Cousins attempts to physically intimidate writer

[codydaze]

Or maybe he's just sticking up for him because the reporters at Sac Bee (outside of Jason Jones) are a bunch of hacks? Seriously, have you read any Ailene Voison articles, or columns by Furillo? All they do is attack Cousins. They blatantly and explicitly call him fat, an **** and bully when they are actually the bullies. I'm not justifying what Cousins did but there's going to be a breaking point when you are consistently attacked by your local media of all people. And then you get this article painting Furillo as someone whose life was in danger and totally embellishing the sympathy for him to further villify Cousins. Everything Joerger said is 100% true so I don't know why the angle of "he has to say this to not get fired" is even relevant.

Or maybe those reporters have seen his act long enough (going on to year 7) and are calling him out for what he is: a bully who throws tantrums at officials, players and coaches.

Guys with Cousins' attitude problems typically don't last as long as they do in one spot. The Kings have been in the position of essentially being his enabler because he's an all-star center and pretty much all they have. If Cousins was merely a good, not great player, he'd have been kicked to the curb by multiple teams by now.

Maybe if they were just now starting to attack him but this has been going on for YEARS. They've been trying to drive him out of town for a while now and it's getting really old. On the Kings board we pretty much know that any Voison or Furillo article that comes is going to find a way to take jabs at Cousins, no matter what it's about. Furillo literally suggested just cutting Cousins in one article. I mean come on, how do you defend that?

Now, can the Kings’ general manager do the right thing and get him out of here?

Trade him, cut him, whatever. It would be a steal if the Kings could get 50 cents on the dollar, a bargain at 35 cents and a good deal at a quarter. Maybe even a nickel.

[codydaze]

Are people really trying to defend Cousins on this? I get not bringing up family and all that but this is not one of those situations. Cousins was in a nightclub incident, so the reporter just brought up a previous nightclub incident that Cousins was involved in and in that prior incident his brother was arrested. So I think bringing up his brother was more than justified. Maybe if Cousins doesn't want his brother to be brought up, maybe he shouldn't continue to get into public incidents.

I'm a big defender of Cousins game, but come on you can't defend him when it comes to the off court stuff he does. I get he does a lot of good in the community, but the dude has a major temper problem and every year has something going on around him. Maybe it's time to stop with the excuses for him and just realize the dude constantly brings on all this negative stuff upon himself.

Again, if he was actually involved that would be one thing. Because he was at the same club with his brother and his brother got in a fight, how does that make him involved? If I was at a club with my friend and he got into a fight, I wouldn't say I was involved. Any article you read on it has a statment from the police that literally says there was no indication of involvement by Demarcus. There also weren't any charges against him in the incident with Matt Barnes, only Barnes is facing charges. Does he need to put himself in better situation? Absolutely. But is he out fighting people? No.

I guess winning is the cure or mask for this type of stuff because Blake Griffin cries to officials just as much as Cousins, albeit maybe a little less animated, and literally punched a team employee in the face but Cousins is a much worse person?

[dc]

Maybe if they were just now starting to attack him but this has been going on for YEARS. They've been trying to drive him out of town for a while now and it's getting really old. On the Kings board we pretty much know that any Voison or Furillo article that comes is going to find a way to take jabs at Cousins, no matter what it's about. Furillo literally suggested just cutting Cousins in one article. I mean come on, how do you defend that?

Now, can the Kings’ general manager do the right thing and get him out of here?

Trade him, cut him, whatever. It would be a steal if the Kings could get 50 cents on the dollar, a bargain at 35 cents and a good deal at a quarter. Maybe even a nickel.

Cousins exhibits the type of behavior that would've gotten any good (but not great) player shipped out of town within 2-3 years, never mind 6-7 years. I don't blame the reporters for calling him out like that.

Whatever the case, his behavior is deplorable and inexcusable and his team has gotten nowhere with him as the franchise player. Without him, they'd be Philly level bad, but even with him, they're on a 30-35 win treadmill, which is probably a worse place to be in the bigger picture. Has the organization been dysfunctional? Sure, but he's been a part of that dysfunction as (by far) the longest tenured player in the organization.

