Mason Plumlee likely to make Team USA over DeMarcus Cousins

[abark]

Cousins has gotten coaches fired and players benched. When things aren't going his way, he pouts and quits. He puts up meaningless stats, so far, on a horrendous team. Jimmer, IMO, could've thrived in Sacramento, but Cousins made sure he didn't.

I will laugh if Plumlee makes it over him, but I don't hope for his downfall.

So explain how Cousins kept Jimmer from striving? The coaches that were fired in Sacramento were fired cause they were terrible. The funny part about Westphal being fired is people blame Cousins yet other players pubically made negative comments about Westphal before he was fired.

Cousins was best friends with IT from day one, so he obviously campaigned for him being on the court. Jimmer, at the time, was the only white guy on the team and he's married. Jimmer lives a different lifestyle than most and has a different temperament, which alienated him in such a young, hip hop driven type of lockerroom where the immature and poor leader, Cousins, was the boss.

Jimmer can play.

He only played for Chicago for 2 months, but Jimmer couldn't get off the bench there either. They needed shooting badly but he played less than 25 minutes total (excluding the last game of the year)

Its not a good sample size, but I don't think Cousins is the only thing that's held him back.

[Dr Salad Bowl]

i honestly think people are missing a major point here

ever since the new Coaching Crew took over at Team USA they where trying to build "Teams" not All Star Squads

remember when guys like Andre Igoudala,Tayshaun Prince and Tyson Chandler where on board?

they always add some "role players" to emulate a real NBA "Team"

I don't think people have a problem with that logic, or with those examples.

In this particular example, Cousins can do everything Plumlee does, and more.

You can't totally overlook Cousins' superiority over Plumlee across the board, simply because it is perceived Plumlee might scramble to a close out 0.1 seconds faster. Which is pretty arbitrary anyway, and something I'm sure a player like Cousins is capable of doing.

If the rationale provided by Team USA is: 1. Plumlee knows Coach K's system and is therefore safer to select than Cousins, and/or 2. Cousins has an attitude problem, then fair enough. Otherwise it doesn't make sense.

[SunKing]

Not necessarily within the topic but Coach K is like the most overrated thing in International basketball. I don't know about NCAA but I have never been impressed.


Last Olympics the gameplan was basically : "LeBron is a facilitator, all the rest can jack 3 pointers all the way down". In 2006, he couldn't make defensive play to stop the Papaloukas of the world.

If anything it should be that USA organization and players take the whole thing seriously (again) so they are the best and are winning but from what I saw Coach K is basically contributing to nothing.

[QRich3]

Cousins would absolutely dominate international centers and would absolutely command attention from others that Mason Plumlee couldn't dream of. And this is especially useful where the perimiter shot seems to be the USA's thing. Put attention on the permiter and you give the best center in the league a bunch of space.

Isn't coach K saying that's the problem? that he doesn't need him to command attention or dominate anyone, but get in for 10-15 minutes a game and set screens, defend his man and out-hustle the other team? if that's the role you're looking for, then Cousins is not your best choice for sure, he already has Davis to do all the things Cousins is good at.

[MagicStarwipe]

Cousins would absolutely dominate international centers and would absolutely command attention from others that Mason Plumlee couldn't dream of. And this is especially useful where the perimiter shot seems to be the USA's thing. Put attention on the permiter and you give the best center in the league a bunch of space.

Isn't coach K saying that's the problem? that he doesn't need him to command attention or dominate anyone, but get in for 10-15 minutes a game and set screens, defend his man and out-hustle the other team? if that's the role you're looking for, then Cousins is not your best choice for sure, he already has Davis to do all the things Cousins is good at.

Why wouldn't you want someone to command attention and dominate inside? When in the history of basketball has that ever been a bad thing? Cousins can set screens too. He can defend his man too. And from what I've seen of him, he fights his ass off inside for rebounds and outworks a lot of people. Davis has the length and athleticism, but he doesn't have the inside game or strength of Cousins. Cousins is a bull. They'd actually compliment each others games pretty well I think.

[Trader_Joe]

Not necessarily within the topic but Coach K is like the most overrated thing in International basketball. I don't know about NCAA but I have never been impressed.


Last Olympics the gameplan was basically : "LeBron is a facilitator, all the rest can jack 3 pointers all the way down". In 2006, he couldn't make defensive play to stop the Papaloukas of the world.

If anything it should be that USA organization and players take the whole thing seriously (again) so they are the best and are winning but from what I saw Coach K is basically contributing to nothing.

62-1 is so overrated.(last loss in 2006)
Duke is a joke too who never wins a thing.
Why do people even respect this guy?
Clearly he, Boheim and Thibs don't know a thing.

[Trader_Joe]

BTW...people do realize there are players like Faried, Millsap and Drummond that are also DMCs comeptiton for a roster spot. Not sure why a role player who offers much different elements is being singled out.

[Rockice_24]

Cousins is definitely the more talented player, but Coach K has said they want to keep using their athleticism and speed on the defensive side. I think that's a pretty big reason why he would take Plumlee over Cousins.

Exactly. DMC is best with the ball in the post, he's a scorer. With so many scorers on team USA (they're stacked) they want a hustle dirty work player and Plumlee fits perfectly. He's a fantastic finisher around the rim, he plays solid defense, rebounds and blocks shots. Exactly what team USA needs.

I said it in his other thread but he could be a Tyson Chandler type player with hopefully a slightly better offensive game in the near future. Tyson was far from the best bigman in the NBA but they needed his type of player with guys like Melo, Kobe, Lebron doing all the scoring.

