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Top 15, #1 among centers.

Talent wise he's up there with AD or KAT but he's won 30+ games just once in his career. Due to his attitude or whatever, he's not in the top 10 for me. But based on the insane talent, he's definitely top 20.

ItsThatEasy wrote:

G35 wrote:Other...make the playoffs and then we can talk......

Lol so you don't think Cousins is a Top 25 player because he played for that dumpster fire of organization in the toughest conference in the league?

Definitely.

- Either Demarcus is not as talented as we think he is and is not a difference maker in turning around an organization (think about it...the Warriors use to be thought of as the worst team in Northern California)

- Demarcus is uber-talented but his talents do not blend in well within a team concept and so his positives do not outweigh the negatives i.e. Demarcus only helps Demarcus

This is the problem I have with people and sports. They want to somehow pin the blame on something else for their failings.

We all have a sad story...every single person can come out and talk about how the deck is/was stacked against them.

No one cares.

What people do care about is when you turn your sad story into a success story. I'll give you an example. The Oakland Raiders and Derek Carr and Reggie McKenzie.

- For the longest time the Oakland Raiders were thought to be, to use your words, "dumpster fire organization". They were thought to be stuck in the past and not able to adapt to modern ideas. The Raiders were trolled as a team no player wanted to go to.

So how do you change that "dumpster fire organization" perception? There is only one way and that is to win. Reggie McKenzie stopped overpaying for players and started fresh. Cut bait with players who wanted too much money and beat the competition through the draft. Derek Carr was drafted in 2014 in the 2nd round. He was not the Raiders first round pick, he was the 2nd after Khalil Mack, who was a great pick but he is not the reason why the Raiders turned it around.

Derek Carr bonded with his Raiders teammates and brought a new level of confidence. It did not happen overnight. Derek Carr lost his 1st 10 games. The Raiders also played in a conference with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, and in the toughest division in football with the Kansas City Chiefs and Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos.

There are many reasons why people could doubt Derek Carr, he was brother of David Carr, a quarterback who was also drafted to save the Houston Texans organization. Unfortunately, it did not happen they nearly got David killed behind a terrible line that set the record for sacks in a season. David Carr was heavily criticized and many thought that Derek may have some residuals from his brother.

But Derek Carr has been nothing but positive and a calming influence in the Raiders rebirth. The Raiders have slowly come back from dumpster fire organization status to a place where free agents want to go. He has rekindled Michael Crabtree's career (one reason why I say Colin Kaepernick is not a good QB because he made Crabtree look bad), Marshawn Lynch would not come out of retirement if he did not like what he saw out of the QB. Now the Raiders have so much positivity surrounding their organization, Raiders support in the media is near universal.

Your best player has to do that for organization to succeed. People think these things happen by accident. Untrue.

Some players have certain qualities that lead to success and some players don't. The proof is in team success. The Kings gave Demarcus every chance to succeed and even with all of Demarcus' talent (and he has a lot) the team felt they were better off going in a new direction and I agree......

purplepowerade wrote:

NBAFan93 wrote:I'd rank him #9 or #10 in the league. I think he's an outstanding talent - he just needs to prove he can be instrumental to taking a team to the playoffs and then I think he'll be ranked even higher.

He's a much better player than Draymond for instance, but most player rankings are putting Draymond above him. That's just cause of team circumstances IMO.

agree completely

especially with the draymond statement, in my honest opinion anyone who knows anything about basketball can see that boogie is a much much better player than dray

if I'm the Warriors GM and I have a offer of a switch between Draymond and Cousins I reject the proposal... always

but I don't understand anything about bb

If he had the ability to carry a team or more specific make his team better even without good talent around him, then maybe he could be in the conversation for top 10 given his offensive ability at the position. But, he hasn't shown that consistently and so I have him in the 15-25 range. His skill has to have equated to playoff runs because of him before he goes into the top 10.
Now if you are just talking ability on the floor 12-15 range, but impact and winning ; 20th

G35 wrote:

ItsThatEasy wrote:

G35 wrote:Other...make the playoffs and then we can talk......

Lol so you don't think Cousins is a Top 25 player because he played for that dumpster fire of organization in the toughest conference in the league?

Definitely.

