Blowing smoke? you be the judge

king125 · Post #1 » by **king125** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:30 pm

according to Yahoo Sports......

John Grieg, the agent for Cousins, won’t send his client to workout for the Minnesota Timberwolves, sources say, because he believes the Wolves have decided to draft Syracuse small forward Wesley Johnson.

Cousins had an excellent workout with the Sacramento Kings, grading out as the best shooter to visit Sacramento in the predraft process. He hit 78 percent of his shots in the workout, including a lot of pick-and-pop attempts.

Favors graded out as the far better athlete, but the Kings, who have the No. 5 pick in the draft, believed Cousins was a more advanced player. He showed Sacramento officials more range than they thought he had, consistently hitting the 17-foot jumper. The Kings are considering several players, but Cousins could be difficult to pass over.

Sources say the Kings are also still open to trade possibilities, and Detroit and Utah are two teams eager to move up in the draft. The Pistons’ Tayshaun Prince(notes) could be intriguing to the Kings, who are eager to add a veteran small forward to the roster.

RoyalCourtJestr · Post #2 » by **RoyalCourtJestr** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:19 pm

Awesome. I'm thinking guitar solo!

It's looking more and more like Minny will pass over Cousins and that should be fine with us... as long as he keeps himself in control and accepts he is the Robin to Tyreke's backman, we'll have two studs and a exceptionally bright future.

RIPskaterdude · Post #3 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:22 pm

Evans, Cousins, Greene, Casspi, JT, Landry...

I'm loving that young core.

Make it happen, Petrie/T-Wolves

Bac2Basics · Post #4 » by **Bac2Basics** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:58 pm

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=y ... sins061310

There's the link for the article.

king125 · Post #5 » by **king125** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:01 pm

Cousins/Hawes
Landry/Thompson/Brockman
Greene/Casspi
Evans/Garcia/Udoka
Beno/Crawford?

35 wins next year with by far the smallest payroll in the NBA.

Cruel_Ruin · Post #6 » by **Cruel_Ruin** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:03 pm

This is a very significant development. This isn't just a rumor that a GM is silently spreading around as a smokescreen, this is the actual agent saying that a team is refusing to work out his client. Either there is a trade in the works, or Minny really is sold on Johnson. Either way, if Johnson goes top 4, then one of Cousins/Favors is falling to us.

PaKwAn · Post #7 » by **PaKwAn** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:06 pm

That would be great if that happens but i think it can be a smoke screen and knowing the t-wolves, they would draft players even though that player hasn't worked out for them....

Post #8 » by **ICMTM** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:23 pm

I think it's Cousins not wanting to go to Minnesota that's preventing him from working out for them, no? Think about it. If an agent makes commission on a player don't you think it's wise they try to make his player go as high as possible? I mean John Grieg doesn't have to plat in Minny right.

Anyhow I just think this is more about Cousins than anything else.

Cousins vs. Monroe...I'm leaning towards Cousins, but I can't say I'm decided on either. I'm encouraged to see he has had some skills that we haven't seen from him in his college game. It won't surprise me if the Kings are leading other teams to believe they will take Monroe and end up taking Cousins.

RoyalCourtJestr · Post #9 » by **RoyalCourtJestr** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:57 pm

It's not even a question for me. Cousins may not be the best defender, but he is a Ben Wallace compared to Monroe, and he plays with heart. Maturity issues aside, Cousins has passion and dedication that we saw all last year that, if harnessed, could propell him as a really good and well rounded big. Monroe has dedication issues, flopped in Georgetowns big games, and, in my mind, does nothing that Spencer doesn't offer us already.

wiltchamberlain · Post #10 » by **wiltchamberlain** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:27 pm

Lightning Strike wrote:It's not even a question for me. Cousins may not be the best defender, but he is a Ben Wallace compared to Monroe, and he plays with heart. Maturity issues aside, Cousins has passion and dedication that we saw all last year that, if harnessed, could propell him as a really good and well rounded big. Monroe has dedication issues, flopped in Georgetowns big games, and, in my mind, does nothing that Spencer doesn't offer us already.

Agreed with this in particular. If all things were equal I might pick Monroe over Cousins, but the fact that we already have at least one guy in his mold makes me think it would be a waste of a high pick.

If the pick is Cousins who would you start at the four next to him? Of the available options I like Landry the best, but I'm afraid the lane might end up getting clogged (although the possibility of Cousins having a jumpshot could bring this into question) so maybe I'd go with Thompson. Can you imagine after all those years with Brad Miller and Kenny Thomas, we might have a front line containing Cousins and Thompson?

jeffjtk1234 · Post #11 » by **jeffjtk1234** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:31 pm

We have to take cousins. It seems like he owned the workout with us also.

Post #12 » by **pillwenney** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:59 pm

ICMTM wrote:I think it's Cousins not wanting to go to Minnesota that's preventing him from working out for them, no? Think about it. If an agent makes commission on a player don't you think it's wise they try to make his player go as high as possible? I mean John Grieg doesn't have to plat in Minny right.

