i have a feeling this positive national media attention Cousins got during the tournament is going to translate into the regular season and the big man will finally start getting recognition as the best Center in the league. I think DMC himself will take some positive steps on the court as well.
Yes, but a worry is coming off the high of winning, how would he and Rudy react to a poor start and being out of the playoff race after a few months heading towards the AS break?
Both will want to be competitive, be at least in contention for a playoff spot and have the taste of winning and success freshly in their mouths. And, just about all their teammates in Spain are on playoff teams and will be playing postseason ball. The pressure is on for us to win and at least be in contention for the 7th or 8th spot.
While I believe getting positive recognition throughout the league is important to Cuz and he feels as an AS caliber player he does want to make the team, I also am convinced winning and being competitive is more important to him and he really can't stomach losing all that well.
Rudy and Cuz are coming right of a winning environment and we really need to be hoping the glow of that success isn't ruined in only a couple months with yet another poor start to the season. This summer will be quickly forgotten if we come out of the gates 8-13 and are in 12th place in the West. We can't afford that. How we do that while surrounding them with Collison/Ben/Stauskas/JT/Ray/Landry and still not even a legit backup center is another topic. Some of those guys better seriously raise their level of play but outside JT, who is really a better 3rd big than a starting 4, we don't have anyone next to Rudy/Cuz who's a proven successful NBA starter. Collison ideally is a backup.
But when you hang out with and connect with guys like Durrant/Harden/Steph/etc, being out of the playoff picture will hurt even more.