Demarcus Cousins Watch

KingsFanGER · Feb 26, 2017

Well I'm not familiar with the cap rules. I just assumed there would be some kind backdoor to allow the Pel's to void, stretch or amnesty one of those bad contracts. I mean Casspi will be back this season and they need shooters. If both AD and Boogie remain healthy Asik or Ajinca won't see any minutes at all.

That big to big pick&roll really was a great thing to watch. It's fun to have a big guy like Boogie showcase those unreal basketball gifts. But nonetheless Carlisle got away with his small ball thing. I know you root hard for this experiment and honestly hope you are right. Still not convinced though.

KingsFanGER · Feb 26, 2017

http://www.sacbee.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/ailene-voisin/article135024309.html

Well Vlade just can't let got and feels the need to further use DMC as a scapegoat. Well played man.

Let me start with my thoughts on the interviewer. I never ever witnessed an interview, where the interviewer basically puts the words in the mouth of his interview partner. She is very openly pushing an agenda here and it's obvious the only purpose of the interview is to defend Vlade and to limit the damage the DMC-trade has done to his reputation. She is basically doing the Kings a favor here and is pushing the Kings agenda by herself. Why on earth would a paid journalist do that?

I cut out all the stupid blame shifting by Vlade. Who should believe this guy anyways other than people, constantly calling for DMC head, because he is such a bad human being.

"At the same time play hard, play up-tempo, share the ball. Be a team, grow together."

Sounds familiar. Malone is laughing somewhere.

"Ailene, I want to build a culture, and he didn’t fit in my culture. Before we were just talking, preaching. But if we’re going to do it, you do it."

When asked about Matt being waived. Dude are you serious. Who hired Matt in the first place? It's not like nobody knew how Matt Barnes ticks before he got hired by the Kings. Your own coach just called Matt his lockerroom leader. You know the guy you hired to work everyday with the players? The coach, who got this team to the point, where it always was going down fighting and clawing and was playing way above his talent level. A talent level you as GM are responsible for.

"If I’m wrong, I’ll step down. But if I go down, I’m going down my way."

I can't wait for that to happen. Every day I feel like I calmed down and think I'm ready to give this whole thing a chance, but every day I stumble across things like this interview and am once again sick to my stomach, how my beloved Kings are stuck with this.

Vlade got fleeced in a trade not once but twice. He failed to built anything around DMC for 2 years in a row. But god beware, he would take some reponsibility for that and admit a mistake. Of course it's everybody elses fault. DMC, his agents, Matt Barnes......we get only a weak promise, that he will step down, when he is wrong. Dude you have been wrong for 2 years.....
You know why I respect the hell out of coach Joerger? Because this dude doesn't just talk culture but lives it. Because he knows, that a winning culture has nothing to do with being politically correct or a nice human being. Because he isn't living double standards.

But at the end of the day, when you cut all the stupid noise about character and culture out, it's the same old Kings song.......they want to revive the glory days with fast, exciting, NBA poster darling team basketball and they just can't let go this vision. It was Malones downfall, now Cousins and could very well be Joergers.
If Vlade somehow lucks into a great PG and Joerger continues to push the players beyong their talent level, he might save his ass for a few years. After interviews like this, I'm once again torn about that. On the one hand I want the Kings to succeed. On the other hand I want Vlade gone.
I mean which GM teams up with a journalist in a concerted effort to trash the best player the Kings had since the early 2000's in an obvious attempt to whitewash himself?

mac · Feb 26, 2017

KingsFanGER said:

I really suggest you just take a breather and a few days off from this, for the sake of your own health. What's done is done ... You're basically saying the same thing bashing Vlade and defending Cousins in like 10 different threads.

So here's my question to you. Given the competency of this FO and ownership, do you truly believe we could have put a competitive team around Cousins (considering we only broke 30 wins once in 6 years)? My answer to that question was No even before we traded Cousins. Like you said, they want to play a certain way, so at some point something would have had to give.

