straight-up trade, probably not, but I would hope Morey has learned his lesson that he actually has a solid core of players who want to be in Houston. Dumping them all off on Sacramento is getting tiresome.

Besides, we don't need Cousins, we're getting Dwight, right.....?

(my own voice echoing from a deep well)

We're getting Dwight, right.....?

We're getting Dwight, right.....?

We're getting Dwight, right.....?

 

I would think if the Kings were to trade DeMarcus that he would fetch a top 5 pick in this draft. Cleveland or Washington or Charlotte, whichever team didn't take Len would probably trade their pick for him. Heck, New Orleans or Phonix would likely trade their pick for him as well if Len were off the board. And if Len fell to Sacramento at 7, they could take Len and Portland would probably gladly trade #10 for him. So, at worst he should be worth a top 10 pick in this draft.

 

Frankly....I think Cleveland would jump all over the #1 pick for him in a heartbeat. That would leave Sac with the #1 and #7 picks. They take Len #1 and McCollum at #7 if he is still there. That would be about as good as they could do in moving DeMarcus and building out their team with a decent foundation.

 

I don't realize? He was my favorite player when he entered the league. I watched him as frequently as I could. I've even met him (and he was a super nice guy).

He had a five or six statistically solid years - always seeming to fall drastically short of his potential. He was oft criticized for being out of shape. His teams n ever went anywhere.

He had one great postseason in 92-93.

He was not a GREAT pf. He was a borderline all-star performer but other worldly talent.

And if you think he's the only one on that list whose talent is comparable to Cousins you need a lot more schooling than I do. Derrick Coleman was on another level from Cousins. Tarpley and Baker are actually quite comparable statistically:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/bakervi01.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/t/tarplro01.html

Only Bison Dele falls drastically short statistically - but anybody who watched him play knows how much better he could have been if he actually cared about basketball.

 

I do think the Rockets environment would help but I still wouldn't expect a complete 180. That said, I'd love for the Rockets to pick him up but the homer in me doesn't want to give up Parsons. I would do a Lin/Asik for Cousins/Salmon swap. Asik is what they need at C - steady with no complaints. Lin will bring in the cashflow, allow them to S&T Evans if desired and unloading Salmons is a double good cash move for the new Kings. We would still have max money to go after a max FA. In fact we wouldn't have to trade anyone (after the releases) as we lose salary in the trade. Of course his is all assuming that Dwight doesn't sign with us. I can't see Dwight and Cousins on the same team.