Its officially time for Cousins to GO

[jcwkings]

I'd rather have a bunch of high character guys that play together and play hard every night no matter what, then having a lazy only plays when he wants talented nutcase tbh. This franchise isn't winning anything anytime soon, at least try to field a group of likeable guys that play hard and together every single night and are professionals. I would definetly see what the trade market is for Cousins at this point.

Players worth keeping:
Tyreke
Jimmer
JT
Isaiah
T-Rob(only because he's a rookie)
Hayes
Garcia(high character vet, but i would like to see him play for a good team for once in his career, would be a good roleplayer imo)

[sdballer]

I'd rather have a bunch of high character guys that play together and play hard every night no matter what, then having a lazy only plays when he wants talented nutcase tbh. This franchise isn't winning anything anytime soon, at least try to field a group of likeable guys that play hard and together every single night and are professionals. I would definetly see what the trade market is for Cousins at this point.

Players worth keeping:
Tyreke
Jimmer
JT
Isaiah
T-Rob(only because he's a rookie)
Hayes
Garcia(high character vet, but i would like to see him play for a good team for once in his career, would be a good roleplayer imo)

Likeability doesn't lead to wins as much as talent does. This is where an experienced coach and strong culture is so necessary for a young team. The core of guys you mentioned are a lottery team for a long time.

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I'd rather have a bunch of high character guys that play together and play hard every night no matter what, then having a lazy only plays when he wants talented nutcase tbh. This franchise isn't winning anything anytime soon, at least try to field a group of likeable guys that play hard and together every single night and are professionals. I would definetly see what the trade market is for Cousins at this point.

Players worth keeping:
Tyreke
Jimmer
JT
Isaiah
T-Rob(only because he's a rookie)
Hayes
Garcia(high character vet, but i would like to see him play for a good team for once in his career, would be a good roleplayer imo)

He did... sort of...

[HereWeVivek]

^if he was on a good time, he wouldnt actually play

[Bricklayer]

Likeability doesn't lead to wins as much as talent does. This is where an experienced coach and strong culture is so necessary for a young team. The core of guys you mentioned are a lottery team for a long time.

This is the key thing.

If you want to go watch a group of guys you can trick yourself into thinking are all little darlings and work oh so hard it makes my heart gush and all that other nonsense, go watch high school ball. Sure they suck. But damn aren't they all just so likeable and efforty?

Now, you grow up, realize the world isn't about likable people, and that a large percentage of immensely successful people in the world are in one way or the other *******s, and then you get real and start to work on accumulating talent, and then finding an equal talent at the coaching position to throttle all the unruly on court talents into a unit. You will never win, EVER, with a bunch of hard working nobodies.

P.S. I sit just across the river from a team in New York that is composed almost 100% of guys who have been considered malcontents, prima donnas, lazy, coach killers, you name it. But they've got talent, great experience, and they came together and are now big winners and all of a sudden Melo is likeable. JKidd's little domestic abuse charges are things of the past, Chandler is no longer a lazy disappointment, he's a veteran rock. Felton isn't blatantly rebelling against his coach, he's making him look great etc. etc. Likeable guys all? Hardly. Talented guys though.

[Kingsfan23]

Likeability doesn't lead to wins as much as talent does. This is where an experienced coach and strong culture is so necessary for a young team. The core of guys you mentioned are a lottery team for a long time.

The core of the guys we have now is a lottery team for a time to come. Demarcus and Tyreke are in there third and fourth years respectfully, at some point what you see is what you get. I can fully see where jcwkings is coming from, only Demarcus' trade value at this point is much less than what talent he does have

[Bricklayer]

The core of the guys we have now is a lottery team for a time to come. Demarcus and Tyreke are in there third and fourth years respectfully, at some point what you see is what you get. I can fully see where jcwkings is coming from, only Demarcus' trade value at this point is much less than what talent he does have

I generally like to wait until a guy at least graduates from college before I what you see is what you get him. The world would be one messed up pot smoking video gaming beer ponging skirt chasing mess if that wasn't true.

