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Just curious what you guys think of this kid. How good do you all think he is right now and think he could be in the future? Is he NBA-ready? Do they look to develop this kid at C ahead of the higher-salary/higher-profile Hasheem Thabeet? I know Thabeet's about 10' tall and there's still some potential there after the poor start in the NBA but to me, Cousin's a nice player himself with a pretty intriguing overall skillset. I actually think he's pretty close to Jordan Hill skill-wise..Could he possibly compete for mins at the PF spot with Hill & Scola (Patterson & Marcus Morris too) as well as with Thabeet at the 5?

I know Morey signed Cousin to that 3-year unguaranteed contract last year -- is he truly part of the plans or nothing more than either a practice player or a bubble guy to even make the roster at this point?

Goran Dragic too...What's the plan with this guy? Is he 3rd in line behind Lowry and Flynn or does he get the primary backup mins behind Kyle? 3 capable NBA PGs -- you figure something's gonna have to give there eventually...Does Morey make either Cousin or Dragic available in a trade possibly??

Gimmie some thoughts on these two guys.

goran should be the backup pg. at this point in their careers he's proven to be better than flynn. his size and defense allows him to play sg and even some sf. one of our pgs has to be traded, cuz having a 3rd string pg getting paid 2-4mil is a huge waste. i highly doubt we keep all 3 pgs when nba starts again.

im skeptical on cousin. from what i've heard he's the kind of tweener that can't really play a position right. too big and slow for sf, too small and weak for pf. but im confident that he'll have a good nba career.

There is no Marcus Cousin. He is a salary filler signed by Morey in order to facilitate trades. Its just a way for him to circumvent the trade restriction. Morey has signed like 3-4 of these guys to multiyear unguarenteed contract just for that purpose. Cousin has as good a chance as me in making the Rockets roster.

Goran Dragic at this point is #2 behind lowry on the depth chart.

lol when i first saw marcus cousin i was thinking of marcus morris.

but like wat guy said, marcus will only get playing time in his career whenever there's a blue moon outside

Let me ask you guys something --

Truth be told, I'm not a Rockets fan; I'm a Knicks fan. And I really like Cousin a lot. I liked him last year for the Knicks when he was available a couple of different times (I believe the Jazz cut him twice before Houston scooped him up) and unfortunately we never showed any interest. I thought that was a mistake for NY at the time and still do.. I think there's real nice potential here for Cousin as a steady contributor in the NBA at the 5.. There's a lot to like -- legit NBA center size (he's practically 7' in shoes, 250+ lbs.), plays physical/rebounds well yet has a very nice finesse game (great mid-range jumper, good touch on the ball in close and at the line). There's even some shot-blocking potential -- he wasn't a monster shot-blocker in the NBDL last year but he did manage 2 blocks/game his senior year for the Houston Cougars in only 20-something mins per game (and his senior year Portsmouth highlight video on youtube shows off this shotblocking ability as well). Good enough athlete and he runs the floor well too. This guy's no stiff -- he proved a ton last year in the D-League for the Austin Toros, at least to me he did..I could see this guy working out real well on the Knicks' frontline next to Amar'e & Melo. Unfortunately with 2 guys taking up a big portion of the salary cap, the Knicks will need to come up with ways to add some solid talent at a good price like this kid..Who knows what this new CBA will be all about -- the salary cap ceiling could drop significantly..I know this much though: just on overall talent level and potential, I like him better for the Knicks than Turiaf, Jerome Jordan or Josh Harrellson.

If the Knicks came along and inquired about Cousin and Dragic, what would it take to get something done? Gimme a couple of legit scenarios. Cousin by himself, Dragic by himself, Cousin/Dragic together.. Obviously it would have to be reasonable..Sounds like Dragic might be a keeper for you guys and we might not need him now that we drafted Iman Shumpert, although in the right scenario, I'd like him for the Knicks as well. Real nice player that has a chance to be a starting PG in the NBA someday, whether it's in Houston or somewhere else.

So how about this? Do the Knicks have anything you guys would want in a reasonable trade? I don't think they'd be interested in Thabeet, but if it were up to me, I wouldn't be against taking back T-Will or Jordan Hill if you guys considered either a bad contract. We don't have a hell of a lot left (you guys pretty much cleaned us out with that Jeffries deal (not to mention what we had to give DEN for Melo), but I'd be open to anything in the right scenario..Our next available 1st round pick, a 2nd round pick(s), Landry Fields possibly for both Cousin and Dragic??? Talk to me fellas..

I don't think that the Knicks are a good trade partner for the Rockets right now. I'll elaborate more, but first off I think that the rest of us in the NBA need to give you Knicks an intervention:

STOP TRADING YOUR FUTURE FIRST ROUND PICKS!!!

You guys have got to stop doing that! I think that the next pick you guys can trade is, like, 2016 now? Bad Knicks! Bad, bad Knicks!

