Dat2U wrote:Players adapt to playing different roles on new teams all the time. Your telling me, that Cousins in a lower usage role would still have a similar TO rate & middling efficiency in a situation where he's not asked to ISO and create shots off the dribble from the top the key???
When Mike Malone was coach in SAC, Cousins actually defended the paint very well. Actually, when Cousins wasn't asked to play the 4 and defend in space he did a solid job. Sometimes guys are better suited for a specific role.
So I don't understand this line of thinking that players are what they are and that's it. You realize this makes you wrong every time a player experiences a growth or decline in their game.
This is interesting & worth discussing. Thanks.
Essentially you are claiming that if Cousins came to the Wizards he would be a different player from the one he is with the Pelicans & was with the Kings. Obviously, if you *aren't* claiming that, then your general point (players can be different in different situations) would be irrelevant.
Of course, you can't give me any empirical evidence to support the claim that he'd be a different player here, since he hasn't come here. If he had become a different player when he went to the Pelicans, that would give some kind of narrative probability to the claim. But he didn't. Still, he wasn't there long last year; lets see if he becomes a different player this year -- or if he remains "what he is & that's it."
One thing -- by "different" you don't mean to be referring to the the built-in arc of "growth" & "decline" in pretty much every NBA player's game. Of course, we agree about that: NBA players tend to grow -- get better -- over their first few years in the league. & they tend to decline over their last few years in the league. This is independent of schemes & roles. You're not saying anything about that, right?
Then there is the idea of "Cousins in a lower usage role." In one sense, of course you are right that that would make a difference to his total turnovers. If Cousins had a lower usage role he would have the ball in his hands less often. When the ball is not in your hands, you can't turn it over; so it goes without saying that he would turn it over less often per 40 minutes.
But not less often per shots he takes. Cousins turnover rate per the number of shots he takes hasn't gone down in years when he takes relatively fewer shots -- he's not a machine; it's not the exact same every year. But it's always very high.
As to what he's asked to do: Cousins rate of taking shots has basically gone up from year to year over his career -- the graph is a rising line. Dat, I just I don't believe he's been asked by coaches to face up, dribble, then pull up for a jumper. I don't think any coach in his right mind would be asking him to do that -- it's about the least effective thing he can do.
I think Cousins does that, because it's what he *likes* to do. & yes it leads to lots of turnovers; that's no surprise. & to middling (& in some respects very low) efficiency.
So, one answer to your contention that as a Wizard he would be a different player is just to ask why he isn't already a different player? If you can see what's wrong, & I can see what's wrong, why can't Cousins see what's wrong? If he hasn't corrected it through I don't know how many NBA coaches, why would anyone think he'd correct it now.
Of course, he might change. I wouldn't presume to suggest it's impossible for him to change. But not impossible isn't a good enough basis for acquiring him. That's the long and short of it.