If you're in a position where you have to be defending the same guy's behavior like this year in and year out, then yeah, you probably should be moving on from him.

Now it is a different topic, but Kings would've probably been better off cutting ties with this guy 3 years ago and getting something in return for him, bottoming out without him and having a few shots in the higher lottery where the picks become less of a guessing game.

[Duke4life831]

Are people really trying to defend Cousins on this? I get not bringing up family and all that but this is not one of those situations. Cousins was in a nightclub incident, so the reporter just brought up a previous nightclub incident that Cousins was involved in and in that prior incident his brother was arrested. So I think bringing up his brother was more than justified. Maybe if Cousins doesn't want his brother to be brought up, maybe he shouldn't continue to get into public incidents.

I'm a big defender of Cousins game, but come on you can't defend him when it comes to the off court stuff he does. I get he does a lot of good in the community, but the dude has a major temper problem and every year has something going on around him. Maybe it's time to stop with the excuses for him and just realize the dude constantly brings on all this negative stuff upon himself.

Again, if he was actually involved that would be one thing. Because he was at the same club with his brother and his brother got in a fight, how does that make him involved? If I was at a club with my friend and he got into a fight, I wouldn't say I was involved. Any article you read on it has a statment from the police that literally says there was no indication of involvement by Demarcus. There also weren't any charges against him in the incident with Matt Barnes, only Barnes is facing charges. Does he need to put himself in better situation? Absolutely. But is he out fighting people? No.

I guess winning is the cure or mask for this type of stuff because Blake Griffin cries to officials just as much as Cousins, albeit maybe a little less animated, and literally punched a team employee in the face but Cousins is a much worse person?

Cousins is constantly surrounded by bad situations though. He may not have been charged in this last incident but he did punch someone. I don't think anyone is denying that. When you're Cousins and you have had a bad rep since high school with this kind of stuff, you're not going to get the benefit of the doubt. So he may not have gotten into a fight the time before but was hanging out with his brother while his brother got tazed and arrested. I only brought that up saying the reporter was in the right to bring up that story because this past nightclub incident wasn't the first one Cousins has been around this year.

My thing is this, Cousins seems to be surrounded by this stuff his entire career. I'm just saying Cousins doesn't get the benefit of the doubt anymore and say just bad luck to be in that situation. No it seems like these bad situations follow Cousins around which usually means there is a really good chance he's a catalyst for many of them.

When it comes to the Blake thing, like I said before I defend Cousins on the court, but he has too many incidents off court that you can't give the benefit of the doubt anymore with him. When it comes to Blake the punching thing seemed to be the first incident he's had off court that I know of. Now if he's had more then that's something you can legitimatelybring up and I'll probably say he gets a pass in the publics eye only because his charisma and being on a team that gets to the playoffs each year. Not defending that, just saying that's why he gets a pass and Cousins doesnt. But again I haven't heard of Blake and a ton of off court incidents like cousins.

[Jkam31]

Are people really trying to defend Cousins on this? I get not bringing up family and all that but this is not one of those situations. Cousins was in a nightclub incident, so the reporter just brought up a previous nightclub incident that Cousins was involved in and in that prior incident his brother was arrested. So I think bringing up his brother was more than justified. Maybe if Cousins doesn't want his brother to be brought up, maybe he shouldn't continue to get into public incidents.

I'm a big defender of Cousins game, but come on you can't defend him when it comes to the off court stuff he does. I get he does a lot of good in the community, but the dude has a major temper problem and every year has something going on around him. Maybe it's time to stop with the excuses for him and just realize the dude constantly brings on all this negative stuff upon himself.

Again, if he was actually involved that would be one thing. Because he was at the same club with his brother and his brother got in a fight, how does that make him involved? If I was at a club with my friend and he got into a fight, I wouldn't say I was involved. Any article you read on it has a statment from the police that literally says there was no indication of involvement by Demarcus. There also weren't any charges against him in the incident with Matt Barnes, only Barnes is facing charges. Does he need to put himself in better situation? Absolutely. But is he out fighting people? No.

