DraftExpress Rookie Retrospective one Cousins

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http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Roo ... sins-3629/

tl;dr

Part One: Offensive Role

At the college level, Cousins was a dominant player in a variety of ways, utilizing his massive size, strength, and length to punish the opposition on the glass and finishing around the basket, the primary reason why he was able to be so productive. In the NBA, he's reverted to many of the habits he showed in high school, trying to be more of a finesse player than a dominating post presence.

At the college level, Cousins took just 24 jump shots on the entire season, whereas in the NBA he's already taken 156.

Part Two: Interior Offense

Cousins' skill level operating with his back to the basket is still as impressive as ever.

Fighting less actively for post position, and playing with an inferior point guard this season, Cousins is often content to catch the ball in the mid-to-high post rather than backing his man down deep on the block either before or after he gets the ball.

Part Three: Perimeter Offense

Cousins has clearly put more of an emphasis on his perimeter game in the pros, though the returns haven't been good. Cousins shows little conscience putting up shots, taking nearly as many guarded as unguarded jumpers on the perimeter, and frequently will throw up a contested 20 footer with plenty of time remaining on the shot clock for no reason at all.

Part Four: Defense and Rebounding

Somewhat surprisingly, Cousins has actually been more impressive defensively than offensively thus far in the pros.

While Cousins' fundamentals are still pretty raw in all areas, his coordination, mobility, size, and length make him a pretty unique player at his position, and it's showed up in a variety of ways.

On the glass, Cousins has gone from an unbelievably dominant college rebounder to a slightly above average rebounder in the pros, with his rebounds per 40 pace adjusted dropping from 15.9 to 11.3, something that rarely happens with rebounding even when accounting for the change in competition level. Like the rest of his game, this is mostly evidence of Cousins playing much softer in the pros and not putting in the effort consistently, as he's capable of ranking amongst the top of the league if he wants to, rather than his meager current ranking of 33rd.

Thoughts?

[City of Trees]

Part Three: Perimeter Offense

Cousins has clearly put more of an emphasis on his perimeter game in the pros, though the returns haven't been good. Cousins shows little conscience putting up shots, taking nearly as many guarded as unguarded jumpers on the perimeter, and frequently will throw up a contested 20 footer with plenty of time remaining on the shot clock for no reason at all.

This is true and he does it at least once per game it seems. He needs to continue working on shot selection



Overall if you evaluate Cousins whole season id say its close if not dead on. However anyone who has been watching since early-mid January can clearly see the growth in his game as he learns how to play in the pros. Come end of season evals im sure it will say something like "what a beast..."

[KF10]

The article is a tad bit critical about Cousins in general but for the most part, it's a fair assessment about him though.

My only complaint about this article was that there was no mention of Cousins' ability of passing the ball from the high post. And no further analysis of Cousins' role in the high post. The article sounded like Cousins plays in the high post because he wants to. It isn't that simple. We all know that Cousins' role in the offense is typically running the offense in the high post most of the time & the occasional post offense in the block. In a way, Cousins is regulated to the high post due to his inability to score consistently down there. His current athletic abilities takes away his advantages down low unless he is matched up with a weaker opponent of size.

And lastly, the article boasts about Cousins' defensive abilities. Good to hear that Cousins is making an impression that defense is a priority for him.

[YC42Balla]

This article has a lot of truth to it. However, I wonder when it was made? Cousins seems to be further along in his NBA debut then this article states. As of recent, cousins has been a very dominate force. He's also been very effective rebounding and using his finesse/power to destroy opponents.

I think his 'finesse,' is a unique part of his game. He can be both a finesse and power center at any time he wants on the court. To me, that's a great asset to any one player, or team. Not many center can do what DeMarcus can.

With that said, I'm not to fond of the way this article talks down about Cousins' finesse. But I somewhat understand the point he is trying to prove. Some times Cousins can be a little to soft when he really needs to be strong.

[Sacramento_King]

True with the finesse and dominant uniqueness part of his game but that big and his strength he should be more dominant in the post. Maybe his nagging foul trouble took away some of his aggressiveness as well as Dally clogging space but I want to see DMC play angry down low. Banging bodies and crashing the board.

[Wolfay]

"Playing soft"?

One thing the article doesn't take into account at all is how Evans' game (and everybody else's) affects Cousins. Cousins has to play more out on the perimeter so Evans can do his patented drives to the hoop, and it's just how the Princeton is run. And not only does this affect Cousins offensively, but it also affects his rebounding position. Cousins is also playing with two other strong rebounders in Thompson and Dalembert, so it shouldn't surprise anybody why Cousins isn't nearly as dominating on the boards as he was in college.

Cousins is adapting his game to his teammates. To me that's playing smart and being a good teammate. I don't know what DraftExpress wants from him. They also ignored his passing, which really ticked me off. I do like that they recognized his defense, but the article overall sounds like it has an agenda against Cousins. Anything less than prime-Shaq out of him and he's a failure.

[SacKingZZZ]

Yeah, too much of a glass is half empty article. You'd think he was the biggest bust of the draft by that talk. He slipped to 5th and he's still easily looking like the best or 2nd best prospect from this draft class. He's raw and has a ways to go, but I'm seeing sky and not a whole lot of limit if he dedicates himself properly.

[408Kings]

I think the article is fair evaluation of his weaknesses, though it does seem as if it was written before DMC went on his current tear.

It's possible that with added maturity and an organization and coaching staff more competent of getting him to play to his potential, the light bulb will eventually come on for Cousins.

As the article mentioned, I think our coaching is part of what's holding him back. The offensive sets we run limit his ability and draw him away from the basket. It is understandable that Tyreke needs some room to operate, but at what cost? When we pull our guys out to the perimeter, the defense usually sags and clogs the lanes, daring Tyreke to shoot it or outlet it. Thus, forcing Cousins to shoot from the outside more often.

Shouldn't we be playing to our 2 biggest advantages? We have 2 players that are stronger than most of the competition at their respective spots. Why not have Tyreke AND Cousins post up more often? During the Utah game the other night, we were scoring consistently every time we went inside. And when we tried anything from the perimeter, disaster ensued (i.e. taking shots wayyyyy too early). Last year, Tyreke abused Gilbert Arenas, Chauncey Billups, Chris Paul, and pretty much any point guard trying to guard him in the post.