Cousins

Simmons, on Cousins:

We knew he’d be a work in progress, that he might launch an occasional gawd-awful 3, draw a dumb technical or make you say "We’re losing by 22, why is he laughing hysterically on the bench right now?" But I never realized how much Cousins would struggle to stay on the court. Through nine games: 196 minutes, 40 fouls. That’s 9.8 fouls per 48 minutes, which (if it held) would be the highest number for anyone averaging 16-plus minutes since Danny Fortson’s legendary 12.0 in 2005. You watch Cousins, thinking "No, no, don’t go for the upfake … NOOOOOOO!" and "No, don’t jump over his back, NO!!!!!!" Then he’ll take over a game for 60 seconds so easily it makes you say "I’m going online and buying 10 Cousins rookie cards." What a roller coaster.

Funny.. because it’s true.

Simmons, on Cousins:

We knew he’d be a work in progress, that he might launch an occasional gawd-awful 3, draw a dumb technical or make you say "We’re losing by 22, why is he laughing hysterically on the bench right now?" But I never realized how much Cousins would struggle to stay on the court. Through nine games: 196 minutes, 40 fouls. That’s 9.8 fouls per 48 minutes, which (if it held) would be the highest number for anyone averaging 16-plus minutes since Danny Fortson’s legendary 12.0 in 2005. You watch Cousins, thinking "No, no, don’t go for the upfake … NOOOOOOO!" and "No, don’t jump over his back, NO!!!!!!" Then he’ll take over a game for 60 seconds so easily it makes you say "I’m going online and buying 10 Cousins rookie cards." What a roller coaster.

Funny.. because it’s true.

Simmons, on Cousins:

We knew he’d be a work in progress, that he might launch an occasional gawd-awful 3, draw a dumb technical or make you say "We’re losing by 22, why is he laughing hysterically on the bench right now?" But I never realized how much Cousins would struggle to stay on the court. Through nine games: 196 minutes, 40 fouls. That’s 9.8 fouls per 48 minutes, which (if it held) would be the highest number for anyone averaging 16-plus minutes since Danny Fortson’s legendary 12.0 in 2005. You watch Cousins, thinking "No, no, don’t go for the upfake … NOOOOOOO!" and "No, don’t jump over his back, NO!!!!!!" Then he’ll take over a game for 60 seconds so easily it makes you say "I’m going online and buying 10 Cousins rookie cards." What a roller coaster.

Funny.. because it’s true.

he’s probaly the fastest learning rookie i’ve ever seen. (not necessarily completely nba ready, but fast learning) over the past 11 games nearly everything we complained about at the beginning of the year has either been improved or completely fixed. the past 3 games he’s stayed out of foul trouble while playing against 2 of the leagues best big men (stoudemire and lopez), his defense on lopez last night was absolutely superb, and on offense he has no problems other than thhe occasional lazy finish. at this point i have more confidence giving the ball to cousins at the end of a game or on a big posessoin that anyone else including tyreke and landry simply because he is 1. probably the best passing big we’ve seen in sac since vlade. 2. quicker than just about any other player his size and therefore can easilly get around just about everyone i’ve seen matched against him. and 3. he makes very good decisions with the ball (and yes he actually does, i’ve watched every sacramento game this season)

he’s probaly the fastest learning rookie i’ve ever seen. (not necessarily completely nba ready, but fast learning) over the past 11 games nearly everything we complained about at the beginning of the year has either been improved or completely fixed. the past 3 games he’s stayed out of foul trouble while playing against 2 of the leagues best big men (stoudemire and lopez), his defense on lopez last night was absolutely superb, and on offense he has no problems other than thhe occasional lazy finish. at this point i have more confidence giving the ball to cousins at the end of a game or on a big posessoin that anyone else including tyreke and landry simply because he is 1. probably the best passing big we’ve seen in sac since vlade. 2. quicker than just about any other player his size and therefore can easilly get around just about everyone i’ve seen matched against him. and 3. he makes very good decisions with the ball (and yes he actually does, i’ve watched every sacramento game this season)

he’s probaly the fastest learning rookie i’ve ever seen. (not necessarily completely nba ready, but fast learning) over the past 11 games nearly everything we complained about at the beginning of the year has either been improved or completely fixed. the past 3 games he’s stayed out of foul trouble while playing against 2 of the leagues best big men (stoudemire and lopez), his defense on lopez last night was absolutely superb, and on offense he has no problems other than thhe occasional lazy finish. at this point i have more confidence giving the ball to cousins at the end of a game or on a big posessoin that anyone else including tyreke and landry simply because he is 1. probably the best passing big we’ve seen in sac since vlade. 2. quicker than just about any other player his size and therefore can easilly get around just about everyone i’ve seen matched against him. and 3. he makes very good decisions with the ball (and yes he actually does, i’ve watched every sacramento game this season)

Cousins was always going to be a work in progress and after getting early starts going to the bench has done him no harm, he has a decent basketball IQ and for a guy of 292lbs is very mobile. He will get into foul trouble as the savvy players will know how to draw fouls from him but his performance against STAT in particular was much better.

Dalambert can continue to help mentor him this season and if he can continue to progress then the Kings may well have got a great bargain at 5th pick. The team are not expected to compete and are likely to have another lottery trip this year so the youngsters can be given decent minutes and allowed to learn on the job without too much pressure.

Cousins was always going to be a work in progress and after getting early starts going to the bench has done him no harm, he has a decent basketball IQ and for a guy of 292lbs is very mobile. He will get into foul trouble as the savvy players will know how to draw fouls from him but his performance against STAT in particular was much better.

Dalambert can continue to help mentor him this season and if he can continue to progress then the Kings may well have got a great bargain at 5th pick. The team are not expected to compete and are likely to have another lottery trip this year so the youngsters can be given decent minutes and allowed to learn on the job without too much pressure.

Cousins was always going to be a work in progress and after getting early starts going to the bench has done him no harm, he has a decent basketball IQ and for a guy of 292lbs is very mobile. He will get into foul trouble as the savvy players will know how to draw fouls from him but his performance against STAT in particular was much better.

Dalambert can continue to help mentor him this season and if he can continue to progress then the Kings may well have got a great bargain at 5th pick. The team are not expected to compete and are likely to have another lottery trip this year so the youngsters can be given decent minutes and allowed to learn on the job without too much pressure.