[bajaden]

Not sure why I'm even going to attempt to reply to this thread. Maybe because its christmas. Was Cuz out of line? Yeah, I guess! I mean I wasn't there, so I really don't know what was said. Personally, I know what I would have said to Smart at the half, and most of it couldn't be printed. So I'm guessing that Cousins said something along that line. The difference is, he's on the team, and I'm not. Frankly I'm getting a little tired of some of you rightous upstanding individuals, that apparently walk the straight and narrow. I expect that none of you have ever spoken a bad word in your life. Oh yeah, I know. None of you are getting paid to play basketball, because the moment you get paid, you automaticly fall into a different class with different rules.

Can we agree that Cousins cares, and that he wants to win. Is that possible? And because he wants to win, and because he's stupidly bought into Smarts pied pipper line of BS, he's feeling betrayed and frustrated. Sell a bill of goods to a young immature kid, and then fail that kid, and your in trouble. I know its difficult, but for just a momen, try and put yourself in Cousins shoes, and into his mind. He knows everything he does on the court, and some things off the court are under a magnifying glass. He knows that he has a reputation that precedes him, so he's not going to get the benefit of the doubt from the ref's, the media, and many of the fans. So when things are going south, and your personally playing well, and your still getting your head handed to you, what do you do?

Maybe you ask your coach why? Why isn't this working? Did all of you watch the second quarter? It was a frigging disastor. No one passed the ball. Everyone took turns making turnovers. Does anyone realize that Jimmer came in at the beginning of the second quarter, and didn't even touch the ball until just under 7 minutes had gone by in that quarter. And I mean, he actually was in the game, and didn't touch the ball for almost 7 minutes. How is it possible for one of five players on the floor to not even touch the ball? And this isn't about Jimmer, its about how the team was playing. If I'm Cousins, and I'm sitting on the bench watching that, I think I might have had some issues with the coach at halftime.

The problem with the team isn't Cousins, and it isn't IT or Jimmer or any one player. The problem is the coach. I had the feeling that those guys that played most of the second half, and finished the game, were playing for respect, and not for Smart. Was Cousins wrong for mouthing off, if thats what he did? Yes! Someone has to be in charge, and that someone, at least for the moment is Smart. So you have to air your differences with respect. I'm assuming that Cuz didn't do that. However, he did, with hat in hand apologize to Smart and to his teammates. I'm sure he learned a lesson in humility. Always a hard pill to swallow.

As far as wanting to trade Cousins. I'll just keep my mouth shut instead of respondinig to that idea. "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone".

[panda]

i'm conflicted with this.

part of me thinks cousins should have held his tongue and just played. i know he is young but he acts like a brat and makes dumb mistakes. on the other hand, i am happy he yelled at smart because nobody else has. regardless, this team needs to sign or trade for a veteran center to tutor cousins. by veteran i mean a 30 something guy with a couple years left who is content with small minutes and wants to get into coaching when he is done playing.

[UK_King]

I haven't even finished watching the game, but when i heard DMC was "left behind" i came on to see what happened.

I've no problem with someone saying a few home truths in the locker room if thats what it was, maybe the coach didn't like having his "authority" undermined. But i will wait until we know what went down before i say anything on that.

Maybe he will have done us a favor in the long run.

[andremiller07]

I haven't even finished watching the game, but when i heard DMC was "left behind" i came on to see what happened.

I've no problem with someone saying a few home truths in the locker room if thats what it was, maybe the coach didn't like having his "authority" undermined. But i will wait until we know what went down before i say anything on that.

Maybe he will have done us a favor in the long run.

The coach and Cousins were having a shouting match at the bench I just seen a 12 second video of it

[Larry David]

This was all on the table on draft day but the kings drafted Cousis hoping to get him on track and then surrounded him with nothing but disfunction and some other players that take chunks of the game off. Who is to blame is a chicken or egg argument and fairly pointless.

His inability to control his temper is only one issue. His effort at times and shot selection make no sense. Like with Sheed in Portland, the Kings are in a total catch 22. Trade him now and there is a chance he wakes up and makes you look bad. If you keep him, he's probably going to continue his tailspin regarding his conduct and effort until things get toxic.

