Early look- Cousins, Favors or Griffin?- Howard Cooper

Sparky6string · Post #1 » by **Sparky6string** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 3:37 pm

"This isn't about Saturday night in downtown Los Angeles, but it is.

Blake Griffin of the Clippers was dunktacular against the Knicks and poor Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov in particular. He broke out athletic moves that 6-foot-10, 250-pounders coming off serious knee injuries simply don't make, power moves that thundered down on Gallinari and Mozgov and created entries from the same guy and same game for slam of the season."

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/s ... ef:nbahpt1

asakkings · Post #2 » by **asakkings** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 4:07 pm

The question becomes if you want a face up player or post up player. I prefer to have a back to the basket type of player. I know cousins hasn't put up huge numbers but there have been times when he's on the court during crunch time and the offense is being run through him, most recently in the NJ win. I can say that he's the best passer out of these 3.

stock01234 · Post #3 » by **stock01234** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 4:33 pm

eventhough i am kings fan and really wished that cousins would win ROY.. i think based on games so far.. i will go with griffin.. cousins is good.. but griffin is much better..

cousins has not been able to put big numbers and his foul trouble has hurt him..

God Squad · Post #4 » by **God Squad** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 4:57 pm

Is this really a question? Clearly Griffens been Farrrr better. Griffen is a monster and will continue to be so for years to come. Cousins is still trying to find himself. He could harldy stay on the floor. Plus he gets into heated arguments with staff. I was very big on Demarcus, But I'm thinking he's gonna be the worse outta the 3.

Right Now Blake, Cousins, Favours.

In 3 - years Blake, Favours, Cousins.

Sparky6string · Post #5 » by **Sparky6string** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:34 pm

Too often Griffin takes to the air without a thought of his landing clearance. He's gonna get hurt- probably sooner rather than later. I haven't seen much of Favors but I'm not bailing on Cousins yet- he still has the skill-set to be a force overall.

SacKingsPejaFan · Post #6 » by **SacKingsPejaFan** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 10:38 pm

Obviously Griffin is a beast. He's like some insane hybrid of Amare and Vince Carter. It will be a close race for ROY between him and Wall, but I think he'll take it.

Cousins and Favors are both playing at relatively the same level right now and are both far behind Griffin. I'd personally like the ball to be in Cousins's hands more often than it is instead of Evans and Udrih just taking turns pounding the ball into the ground for 22 seconds every shot clock before throwing up garbage, while the rest of the team looks on in frustration thinking about how the next time they touch the ball they're not going to pass it to anyone.

SacKingZZZ · Post #7 » by **SacKingZZZ** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 11:47 pm

Here's what I see this early in their careers.

Favors will be a very solid player, might develop into something more, but I don't see that difference maker on offense which if you are going to be a "star" player you just have to have. Didn't see it from him in high school either. Otherwise you're Big Ben. Huge impact on the right team, but not the kind of player you just stick on any team and say, "OK big fella, get us a few rings!". Could be a force in the intangibles department while also providing enough offense to be a consistent producer in that area. I don't know if teams are going to worry about "shutting him down" however.

I compared Griffin to a cross between Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire when he came out of college and I'm seeing it more and more every day. Very productive player, and while I see some qualities of a guy that can anchor an offense, I'm not sold on it. You can be one of the most productive players in the NBA but that doesn't mean you are that difference make on offense. Hence, the Marion/STAT comparisons IMO. Defensively the guy is behind both Cousins and Favors. He's also farther along in his development than the other two, more experience in college and a full year around the NBA game. Neither Cousins nor Favors were given the kind of freedom Griffin was in college to advance their own games so that's a factor as well. It's like comparing two freshman to a Junior or a Senior.

As for Cousins. Clearly more diversely talented than Favors, and we've seen stretches where he's been repeatedly double teamed and still come up big in crunch time. His efficiency is troubling but he's probably the most raw out of the 3 considering he has a lot more than Favors to draw from in his offensive arsenal. I also think it's a little unfair because it seems like the expectations for Cousins are much higher than Favors. Favors gets 3 points and 2 boards in a game and it's no big, but Cousins gets that and he's a "bust". Cousins is going to have to get used to the double standards because I think it's going to come up quite a few times during his career.