- Either Demarcus is not as talented as we think he is and is not a difference maker in turning around an organization (think about it...the Warriors use to be thought of as the worst team in Northern California)

- Demarcus is uber-talented but his talents do not blend in well within a team concept and so his positives do not outweigh the negatives i.e. Demarcus only helps Demarcus

This is the problem I have with people and sports. They want to somehow pin the blame on something else for their failings.

We all have a sad story...every single person can come out and talk about how the deck is/was stacked against them.

No one cares.

What people do care about is when you turn your sad story into a success story. I'll give you an example. The Oakland Raiders and Derek Carr and Reggie McKenzie.

- For the longest time the Oakland Raiders were thought to be, to use your words, "dumpster fire organization". They were thought to be stuck in the past and not able to adapt to modern ideas. The Raiders were trolled as a team no player wanted to go to.

So how do you change that "dumpster fire organization" perception? There is only one way and that is to win. Reggie McKenzie stopped overpaying for players and started fresh. Cut bait with players who wanted too much money and beat the competition through the draft. Derek Carr was drafted in 2014 in the 2nd round. He was not the Raiders first round pick, he was the 2nd after Khalil Mack, who was a great pick but he is not the reason why the Raiders turned it around.

Derek Carr bonded with his Raiders teammates and brought a new level of confidence. It did not happen overnight. Derek Carr lost his 1st 10 games. The Raiders also played in a conference with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, and in the toughest division in football with the Kansas City Chiefs and Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos.

There are many reasons why people could doubt Derek Carr, he was brother of David Carr, a quarterback who was also drafted to save the Houston Texans organization. Unfortunately, it did not happen they nearly got David killed behind a terrible line that set the record for sacks in a season. David Carr was heavily criticized and many thought that Derek may have some residuals from his brother.

But Derek Carr has been nothing but positive and a calming influence in the Raiders rebirth. The Raiders have slowly come back from dumpster fire organization status to a place where free agents want to go. He has rekindled Michael Crabtree's career (one reason why I say Colin Kaepernick is not a good QB because he made Crabtree look bad), Marshawn Lynch would not come out of retirement if he did not like what he saw out of the QB. Now the Raiders have so much positivity surrounding their organization, Raiders support in the media is near universal.

Your best player has to do that for organization to succeed. People think these things happen by accident. Untrue.

Some players have certain qualities that lead to success and some players don't. The proof is in team success. The Kings gave Demarcus every chance to succeed and even with all of Demarcus' talent (and he has a lot) the team felt they were better off going in a new direction and I agree......

Stopped reading once you brought up football.

Probably top 20-25. He is not a great defender, not a great 3pt shooter, not a great creator of shots for others. In my opinion, you simply can't be a top 10 player in the league today without being absolutely elite at one of those things.

I'd take:
LeBron
Curry
KD
Leonard
Westbrook
Harden
Paul
Wall
Butler
George
Giannis
Anthony Davis
Draymond
Klay
Gasol
Gobert
Lillard
Kyrie

I guess that's about where I'd start working Cousins in. I don't think he is clearly better than guys like Hayward, Love or Whiteside, but I don't have too much issue with that view.

Top 15 your in denial if you think Draymonds a better player

I have him 20ish. I just don't know how many wins a team where Boogie is the best player gets. His box score stats seem to consistently exceed his impact on the game. If AD, Boogie, & Jrue stay healthy, that team should be no lower than the sixth seed. For me, he has to move the needle this year.

Based on the stats from last year I prefer to look at, he was an inferior player to both Davis and KAT. He was also likely inferior to Beal and arguably even Otto Porter of the Wizards, Wiggins, De Rozan, and Kemba Walker among others.

Top 25 is a stretch.

He had kind of a disappointing year but if he's serious about his weight loss and commitment defensively this year, he could easily be top 7-10. I think making a definitive ranking on him right now isn't that meaningful, there's too much going on with him. Talent wise he's up there with anybody after like the top 4-5 or so.

Him and AD are both among the top 13

ItsThatEasy wrote:

G35 wrote:

ItsThatEasy wrote:
Lol so you don't think Cousins is a Top 25 player because he played for that dumpster fire of organization in the toughest conference in the league?

Definitely.