No easy answer on how they got here or what they do

[pshn80]

As mentioned a number of times above judgement now is premature. However any time a coach has to bench a player at halftime it doesn't reflect we'll on the player. It is a sorry situation. Let's hope for the best.

[Npliam]

The coach and Cousins were having a shouting match at the bench I just seen a 12 second video of it

Link?

[kupman]

I am not sure what troubles me more:

1) the amount of playing time that DMC misses because of a bad attitude and bad behavior, or,

2) the amount of playing time Reke misses because of injury.

What troubles me most is that neither one of these guys can seem to play up to their potential with any consistency.

[UK_King]

Link?

[Npliam]

Thanks.

[Chupacabra]

Stop. Just stop. Enough is enough with DMC. His act has grown old.

Whats up with you? You seem so happy and willing to trade our best player. Whats the most important thing to you in a basketball player? I maintain that the problem with the team is the owners and the lack of money that theyre able to spend on the recources needed to improve young players. The coach falls into this category.

Sure Cousins is still immature and doesnt have full control of his emotions. He receives blame for this. If youre the Kings the answer to fixing the problem with your best player that has attitude issues IS NOT trading him. Its a really weird conclusion to come to if you ask me.

[pshn80]

I am not sure what troubles me more:

1) the amount of playing time that DMC misses because of a bad attitude and bad behavior, or,

2) the amount of playing time Reke misses because of injury.

What troubles me most is that neither one of these guys can seem to play up to their potential with any consistency.

I don't know either which situation bothers me most but I do know that the combination bothers me a lot. A season long problem, maybe a career to date problem for each and the team. I don't have to understand why Cousins missed the second half, he did miss the second half.

[bajaden]

Whats up with you? You seem so happy and willing to trade our best player. Whats the most important thing to you in a basketball player? I maintain that the problem with the team is the owners and the lack of money that theyre able to spend on the recources needed to improve young players. The coach falls into this category.

Sure Cousins is still immature and doesnt have full control of his emotions. He receives blame for this. If youre the Kings the answer to fixing the problem with your best player that has attitude issues IS NOT trading him. Its a really weird conclusion to come to if you ask me.

There's no doubt that Cousins has emotional problems. I'm sure he has at times, a me against the world attitude, because he thinks that no matter what he does, its looked at in a different light. If he scowls after a call, he's not respecting authority. If Duncan scowls after a call, well thats OK, its Tim Duncan. And while you, I and everyone else knows that a lot of that was brought on by his past behavior, he see's it as unfair. And to a certain extent he's right, but it is what it is.

What I don't understand is that some of the posters on this fourm seem to take it personally. Some just don't like Cousins. Well, I'm not a big fan of IT's either, but I take joy when he plays well because it helps the team. I'm a big fan of Thorntons, but I'll point out the fact that too often, he's a black hole when he gets the ball. last night was an example of that. Yes, he hit a few three's, so it looked OK, but when he got the ball it stopped with him, and if he misses those shots, all of a sudden he doesn't look so good. To his credit, every shot he hit was an open shot. But how many times did he turn the ball over?

It seems everyone wants to criticize players when they make mistakes, but not give them credit when they play well. Cousins was actually playing very well last night in the first half. Obviously he took umbrage with something Smart was doing. In that regard, get in line! Cousins worse enemy is his intelligence, combined with his immaturity. Yes, you can be very immature, and also be very intelligent at the same time, and many times its better to be immature and stupid, because in that instance, you know things aren't going well, but you don't know why. Cousins knows why, but doesn't have the maturity to handle it properly. When you know that 2 and 2 is 4, and you have a coach telling you its 5, its hard to just sit there and nod you head.

There is a time to question authority. Our country was founded on such questioniing. But I do think you have to go through the proper channels before inciting a riot or a revolution. One thing I'm pretty sure of, the Kings will rue the day they traded Cousins over something like this. I haven't read all the posts on last nights game, but I just wanted to give some credit to Jimmer, who played very well. On a night when there were 16 turnovers by the Kings, Jimmer didn't turn the ball over once. He also played the best defense he's played all year, and had three steals in the process. He did lead the Kings in scoring, but thats not the important thing. Whats important is that he's getting better and his confidence is growing. That should bode well for the future