I guess I just find it difficult to understand how you can be that upset that your "beloved Kings are stuck" given we weren't very successful to begin with. To me it also sounds like you have decided to absolve Cousins of a lot of blame simply because of stats he puts up - you quickly dismiss any talk of "culture" and the like simply because you have personally determined that it shouldn't matter much. I doubt the Spurs would agree with you, but you could be correct. The point is that we don't know, and I'm willing to stick with the facts rather than personally decide what should matter and what shouldn't. None of us are in that locker room. What I do know is that typically when there's smoke again and again there's likely to be a fire. That's not to say that Vlade has done a good job, and that is exactly what many "anti-Cousins" fans were saying, only to be hushed by the supposed optimists who claimed that Vivek no longer meddled, that Vlade had great people skills and being a GM wasn't hard and so on.

Go back to the season predictions thread (http://www.kingsfans.com/threads/of...ngs-have-in-the-2016-2017-season.66548/page-3), see what expectations were. Most were predicting a season close to .500 or better based on the team that Vlade had put together. So if you take that as paper expectations, then you would say it's not exactly Vlade's fault.

The keys were handed to Vlade to build the team that he wants. Many fans were willing to give him a few years having taken over a supposed dysfunctional roster from PDA. I don't see why that should change now - according to the interview Vlade is asking for 2-3 years more, which realistically is what we would have needed with Cousins anyway.

At the end of the day, it surely isn't entirely Cousins fault that we weren't a good team, but that doesn't necessarily mean we shouldn't have traded him. Personally, I think enough is enough when we've pretty much used Maloofs, GP, Vivek, PDA, Mullin, Karl, about 30 different players including IT, Evans and Gay, Keith Smart, Westphal, Ty Corbin, and now finally Vlade as the reasons why the Kings have lost, and still believe that we need to hold on to Cousins. Apparently it's now Grant Napear's fault we're a bad team?

Cecil · Feb 26, 2017

Cousins watch.
Great stats one game. Foul trouble and 7 TOs second game. 0-2 record.

KingsFanGER · Feb 26, 2017

mac said:

Cmon mate. You are better than that.

mac said:

Why is the competence of the FO and owership a given? I'm honestly somewhat suprised how the local fans of SAC have handled this so far. I can only speak for myself and the background I'm coming from, but that kind of decision would have caused a vastly different fan reaction over here. I don't really understand why fans are asked to simply move on with "whats done is done" phrases, after a few days.

To somewhat answer your question: Of course I believe a competent FO could put a winner around DMC. After all there are only two really weak spots in his game: he isn't the fastest guy up and down the court and he doesn't move his feet very well on D, which makes him prone to reach and vurnerable in the pick&roll. I've been calling out those weaknesses over the years and I realize, that those things aren't minor problems in todays league. But still the fix to this isn't all that complicated, but somehow never got executed by our FO.
That's the main point. Our FO failed us time and time again. But now fans should simply let it go and put their trust in those guys again for the next 2,3 or 5 years? I've been a SAC fan for a long time and for me, even when watching from afar, it's about the atmosphere in the building, not about a certain player or certain FO guys or owners. It's difficult for me to stop being a SAC fan and I'm not willing to let go of my fandom, because of Vlade Divac or Vivek Ranadive. So I will continue to watch games and to root for the players as long as they give their all, but I sure as hell won't root for Vlade Divac anytime soon and I won't sugarcoat my opinion or fall for what's done it's done.
It might very well be, that Divac proves me wrong in the next few years. Than I stand corrected and will apologize. I'm well aware, that my lone opinion as an international fan won't change anything and we are therefore stuck with Vlade and Vivek.
But why shouldn't I express my doubts and displeasure?

Cecil · Feb 26, 2017

We can defend Cousins all we want. He was a great player.

The current Kings podcast told me all I needed to know. During the meeting about he was staying, management laid out some expectations moving forward to earn the 200 million contract. Cousins cussed at the Warrior fan and lost his cool big time and got ejected. Management then got cold feet about giving him 1/5 billion dollars. I would too, just too much money.

Also, piggybacking Bill Simmons, there was no push by Isaiah Thomas to get Cousins to Boston. That was eyeopening to me. We should be mad at Cousins' agent because he got on the phones when Vlade gave him the courtesy call. We lost a first round pick as a result. Not many teams wanted Cousins and it's known around the league. Now I believe we can move forward instead of making moves to put a roster together around Cousins. Defend him all we want; the team never won with him and he is a top 10 talent. Can't put that all on moves the management made.