I guess winning is the cure or mask for this type of stuff because Blake Griffin cries to officials just as much as Cousins, albeit maybe a little less animated, and literally punched a team employee in the face but Cousins is a much worse person?

Don't forget that stunt he pulled with the athletic trainer on the bench


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[Nutty Nats Fan]

I guess winning is the cure or mask for this type of stuff because Blake Griffin cries to officials just as much as Cousins, albeit maybe a little less animated, and literally punched a team employee in the face but Cousins is a much worse person?

Plus we've never seen Cousins try to make a team employee stimulate oral sex on him during a game on the bench, like Blake did. That and punching a team employee seems way worse than anything Cousins has done.

[AmusingFiddle]

There is always two sides to a story. Let's not get carried away here. I have no doubt that Cousins didn't handle this appropriately but that doesn't mean he is to blame for the entire thing.

I think he needs to be coached on how to handle media and steer away from trouble.


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[codydaze]

Are people really trying to defend Cousins on this? I get not bringing up family and all that but this is not one of those situations. Cousins was in a nightclub incident, so the reporter just brought up a previous nightclub incident that Cousins was involved in and in that prior incident his brother was arrested. So I think bringing up his brother was more than justified. Maybe if Cousins doesn't want his brother to be brought up, maybe he shouldn't continue to get into public incidents.

I'm a big defender of Cousins game, but come on you can't defend him when it comes to the off court stuff he does. I get he does a lot of good in the community, but the dude has a major temper problem and every year has something going on around him. Maybe it's time to stop with the excuses for him and just realize the dude constantly brings on all this negative stuff upon himself.

Again, if he was actually involved that would be one thing. Because he was at the same club with his brother and his brother got in a fight, how does that make him involved? If I was at a club with my friend and he got into a fight, I wouldn't say I was involved. Any article you read on it has a statment from the police that literally says there was no indication of involvement by Demarcus. There also weren't any charges against him in the incident with Matt Barnes, only Barnes is facing charges. Does he need to put himself in better situation? Absolutely. But is he out fighting people? No.

I guess winning is the cure or mask for this type of stuff because Blake Griffin cries to officials just as much as Cousins, albeit maybe a little less animated, and literally punched a team employee in the face but Cousins is a much worse person?

Cousins is constantly surrounded by bad situations though. He may not have been charged in this last incident but he did punch someone. I don't think anyone is denying that. When you're Cousins and you have had a bad rep since high school with this kind of stuff, you're not going to get the benefit of the doubt. So he may not have gotten into a fight the time before but was hanging out with his brother while his brother got tazed and arrested. I only brought that up saying the reporter was in the right to bring up that story because this past nightclub incident wasn't the first one Cousins has been around this year.

My thing is this, Cousins seems to be surrounded by this stuff his entire career. I'm just saying Cousins doesn't get the benefit of the doubt anymore and say just bad luck to be in that situation. No it seems like these bad situations follow Cousins around which usually means there is a really good chance he's a catalyst for many of them.

When it comes to the Blake thing, like I said before I defend Cousins on the court, but he has too many incidents off court that you can't give the benefit of the doubt anymore with him. When it comes to Blake the punching thing seemed to be the first incident he's had off court that I know of. Now if he's had more then that's something you can legitimatelybring up and I'll probably say he gets a pass in the publics eye only because his charisma and being on a team that gets to the playoffs each year. Not defending that, just saying that's why he gets a pass and Cousins doesnt. But again I haven't heard of Blake and a ton of off court incidents like cousins.

But I mean, can you name any other off court incidents besides these two recent ones he's been involved in? You make it seem as if he's constantly surrounded by trouble. I don't know off the top of my head any other incidents he's had.

[Andre Roberstan]

FWIW, what the Kings fans have been saying about the Bee's coverage is absolutely true. I follow more Sacramento stuff than any other team except the Thunder, and the Bee is...not great.