Griffin has more experience as a #1 option at the college level, as well as being 3 years ahead numerically at the college and NBA level. I think one thing that people really need to realize is that Cousins WAS NOT the number 1 option at Kentucky, not by a long shot. He was a clear number 3 behind both Wall and Patterson. This is a new experience for him and he's yet to really get the opportunity to be "the guy" in meaningful minutes here as well. He has all the tools, he just needs to learn how to use them and IMO the sooner that process starts, the better. He's already shown a little in terms of settling in by not committing those silly fouls that plagued him earlier in the season. Evidence of a learning curve is easily the most important factor in development. No question he has the biggest boom/bust potential of all 3.

SacKingZZZ · Post #8 » by **SacKingZZZ** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 11:54 pm

spade57 wrote:Is this really a question? Clearly Griffens been Farrrr better. Griffen is a monster and will continue to be so for years to come. Cousins is still trying to find himself. He could harldy stay on the floor. Plus he gets into heated arguments with staff. I was very big on Demarcus, But I'm thinking he's gonna be the worse outta the 3.

Right Now Blake, Cousins, Favours.

In 3 - years Blake, Favours, Cousins.

Seems like you are basing your opinion far too much on the basis on incidence. The foul problems have gotten much better, and saying, "he gets into heated arguments with staff" isn't necessarily proven. There was an INCIDENT, as in ONE, that we know of and there's nothing to suggest that this is a common occurrence.

Also if it's a question of impact, I wouldn't sleep on Cousins. Griffin and Favors could go drop 25 and 10 a night while Cousins impact as a 15 and 10 guy might just double theirs. I don't know, time will tell.

RIPskaterdude · Post #9 » by **RIPskaterdude** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:14 am

I like Cousins, but I wouldn't think twice about trading him for Griffin. No way the Clippers would, but Griffin would be incredible on this team.

Post #10 » by **KF10** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:59 am

I see Griffin as a Kemp-like player, Favors as Brand-like player & Cousins as a Gasol-like player.

*Not saying that's their ceiling but style-wise.

God Squad · Post #11 » by **God Squad** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 4:47 pm

SacKingZZZ wrote:
spade57 wrote:Is this really a question? Clearly Griffens been Farrrr better. Griffen is a monster and will continue to be so for years to come. Cousins is still trying to find himself. He could harldy stay on the floor. Plus he gets into heated arguments with staff. I was very big on Demarcus, But I'm thinking he's gonna be the worse outta the 3.

Right Now Blake, Cousins, Favours.

In 3 - years Blake, Favours, Cousins.

Seems like you are basing your opinion far too much on the basis on incidence. The foul problems have gotten much better, and saying, "he gets into heated arguments with staff" isn't necessarily proven. There was an INCIDENT, as in ONE, that we know of and there's nothing to suggest that this is a common occurrence.

Also if it's a question of impact, I wouldn't sleep on Cousins. Griffin and Favors could go drop 25 and 10 a night while Cousins impact as a 15 and 10 guy might just double theirs. I don't know, time will tell.

No, Its just that I was higher on Cousins during the Draft. My rank went as follows
Griffen, Cousins, Favours.

From the get-go favours wasn't supposed to be a diffrence maker. He's the youngest of them all. The Nets are gambleing on potential. I believe his frame will fill out over time as well. Cousins I expected to come into Sac-town and go stright to work..But it didn't seem to work that way. But your right. They need more time.

SacKingZZZ · Post #12 » by **SacKingZZZ** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 12:16 am

He kind of did to an extent the first few games, we were something like 3-1. Dalembert came back (and I don't know what you thought but it was very clear before the season that the C spot was his and Cousins is/was more a long term project) and he struggled more and more. Once again, I don't know where the idea that he was going to come in, get the ball every play, and even be allowed to dominate came from. He's yet to even be in that position as a player outside of high school. I can say however when he's gotten the chance he's come through with some pretty amazing stuff.

DakoBarr · Post #13 » by **DakoBarr** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 5:17 pm

I'm a Cs fan but I'm also a UK fan, so I like your team a lot.

Cousins will get his, but I think Westphal should begin starting him and running more sets for him so he can build confidence and work the kinks out in his game the hard way. There were many games early in his college season Cousins would get into foul trouble and sit out a lot, and it made him a non-factor in a lot of early games. Cal stuck the course though, and Cousins turned into an animal. He's too talented not to figure it out eventually.

I know a lot of you have said similar things, but I guess I just wanted to send in my agreement.