Also, I know it's only been 2 games, but looking at the +- when Cousins is on the court with the Pelicans makes me feel better about the move thus far. Yes, I understand it was only 2 games.

roasthawg · Feb 26, 2017

Cecil said:

We can defend Cousins all we want. He was a great player.

The current Kings podcast told me all I needed to know. During the meeting about he was staying, management laid out some expectations moving forward to earn the 200 million contract. Cousins cussed at the Warrior fan and lost his cool big time and got ejected. Management then got cold feet about giving him 1/5 billion dollars. I would too, just too much money.

Also, piggybacking Bill Simmons, there was no push by Isaiah Thomas to get Cousins to Boston. That was eyeopening to me. We should be mad at Cousins' agent because he got on the phones when Vlade gave him the courtesy call. We lost a first round pick as a result. Not many teams wanted Cousins and it's known around the league. Now I believe we can move forward instead of making moves to put a roster together around Cousins. Defend him all we want; the team never won with him and he is a top 10 talent. Can't put that all on moves the management made.

Losing that first was brutal... That's on DeMarcus. Pelicans will probably suck in 2019 too and that would've replaced our pick that's going to the sixers that year. Sucks.

KingsFanGER · Feb 26, 2017

mac said:

Well I think I need to respond again, because you edited your post. It's really tiresome to debate DMC on this board and mostly because there seems to be no middle ground and people confuse the opinions of a lot of posters.

1. I didn't absolve Cousins
2. I never said Vlade has done a great job or has people skills. In fact I was very critical from the beginning.
3. Never did I say culture doesn't matter (or at least as far as I remember and maybe my short term memory isn't the best at the moment, because of all the negative feelings I'm going through.

) What actually matters about culture is not how nice someone is, or if he curses at reporters or Warriors fans. What matters is, that the lockerroom is united. That's culture and that can be achieved with a lot of different personalities and even with difficult personalities. This season and under Malone it seemed like this was the case. Therefore culture was a lame excuse by Vlade Divac and that's what upset me in the first place. Culture starts at the top, not only with your best player. And Vlade and Vivek showed their true colors very clearly.
4. I was actually sticking to facts, when pointing to the interviews with Tolliver, DC, Joerger or the twitter timelines of Temple. Those are quotes. Those are the guys DMC played with. And you hear not a single bad word from them. Why should we trust Vlade, who has a huge motivation to scapegoat DMC in order to save his job? Why shouldn't we trust his teammates?
5. Look at my posts from the beginning of the season. I was critical from the beginning and we more often than not agreed on a lot of things.
6. We agreed even on the possibility to trade DMC, because I also wasn't too optimistic about our timeline to put a good roster around DMC. That what before the extension talks though. After the extension talks started I was hoping that Vlade and Vivek finally had a good grasp, how to built a roster around DMC. I still was skeptical, because Vlade's moves weren't good, but I thought he would have learned on the job and wouldn't repeat his mistakes.
6. Vlade is asking for 2-3 more years, but has already done a lot of damage over his first 2 years. Of course in the NBA there is no relegation, so other than losing revenue, which we fans shouldn't care about, nothing too bad will happen, if we let Vlade tinker around for the next 2-3 years.
7. When Vlade would have approached this thing differentely, I wouldn't be so upset. It's the lack of continuity, which is a red flag for me. First you make a catastrophic trade only to clear cap space to tinker around DMC. Than you sign a bunch of low key vets and say "I've done everything possible" and pull the trade trigger? That's just looks hectic and confused. Now of course Vlade knows, that he only needs to talk about building a team like the glory days and people will listen and give him even more leeway, but just by talking about this, it doesn't become true. And talk about a team like the glory days, won't change the fact, that he got not enough value for Cuz (noticed how Dell Demps was on the hot seat in NOLA?The guy needed a success badly). Where he ultimately lost me is, when he decided to scapegoat DMC. That's just not how professionals operate.

So even if we could agree under specific circumstances, that moving on from DMC would make sense (which after the extension became possible I'm not convinced on), the way it was done is simply very hard to swallow and has cost me any trust I had left for Vlade and Vivek.