Anyhow I just think this is more about Cousins than anything else.

Cousins vs. Monroe...I'm leaning towards Cousins, but I can't say I'm decided on either. I'm encouraged to see he has had some skills that we haven't seen from him in his college game. It won't surprise me if the Kings are leading other teams to believe they will take Monroe and end up taking Cousins.

The speculation is that Minnesota is holding out and pretending to be after Johnson until Cousins will agree to work out against somebody.

I wouldn't be surprised if his agent was holding him out. On one hand, you want to make as much as possible now, but you also have to be looking toward that second contract, and Cousins is a very fragile prospect. He really needs the right situation, or he could bust big time. His agent may think Minnesota is a poor situation (already have a post scorer, more of a losing reputation than the Kings, it seems, other factors we may not know about), and may want to pull him out for that reason.

But yeah, for me, Cousins is miles and miles ahead of Monroe. I certainly know of the risks associated with him, but with the alternatives at 5, the reward is so, so, so worth the risk. The guy really does have superstar potential and he's a full-sized center.

RoyalCourtJestr · Post #13 » by **RoyalCourtJestr** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:34 pm

mitchweber wrote:
ICMTM wrote:I think it's Cousins not wanting to go to Minnesota that's preventing him from working out for them, no? Think about it. If an agent makes commission on a player don't you think it's wise they try to make his player go as high as possible? I mean John Grieg doesn't have to plat in Minny right.

Anyhow I just think this is more about Cousins than anything else.

Cousins vs. Monroe...I'm leaning towards Cousins, but I can't say I'm decided on either. I'm encouraged to see he has had some skills that we haven't seen from him in his college game. It won't surprise me if the Kings are leading other teams to believe they will take Monroe and end up taking Cousins.

The speculation is that Minnesota is holding out and pretending to be after Johnson until Cousins will agree to work out against somebody.

I wouldn't be surprised if his agent was holding him out. On one hand, you want to make as much as possible now, but you also have to be looking toward that second contract, and Cousins is a very fragile prospect. He really needs the right situation, or he could bust big time. His agent may think Minnesota is a poor situation (already have a post scorer, more of a losing reputation than the Kings, it seems, other factors we may not know about), and may want to pull him out for that reason.

But yeah, for me, Cousins is miles and miles ahead of Monroe. I certainly know of the risks associated with him, but with the alternatives at 5, the reward is so, so, so worth the risk. The guy really does have superstar potential and he's a full-sized center.

But doesn't that come with a certain ammont of risk? From the Wolves perspective, if they honestly believe he is the best player, what are the chances they take him? And, from the Kings, if they take Monroe or whoever else, Cousins is stuck.

But I agree with the fact that this is the right place for Cousins. We lack bigs, and he'd be the legit second option here nearly immediately.

Sacramento_King · Post #14 » by **Sacramento_King** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:35 pm

mitchweber wrote:The speculation is that Minnesota is holding out and pretending to be after Johnson until Cousins will agree to work out against somebody.

I read that Cousins wants to workout against Favors but Favors doesn't want to. I don't think it's Cousins not wanting to at least I haven't read it yet. Reading hoopshype today looks like Favors and Cousins will play some one on one for Jersey. Wonder if that may change the draft order if Cousins looks great and Favors so-so. Could Favors slip to five?

RoyalCourtJestr · Post #15 » by **RoyalCourtJestr** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:37 pm

If Favors falls off the NJ wagon, would Minny take him? Have they worked him out? That would leave us with Johnson, who, to my knowledge we haven't worked out yet, along with Whiteside and *gulp*... Monroe.

Post #16 » by **ICMTM** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:45 pm

SacBee.com said they went head to head Saturday for the Kings. That's all they said though.

Sacramento_King · Post #17 » by **Sacramento_King** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:33 pm

ICMTM wrote:SacBee.com said they went head to head Saturday for the Kings. That's all they said though.

I think that's where I read where Cousins said he wanted to play head to head and talked about how he loves basketball etc but it's not there now.

I did read this though.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/13/281876 ... avors.html

The workout, which wasn't open to the media, didn't feature Favors vs. Cousins.

funkatron101 · Post #18 » by **funkatron101** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:57 pm

Lightning Strike wrote:If Favors falls off the NJ wagon, would Minny take him? Have they worked him out? That would leave us with Johnson, who, to my knowledge we haven't worked out yet, along with Whiteside and *gulp*... Monroe.

Kahn would take Favors, no question.

YC42Balla · Post #19 » by **YC42Balla** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 3:46 am

PaKwAn wrote:That would be great if that happens but i think it can be a smoke screen and knowing the t-wolves, they would draft players even though that player hasn't worked out for them....

True-that!! :lol:

RIPskaterdude · Post #20 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:05 am

PaKwAn wrote:That would be great if that happens but i think it can be a smoke screen and knowing the t-wolves, they would draft players even though that player hasn't worked out for them....

haha, good point.