Cousins shouldn't have acted the way he did, but Furillo and Voisin have been bad for a while. Check out what some of the local media people not involved with the Bee have said (Aaron Bruski in particular had a few interesting things to say).

Also read the (incredibly cringeworthy) followup piece from the Bee. And the SportingNews article Bondom linked.

[Andre Roberstan]

Also what Kings fans have been saying about off-the-court stuff is true. Smitty's point about behind-the-scenes stuff making people not want to touch him may be true, but the two things people want to hit him with are the Barnes incident (entirely fair) and an incident in which he was in the club but not involved. Both of which were this year.

[codydaze]

Maybe if they were just now starting to attack him but this has been going on for YEARS. They've been trying to drive him out of town for a while now and it's getting really old. On the Kings board we pretty much know that any Voison or Furillo article that comes is going to find a way to take jabs at Cousins, no matter what it's about. Furillo literally suggested just cutting Cousins in one article. I mean come on, how do you defend that?

Now, can the Kings’ general manager do the right thing and get him out of here?

Trade him, cut him, whatever. It would be a steal if the Kings could get 50 cents on the dollar, a bargain at 35 cents and a good deal at a quarter. Maybe even a nickel.

Cousins exhibits the type of behavior that would've gotten any good (but not great) player shipped out of town within 2-3 years, never mind 6-7 years. I don't blame the reporters for calling him out like that.

Whatever the case, his behavior is deplorable and inexcusable and his team has gotten nowhere with him as the franchise player. Without him, they'd be Philly level bad, but even with him, they're on a 30-35 win treadmill, which is probably a worse place to be in the bigger picture. Has the organization been dysfunctional? Sure, but he's been a part of that dysfunction as (by far) the longest tenured player in the organization.

If you're in a position where you have to be defending the same guy's behavior like this year in and year out, then yeah, you probably should be moving on from him.

Now it is a different topic, but Kings would've probably been better off cutting ties with this guy 3 years ago and getting something in return for him, bottoming out without him and having a few shots in the higher lottery where the picks become less of a guessing game.

As far as the team performance goes, are there any past rosters that should have been succeeding? We've had some pretty horrid rosters and he started next to Jason Thompson for 5 years. His best starting SG has been Afflalo and the only time we had a solid player in IT next to him, management (no longer with the team) shipped him away for nothing. How is that his fault? His usage rate is insane and he's consistently top 10 in PER putting up huge numbers. Granted Anthony Davis did get his team above 40 wins in one season, he's arguably the best player in the league, he should be leading his team to the playoffs every year right? Cousins has. on average, played 4 more games per season than Davis so it's not like Davis is playing an obscene less amount of games.

I'll also reiterate, his on court behavior has been unacceptable and it costs the team a lot when he doesn't get back on defense while complaining to officials. That's something I don't think any Kings fan denies. However, his off court behavior and this particular incident the thread is about is just hyperbolic nonsense to make Cousins out to be a bigger villain than he really is. Even the thread title "Cousins attempts to physically intimidate writer" is ridiculous. Did Cousins "physically" touch him? No. He just got kinda close to him and wasn't even in the guys' face. You can say he tried to "verbally" intimidate him, sure, but like I said when the guy is constantly slandering your name, there's going to be a breaking point.

[codydaze]

FWIW, what the Kings fans have been saying about the Bee's coverage is absolutely true. I follow more Sacramento stuff than any other team except the Thunder, and the Bee is...not great.

Cousins shouldn't have acted the way he did, but Furillo and Voisin have been bad for a while. Check out what some of the local media people not involved with the Bee have said (Aaron Bruski in particular had a few interesting things to say).

Also read the (incredibly cringeworthy) followup piece from the Bee. And the SportingNews article Bondom linked.

I think this is what we're trying to make clear, so thank you from an outsider's perspective having a better understanding. I get that from the outside looking in if you don't follow the Bee this would look really bad, but when you read all the articles that come out you can get a better understanding of where his frustration might be coming from.