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

If anyone's interested, the Pels are on NBA TV at 4 today. I know I'll be watching.

whozit · Feb 26, 2017

roasthawg said:

No actually, losing the first was on Cousins' agent who was doing his job. That said, I don't remember the players or details involved but I do recall the bad taste having towards Fagen involving other players and their respective teams. I've said it before, for someone who demands trustworthy and loyalty from people he picked an agent that represents "self" over everything else. (don't know the man personally just the image portrayed representing his clients)

roasthawg · Feb 26, 2017

whozit said:

The agent represents the player. Should've fired the agent once Vlade put him on blast if he was acting in a manner DeMarcus didn't agree with.

whozit · Feb 26, 2017

roasthawg said:

I don't disagree with that notion. But we really don't know how Demarcus felt about the actions of his agent (now or past), sometimes "it's just business" is a convenient excuse for behavior on both sides.

roasthawg · Feb 26, 2017

whozit said:

True we know very little about the whole situation honestly. It's all touchy business involving jobs (vlades on the line) and almost a quarter billion dollars on DeMarcus's end of things. Not to mention the fan base's emotions and the short term future of the franchise. A lot at stake.

VF21 · Feb 26, 2017

This piece by Carmichael Dave is worth taking the time to read:

Carmichael DaveVerified account‏@CarmichaelDave 2h2 hours ago

In my own way, I close the book on Demarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings: http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/02/26/carmichael-dave-the-end-of-the-demarcus-cousins-era/…

whozit · Feb 26, 2017

VF21 said:

This piece by Carmichael Dave is worth taking the time to read:

Carmichael DaveVerified account‏@CarmichaelDave 2h2 hours ago

In my own way, I close the book on Demarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings: http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2017/02/26/carmichael-dave-the-end-of-the-demarcus-cousins-era/…

I really liked that article!

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

Double Technical, Cuz and Adams 30 seconds in.

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

2 fouls and a tech in 1:30, already to the bench.

kingjatt · Feb 26, 2017

SLAB said:

Will trigger a suspension unless its recinded(doubtful) maybe he truely will never get it.

How can you be that dumb? a team just picked you up to lead the playoff push and you still pick up silly tech after silly tech. NOP has no room for error if they want to get in, hopefully for our sake this stuff continues.

Kingsfan23 · Feb 26, 2017

kingjatt said:

At this point they are better without him. Lack of fit. He's out of sorts in New Orleans, feel bad for him

Maybe he will return as a FA if it doesn't work out

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

Holy crap, the Pelicans are really really really bad.

Unless Boogie and Brow form an unbelievable super-combo, I take back them being the 8-seed favorite. That supporting cast is something else.

Of course they'd then get a top-3 pick because the draft lottery hates us.

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

Cuz is more settled in the second quarter, knocking down jumpers, with no AD on the court.

Brow checking in after break. Hopefully they get a little run together.

theclash4u5 · Feb 26, 2017

I really wish we could have at least got a top 1 protection on that pick. NO could finish 5th and jump into top 3

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

DMC has 19 in the 2nd quarter, checks out with 50 seconds after his third foul.

kingjatt · Feb 26, 2017

Kingsfan23 said:

With him calling vlade and vivek cowards and him being out 30 million I doubt that can ever happen.

Gentry is not the right coach for those guys. If they fire him is that 8 coaches for Cuz in 7 years?

206Fan · Feb 26, 2017

Pelican's roster is so garbage. If we put AD on this team, we'd be guaranteed the 8th seed, probably fighting for 7th or maybe even 6th seed.
Entire 1st quarter was AD. Entire 2nd quarter was Cousins.

How can they even expect to make the playoffs when their roster composes of DLeague talent?

miltonap · Feb 26, 2017

I was just about to say, you got Davis scoring in the 20s and Cuz scoring 20 yet they were tied pretty much at the half. So you need those two to play out of their minds in order to have a chance?

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

AD and DMC just can't be on the court at the same time tonight.

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

Lol, OKC announcer is pissed at Cuz's play and "flopping".

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

There's his 5th foul. Probably should have just stayed away from the driver there, Cuz.

-----

Cuz bulldogging down low with AD just baskethanging to clean the scraps is the Pelicans best play.

SLAB · Feb 26, 2017

I give DMC about a minute and 30 seconds before he fouls out.

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