OK, now that we have that out of the way here's the problems I see:

Goran Dragic: He's too valuable to the Rockets as a player and a trade assett. I don't see anything reasonable on the Knicks that would get a deal done with him. I like your best asset, Landry Fields, quite a lot; but I don't think that he would work in the Rockets rotation. We don't have room for him. I could see other teams giving up something that would interest the Rockets more, or we'll just enjoy his talents here.

Marcus Cousin: First off, mad props to you for scouting our UH product! I like the guys potential, but the problem here isn't on the court, it is his contract. He's not paid enough to work out any kind of deal that would have any potential value (see Chase Budinger). Maybe a second round pick in 2012, depending on where it is. The Knicks best bet to get this guy is just to see him cut by the Rockets and free to sign with them outright.

As for Tweeter & Hill - we really don't see them as "bad contracts" as most of us are hoping to see something from them whenever the NBA plays again. If they don't show something they'll come off the books quickly. No need to move them unless it's a deal that gives us a substantial upgrade at one of our positions of need.

finestrg wrote:Let me ask you guys something --

Truth be told, I'm not a Rockets fan; I'm a Knicks fan. And I really like Cousin a lot. I liked him last year for the Knicks when he was available a couple of different times (I believe the Jazz cut him twice before Houston scooped him up) and unfortunately we never showed any interest. I thought that was a mistake for NY at the time and still do.. I think there's real nice potential here for Cousin as a steady contributor in the NBA at the 5.. There's a lot to like -- legit NBA center size (he's practically 7' in shoes, 250+ lbs.), plays physical/rebounds well yet has a very nice finesse game (great mid-range jumper, good touch on the ball in close and at the line). There's even some shot-blocking potential -- he wasn't a monster shot-blocker in the NBDL last year but he did manage 2 blocks/game his senior year for the Houston Cougars in only 20-something mins per game (and his senior year Portsmouth highlight video on youtube shows off this shotblocking ability as well). Good enough athlete and he runs the floor well too. This guy's no stiff -- he proved a ton last year in the D-League for the Austin Toros, at least to me he did..I could see this guy working out real well on the Knicks' frontline next to Amar'e & Melo. Unfortunately with 2 guys taking up a big portion of the salary cap, the Knicks will need to come up with ways to add some solid talent at a good price like this kid..Who knows what this new CBA will be all about -- the salary cap ceiling could drop significantly..I know this much though: just on overall talent level and potential, I like him better for the Knicks than Turiaf, Jerome Jordan or Josh Harrellson.

If the Knicks came along and inquired about Cousin and Dragic, what would it take to get something done? Gimme a couple of legit scenarios. Cousin by himself, Dragic by himself, Cousin/Dragic together.. Obviously it would have to be reasonable..Sounds like Dragic might be a keeper for you guys and we might not need him now that we drafted Iman Shumpert, although in the right scenario, I'd like him for the Knicks as well. Real nice player that has a chance to be a starting PG in the NBA someday, whether it's in Houston or somewhere else.

So how about this? Do the Knicks have anything you guys would want in a reasonable trade? I don't think they'd be interested in Thabeet, but if it were up to me, I wouldn't be against taking back T-Will or Jordan Hill if you guys considered either a bad contract. We don't have a hell of a lot left (you guys pretty much cleaned us out with that Jeffries deal (not to mention what we had to give DEN for Melo), but I'd be open to anything in the right scenario..Our next available 1st round pick, a 2nd round pick(s), Landry Fields possibly for both Cousin and Dragic??? Talk to me fellas..

Marcus cousin wont make the 15 man roster. Didn't even play a single minute for the Rockets last season. He probably wasn't even given an official jersey. He's in the same boat as Mike HArris, Marqus Blakely and a bunch of other dleague hopeful signed to unguaranteed deals. They are the very definition of salary filler.

Sorry Marcus, you're gonna have to find a job in europe somewhere. I like your passion but the NBA is a tough business.

Guy986 wrote:Marcus cousin wont make the 15 man roster. Didn't even play a single minute for the Rockets last season. He probably wasn't even given an official jersey. He's in the same boat as Mike HArris, Marqus Blakely and a bunch of other dleague hopeful signed to unguaranteed deals. They are the very definition of salary filler.

Sorry Marcus, you're gonna have to find a job in europe somewhere. I like your passion but the NBA is a tough business.

Why´s everyone always gotta ride Mike Harris? He´s like Chuck Hayes 2: The Shooting Guard.

moofs wrote:

Guy986 wrote:Marcus cousin wont make the 15 man roster. Didn't even play a single minute for the Rockets last season. He probably wasn't even given an official jersey. He's in the same boat as Mike HArris, Marqus Blakely and a bunch of other dleague hopeful signed to unguaranteed deals. They are the very definition of salary filler.

Sorry Marcus, you're gonna have to find a job in europe somewhere. I like your passion but the NBA is a tough business.

Why´s everyone always gotta ride Mike Harris? He´s like Chuck Hayes 2: The Shooting Guard.

Nothing but love for Mike Harris. I hope he'll find a way to stick somehow. He's like our unofficial 16th member of the team.