Sacramento Kings power forward DeMarcus Cousins has seen his fair share
of criticism. Concerns about his maturity have been going on since his
collegiate days at The University of Kentucky. Cousins earned
All-American honors in his one season with The Wildcats, but also drew
the ire of Kentucky head coach John Calipari who wasn’t afraid to
publicly call out his talented big man. Calipari famously questioned
Cousins’ maturity on national television after a Wildcat victory over
The Mississippi State Bulldogs in The SEC Tournament. Cousins would
forgo his final three seasons in Lexington for the dollars of The
National Basketball Association.
Cousins showed up at the pre-draft camp overweight which added fuel to
the fire for the doubters on his maturity. By the time that The NBA
Draft rolled around, the youngster from Mobile, Alabama had gotten his
weight down and appeared to be more committed to playing professional
basketball. With the fifth overall selection in 2011, The Kings took a
chance on Cousins. When Cousins declared for The NBA, I remember
thinking that he would be a feast or famine selection. There’s no doubt
that Cousins had the ability, but would he be ready for the mental
aspect of being a professional basketball player?
Cousins had a decent rookie campaign as he averaged 14 points per game
and roughly 8.5 rebounds. Through it all, Cousins didn’t appear to be a
total team player. There was one particular game where Cousins was so
frustrated that his teammate Donte Greene took the last shot and missed.
The Kings lost the game and Cousins stormed off of the court which is
something that a team player doesn’t do.
Cousins and former Kings head coach Paul Westphal clashed until Cousins
was sent home by Westphal on New Year’s Day of this year. Westphal said
that Cousins was “unwilling to embrace traveling in the same direction
as his team; it cannot be ignored indefinitely.” As this played out you
figured that Cousins would be traded. A few days later, Westphal was
fired. Cousins was now cast in the light of a “crybaby” that had gotten
his coach fired.
Assistant coach Keith Smart was named interim head coach and Cousins has
shown improvement. In February, Cousins had his best month as a pro
when he averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds. Against The Golden State
Warriors, Cousins dropped in 28 points and 19 rebounds. In the next
game versus The New Orleans Hornets, Cousins had 28 points and 19
rebounds. Cousins finished the month off with a 22 point, 18 rebound
performance against The Utah Jazz. More importantly for The Kings, these
three games resulted in victories.
When Cousins arrived in Sacramento, The Kings were a team that lacked
veteran leadership. Cousins was only 20-years old and it is tough for a
younger player to develop without that veteran presence in the locker
room. Cousins appears to have finally found that connection with Smart.
Cousins has built the reputation of having an ego, but Smart knows how
to deal with big egos as he was a player under Bob Knight at The
University of Indiana. Cousins is now learning to be apart of a team
with upcoming stars Tyreke Evans and Jimmer Fredette. Cousins was even
named captain for this season. We tend to forget that Cousins is only
21-years old. We all made mistakes at that age as we were starting to
come into our own. Hopefully Cousins is putting the past behind him as
the future looks bright for him and The Kings.
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