[MartinToVaught]

Of course the Kings' coach is going to defend Cousins. That whole franchise is totally beholden to him at this point and they're petrified that he's going to leave them. It still doesn't justify his behavior.

They've hitched their wagon to him. Vlade Divac once asked Cousins if he wanted George Karl fired.

Then there was the incident when Cousins cussed out Karl in front of the whole team. He was suspended one game.

Cousins' response to the suspension? He said the suspension came from George Karl and not the organization. And the Kings organization said nothing to refute Cousins' claim. Whoever was really responsible for handing out the suspension isn't even the point. The point is, after Cousins' remark, the Kings did absolutely nothing to back up the coach.

It's pretty clear now that anyone coaching the Kings has to bend over backwards to Cousin's if he wants to stay relevant in the organization.

Dave Joerger, if he wants to stay relevant as the head coach, pretty much can't say anything other than what he said.

Or maybe he's just sticking up for him because the reporters at Sac Bee (outside of Jason Jones) are a bunch of hacks? Seriously, have you read any Ailene Voison articles, or columns by Furillo? All they do is attack Cousins. They blatantly and explicitly call him fat, an **** and bully when they are actually the bullies. I'm not justifying what Cousins did but there's going to be a breaking point when you are consistently attacked by your local media of all people. And then you get this article painting Furillo as someone whose life was in danger and totally embellishing the sympathy for him to further villify Cousins. Everything Joerger said is 100% true so I don't know why the angle of "he has to say this to not get fired" is even relevant.

Cousins IS a bully. He bullies his franchise. He bullies his coaches. He bullies his teammates. He bullies the refs. He bullies the media. He even bullies random people at nightclubs, from the sound of things.

Seems to me that the local media is just telling it like it is about this guy, and he can't handle it. He's used to being surrounded by enablers who tell him what he wants to hear.

[codydaze]

They've hitched their wagon to him. Vlade Divac once asked Cousins if he wanted George Karl fired.

Then there was the incident when Cousins cussed out Karl in front of the whole team. He was suspended one game.

Cousins' response to the suspension? He said the suspension came from George Karl and not the organization. And the Kings organization said nothing to refute Cousins' claim. Whoever was really responsible for handing out the suspension isn't even the point. The point is, after Cousins' remark, the Kings did absolutely nothing to back up the coach.

It's pretty clear now that anyone coaching the Kings has to bend over backwards to Cousin's if he wants to stay relevant in the organization.

Dave Joerger, if he wants to stay relevant as the head coach, pretty much can't say anything other than what he said.

Or maybe he's just sticking up for him because the reporters at Sac Bee (outside of Jason Jones) are a bunch of hacks? Seriously, have you read any Ailene Voison articles, or columns by Furillo? All they do is attack Cousins. They blatantly and explicitly call him fat, an **** and bully when they are actually the bullies. I'm not justifying what Cousins did but there's going to be a breaking point when you are consistently attacked by your local media of all people. And then you get this article painting Furillo as someone whose life was in danger and totally embellishing the sympathy for him to further villify Cousins. Everything Joerger said is 100% true so I don't know why the angle of "he has to say this to not get fired" is even relevant.

Cousins IS a bully. He bullies his franchise. He bullies his coaches. He bullies his teammates. He bullies the refs. He bullies the media. He even bullies random people at nightclubs, from the sound of things.

Seems to me that the local media is just telling it like it is about this guy, and he can't handle it. He's used to being surrounded by enablers who tell him what he wants to hear.

So he bullied the franchise into trading his friend and future all-star teammate in Isaiah Thomas? He buillied the franchise into firing the first coach he had mutual respect with in Mike Malone? He bullied the franchise into drafting Jimmer, TRob, Mclemore, Stauskas and Papgiannis? When has he bullied a coach? You mean George Karl who outright said he wanted to move him before he even took a step into the locker room? Who never wanted him on the team? Or do you mean Westphal who gave an ultimatum to the franchise of "him or me"? What teammates has he bullied? Yelling at Stauskas during practice? Lol come on. Barking at and complaining to officials is not bullying.