- Either Demarcus is not as talented as we think he is and is not a difference maker in turning around an organization (think about it...the Warriors use to be thought of as the worst team in Northern California)

- Demarcus is uber-talented but his talents do not blend in well within a team concept and so his positives do not outweigh the negatives i.e. Demarcus only helps Demarcus

This is the problem I have with people and sports. They want to somehow pin the blame on something else for their failings.

We all have a sad story...every single person can come out and talk about how the deck is/was stacked against them.

No one cares.

What people do care about is when you turn your sad story into a success story. I'll give you an example. The Oakland Raiders and Derek Carr and Reggie McKenzie.

- For the longest time the Oakland Raiders were thought to be, to use your words, "dumpster fire organization". They were thought to be stuck in the past and not able to adapt to modern ideas. The Raiders were trolled as a team no player wanted to go to.

So how do you change that "dumpster fire organization" perception? There is only one way and that is to win. Reggie McKenzie stopped overpaying for players and started fresh. Cut bait with players who wanted too much money and beat the competition through the draft. Derek Carr was drafted in 2014 in the 2nd round. He was not the Raiders first round pick, he was the 2nd after Khalil Mack, who was a great pick but he is not the reason why the Raiders turned it around.

Derek Carr bonded with his Raiders teammates and brought a new level of confidence. It did not happen overnight. Derek Carr lost his 1st 10 games. The Raiders also played in a conference with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, and in the toughest division in football with the Kansas City Chiefs and Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos.

There are many reasons why people could doubt Derek Carr, he was brother of David Carr, a quarterback who was also drafted to save the Houston Texans organization. Unfortunately, it did not happen they nearly got David killed behind a terrible line that set the record for sacks in a season. David Carr was heavily criticized and many thought that Derek may have some residuals from his brother.

But Derek Carr has been nothing but positive and a calming influence in the Raiders rebirth. The Raiders have slowly come back from dumpster fire organization status to a place where free agents want to go. He has rekindled Michael Crabtree's career (one reason why I say Colin Kaepernick is not a good QB because he made Crabtree look bad), Marshawn Lynch would not come out of retirement if he did not like what he saw out of the QB. Now the Raiders have so much positivity surrounding their organization, Raiders support in the media is near universal.

Your best player has to do that for organization to succeed. People think these things happen by accident. Untrue.

Some players have certain qualities that lead to success and some players don't. The proof is in team success. The Kings gave Demarcus every chance to succeed and even with all of Demarcus' talent (and he has a lot) the team felt they were better off going in a new direction and I agree......

Stopped reading once you brought up football.

Understand that...i stop paying attention to Demarcus when he doesn't make the playoffs...ahhh sports better than politics right......

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using RealGM mobile app

In basketball a superstar, all by himself, should bring his team at least in the play off race...He is usually out of the play off's picture by February

Best center in the league. Top 10. Don’t @ me.

Dp

Patches Perry wrote:Probably top 20-25. He is not a great defender, not a great 3pt shooter, not a great creator of shots for others. In my opinion, you simply can't be a top 10 player in the league today without being absolutely elite at one of those things.

I'd take:
LeBron
Curry
KD
Leonard
Westbrook
Harden
Paul
Wall
Butler
George
Giannis
Anthony Davis
Draymond
Klay
Gasol
Gobert
Lillard
Kyrie

I guess that's about where I'd start working Cousins in. I don't think he is clearly better than guys like Hayward, Love or Whiteside, but I don't have too much issue with that view.

You dont think he is better than Gobert or even Gasol?

VYoungJrIII wrote:

Patches Perry wrote:Probably top 20-25. He is not a great defender, not a great 3pt shooter, not a great creator of shots for others. In my opinion, you simply can't be a top 10 player in the league today without being absolutely elite at one of those things.

I'd take:
LeBron
Curry
KD
Leonard
Westbrook
Harden
Paul
Wall
Butler
George
Giannis
Anthony Davis
Draymond
Klay
Gasol
Gobert
Lillard
Kyrie

I guess that's about where I'd start working Cousins in. I don't think he is clearly better than guys like Hayward, Love or Whiteside, but I don't have too much issue with that view.

You dont think he is better than Gobert or even Gasol?

I would rather have them, yes.