[SlowPaced]

Cousins is a scapegoat. No coach is giving him a chance to fix his reputation. The guy was a headcase in his first years and didn't play that hard but this year, the guy was a flat out leader for that team. This is a disgrace.

[CreekShow]

Anyone see this as more of a message to DMC? I can't honestly think the coaches think the team would be better off leaving him @ home.

[Johnny Firpo]

That is a shame, DeMarcus is a top 5 center in the NBA and Plumlee is a good role player

It's a perfectly understandable decision. Team USA doesn't need Cousins' scoring, in fact, they will prefer players that won't clog the lane, like Davis and Plumlee. Plumlee is also a better defender. It's not about who's the better talent, it's about who's the better fit for the team.

[Johnny Firpo]

I can't honestly think the coaches think the team would be better off leaving him @ home.

You can't? Why? Team USA's tactic will be built upon swarming defense, a lot of substitutions, and as many fast break opportunities they can create. On defense, they need a mobile defenders, ala. Tyson Chandler, who won't clog the lane on offense, and can finish oops. Who is closer to that kind of player, Cousins, or Plumlee (also, Davis and Drummond)? The answer is pretty obvious.

[Mumbles]

I hate when people say a player like Cousins does not fit FIBA ball. Just because there are several stretch type fours and fives in the international game does not mean there are no true post players. There are a lot of international bigs who play have a style like Cousins. Demarcus would be a beast for this team and if he is not selected, it shouldn't be because he's a true post player. Even Dwight Howard played in FIBA competitions.

[Rockice_24]

Cousins is a scapegoat. No coach is giving him a chance to fix his reputation. The guy was a headcase in his first years and didn't play that hard but this year, the guy was a flat out leader for that team. This is a disgrace.

Scapegoat for what?

It's not always cramming the best players together and hope it works. They are trying to fit piece together to fill roles of a team. Plumlee does all the thing Cousins doesn't defend, hustle, not command touches.

Why have DMC when his best strength is his post offense and he's inefficient. I'm not taking shots out of the others guys hands for DMC. He's a center that shoots under 50%, is best in the post with the ball and has questionable hustle on defense. I don't see the fit with him.

[The Penguin]

Given there's only 5 fouls and they call international games much tighter, I'd have to believe there's serious concerns about Cousins' ability to stay on the court.

It's pretty obvious the team is going to be a perimeter based attack with one rim protecting big at a time. Emphasis is on shooting and spacing, with one big willing to do the dirty work. It will likely be Davis and Drummond splitting the big man minutes with Plumlee filling in as needed. The plan isn't to just dump it down to the post and watch Cousins work.

[SlowPaced]

Cousins is a scapegoat. No coach is giving him a chance to fix his reputation. The guy was a headcase in his first years and didn't play that hard but this year, the guy was a flat out leader for that team. This is a disgrace.

Scapegoat for what?

It's not always cramming the best players together and hope it works. They are trying to fit piece together to fill roles of a team. Plumlee does all the thing Cousins doesn't defend, hustle, not command touches.

Why have DMC when his best strength is his post offense and he's inefficient. I'm not taking shots out of the others guys hands for DMC. He's a center that shoots under 50%, is best in the post with the ball and has questionable hustle on defense. I don't see the fit with him.

He's the scapegoat for Kings' struggles. It's obvious that you haven't seen the guy play this year given that you say the guy doesn't hustle or defend.

Also, the under %50 argument should be dead already. No other center scores as much as DMC does. He shot .496 this season, Al Jefferson scored 1 point less and and shot .509 but I don't see anyone calling him inefficient.

The thing is, Cousins would give the team another OPTION on offense. If perimeter based game goes through a rough stretch, Cousins can do work in the post. You can't play in the post with Davis, Drummond and Plumlee.

[Ctownbulls]

Not a big deal. Plumlee fits better considering the offensive talent already on the team.

[0081]

Here's our NT representative's pretty good year:
70gms 18.2min 7.4pts (.659 .000 .626) 4.4reb 0.9ast 0.7stl 0.8blk 1.1TO
Marc Gasol's mouth must be watering right about now.

I'm as surprised by Plumlee over Cousins as anyone but those are pretty nice numbers. 15/9 per 36, with 1.5 blocks and steals and 66% from the field. Hard to find a huge problem with any of that.

This line of thinking is so broken; you expect him to double his scoring output and not take an effiencey hit? Maybe there is a reason why he wasnt playing 30 plus minutes last season.

Boogie is clearly the better player. But plums absolutely could be a better fit for this team. Alrhough I don't care, go Canada ..

[Vides990]

Cousins has gotten coaches fired and players benched. When things aren't going his way, he pouts and quits. He puts up meaningless stats, so far, on a horrendous team. Jimmer, IMO, could've thrived in Sacramento, but Cousins made sure he didn't.

I will laugh if Plumlee makes it over him, but I don't hope for his downfall.

So explain how Cousins kept Jimmer from striving? The coaches that were fired in Sacramento were fired cause they were terrible. The funny part about Westphal being fired is people blame Cousins yet other players pubically made negative comments about Westphal before he was fired.

Cousins was best friends with IT from day one, so he obviously campaigned for him being on the court. Jimmer, at the time, was the only white guy on the team and he's married. Jimmer lives a different lifestyle than most and has a different temperament, which alienated him in such a young, hip hop driven type of lockerroom where the immature and poor leader, Cousins, was the boss.

Jimmer can play.

Dude, pass whatever you're smoking this way........Jimmer can't play.

[Shaud]

So for all of the we have enough offense people. Shouldn't Wall be the clear pick over Irving?