You're suggesting he's a bully because you saw someone write that he is and that's Ailene Voisin who hates Cousins with a fiery passion and has constantly attacked him in her blog posts. He has an attitude problem. Attitude problems =/= bullying.

On the other hand, this is how Voisin writes about Cousins in just about all of her coverage:

But tis his season to gripe. Or, at the very least, his day to complain.

An initial Flagrant 2 on Cousins. In the closing minutes of a tight game between regional rivals. When was the last time that happened?

To the everlasting credit of the refs, the play was reviewed, the call downgraded to an offensive foul and near-anarchy averted.

[MartinToVaught]

He has bullied his franchise into running off coaches on his command and defending his outbursts - even though he has led the Kings to nothing but sub-mediocrity and embarrassment.

He literally punched a teammate on the team flight because he was mad at not getting the ball on the last play.

The way Cousins behaves is ridiculous. Just because the Kings' front office makes dumb moves doesn't justify Cousins' actions. The Pelicans are no better and you still don't see AD acting like this.

[FNQ]

I dont think the reporter comes out looking good but at a certain point Cousins has to know his reputation and, real or not, respect the fact that he's perceived negatively throughout the league because of it.

Theres a much better way to express frustration against a member of the press than this. He could have come out of this looking more mature than the writer, and he didn't.

[codydaze]

He has bullied his franchise into running off coaches on his command and defending his outbursts - even though he has led the Kings to nothing but sub-mediocrity and embarrassment.

He literally punched a teammate on the team flight because he was mad at not getting the ball on the last play.

The way Cousins behaves is ridiculous. Just because the Kings' front office makes dumb moves doesn't justify Cousins' actions. The Pelicans are no better and you still don't see AD acting like this.

Let's take a look at his head coaches.

Paul Westphal - Ran off by Cousins? Maybe, but by his command? No. Westphal dug his own grave on that one by penning a letter saying it was Demarcus or him. Gotten another head coaching gig? No.

Keith Smart - Ran off by Cousins? No. Fired with change of ownership.

Mike Malone - Ran off by Cousins? He was Cousins' favorite coach.

Ty Corbin - Ran off by Cousins? No. He was a temporary head coach and "fired" due to the dumb decision by management to hire him officially.

George Karl - Ran off by Cousins? Sure, but it goes both way with Karl trying to run him out of town.

Dave Joerger - Another coach Cousins respects. Not running him out.

So you got like a 1.5/6.

He hasn't led us anywhere because we've never had a good roster. I've explained this a few posts above. Also, I explained how your Blake Griffin is more of a bully than Cousins. Compains to refs just as much, if not more, albeit in a less animated way. Punches team employees and pulls their heads into simulating lude acts on the bench. That, in my opinion, is a bully.

[codydaze]

I dont think the reporter comes out looking good but at a certain point Cousins has to know his reputation and, real or not, respect the fact that he's perceived negatively throughout the league because of it.

Theres a much better way to express frustration against a member of the press than this. He could have come out of this looking more mature than the writer, and he didn't.

This, We're not saying he's right for his actions or justifying them but there's two parties involved here and you can only be poked and prodded so much before you react. He just needs to control how he reacts.

[MartinToVaught]

Anyone who thinks Blake's behavior is worse than Cousins' is too delusional to be reasoned with.

[codydaze]

Anyone who thinks Blake's behavior is worse than Cousins' is too delusional to be reasoned with.

Lol ok, man. I'll just say one last time that bullying and having an attitude problem are two different things.

Cousins incidents he was personally involved with:
1) Punching Donte Greene in the face five years ago
2) Aggressively barking at reporter in locker room
3) In the same nightclub as Matt Barnes during his altercation/In the same nightclub as Jaleel Cousins during his altercation

Blake incidents he was personally invovled with:
1) Punching team trainer in face and missing time with broken hand
2) Assaulting someone in Las Vegas nightclub

Missing anything?