G35 wrote:

ItsThatEasy wrote:

G35 wrote:

Definitely.

- Either Demarcus is not as talented as we think he is and is not a difference maker in turning around an organization (think about it...the Warriors use to be thought of as the worst team in Northern California)

- Demarcus is uber-talented but his talents do not blend in well within a team concept and so his positives do not outweigh the negatives i.e. Demarcus only helps Demarcus

This is the problem I have with people and sports. They want to somehow pin the blame on something else for their failings.

We all have a sad story...every single person can come out and talk about how the deck is/was stacked against them.

No one cares.

What people do care about is when you turn your sad story into a success story. I'll give you an example. The Oakland Raiders and Derek Carr and Reggie McKenzie.

- For the longest time the Oakland Raiders were thought to be, to use your words, "dumpster fire organization". They were thought to be stuck in the past and not able to adapt to modern ideas. The Raiders were trolled as a team no player wanted to go to.

So how do you change that "dumpster fire organization" perception? There is only one way and that is to win. Reggie McKenzie stopped overpaying for players and started fresh. Cut bait with players who wanted too much money and beat the competition through the draft. Derek Carr was drafted in 2014 in the 2nd round. He was not the Raiders first round pick, he was the 2nd after Khalil Mack, who was a great pick but he is not the reason why the Raiders turned it around.

Derek Carr bonded with his Raiders teammates and brought a new level of confidence. It did not happen overnight. Derek Carr lost his 1st 10 games. The Raiders also played in a conference with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, and in the toughest division in football with the Kansas City Chiefs and Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos.

There are many reasons why people could doubt Derek Carr, he was brother of David Carr, a quarterback who was also drafted to save the Houston Texans organization. Unfortunately, it did not happen they nearly got David killed behind a terrible line that set the record for sacks in a season. David Carr was heavily criticized and many thought that Derek may have some residuals from his brother.

But Derek Carr has been nothing but positive and a calming influence in the Raiders rebirth. The Raiders have slowly come back from dumpster fire organization status to a place where free agents want to go. He has rekindled Michael Crabtree's career (one reason why I say Colin Kaepernick is not a good QB because he made Crabtree look bad), Marshawn Lynch would not come out of retirement if he did not like what he saw out of the QB. Now the Raiders have so much positivity surrounding their organization, Raiders support in the media is near universal.

Your best player has to do that for organization to succeed. People think these things happen by accident. Untrue.

Some players have certain qualities that lead to success and some players don't. The proof is in team success. The Kings gave Demarcus every chance to succeed and even with all of Demarcus' talent (and he has a lot) the team felt they were better off going in a new direction and I agree......

Stopped reading once you brought up football.

Understand that...i stop paying attention to Demarcus when he doesn't make the playoffs...ahhh sports better than politics right......

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using RealGM mobile app

Lmao touché

These rankings are definitely up to individual interpretation. What does better mean? We can't take context out of this. Who has more talent? Who impacts the game more? Who impacts their team more?

When it comes to individual talent, passing the eye test and putting up raw numbers Cousins is easily top 10. But it is not all about that. None of it has added up to winning. New Orleans did not improve when Cousins got there to team up with Davis and Holiday. As a Blazer fan I was nervous that they had become the favorite for the eighth seed. Pels were 2.5 games back of Denver in a four team race with Portland and Sacramento. Nurkic and Cousins were both added around the same time. One propelled his team to a very good second half. The other's team showed no marked improvement (despite mostly healthy Davis, Holiday and Cousins) and finished seven games out of the playoffs.

I rank Draymond higher, but I also realize he has been put in an extraordinary situation. Unlike Cousins, he's made his situation better. Obviously he cannot take over a game offensively like Cousins, but his impact has gone far beyond anything Boogie has done. In terms of being a basketball player there are many things that Green does better then Cousins. Almost every aspect of defense, initiating an offense, making teammates better. These aren't small niche skills. These are extremely impactful.

The biggest problem I have when ranking Cousins is that, depiste the s*** show that was Sacramento, he was never able to elevate them above that for any kind of sustained period. It looked like things may improve in the Malone era, but it never really showed on the court.

All that being said, I have Cousins ranked 16. He is a supremely talented individual and has put up some gaudy raw numbers.