Prime DeMarcus Cousins in today's NBA

[SUPERVILLAIN]

Where would he rank among today's centers?

There are plenty of great centers right now. Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Karl Anthony-Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Bam Adebayo and more.

DeMarcus Cousins best season
2016-17: 27 PPG, 11 RPG, 4.6 APG

[SNPA]

Jokic and Embiid. That’s it.

[falcolombardi]

worse than embiid, jokic, giannis, gobert, green and healthy davis, maybe i would pick adebayo and ayton over him

[rand]

Cousins gets overrated because of what a tremendously talented beast he was. Fantastic explosiveness and agility at his bulk with good hands and natural handling and passing skill but he didn't approach his game with enough discipline on either end of the court.

Shot way too many 2PA jumpers through most of his Kings tenure considering his marginal accuracy from those ranges. Developing a 3pt shot and shifting a big chunk of those 2PA jumpers into 3PAs improved his efficiency overall but also dragged him away from the paint where he was most effective scoring inside and smashing the offensive glass. Athleticism, brute strength and ball talent made him dangerous in the post but his overall post game lacked structure and his finishing skills were always Dwight-like, which is not a compliment. If he had the touch that Valanciunas has around the rim he would have been nigh unstoppable. Natural passing talent was a double-edged sword since it was never carefully harnessed into a functioning system and combined with his efforts to create off the dribble from 15+ feet made him quite a TO machine.

For a couple of seasons Cousins was a substantial impact defender but he was often out of position and despite his great natural athleticism he probably played 10-15 lbs over what would have been ideal for his defensive mobility. He also had a penchant for picking up dumb fouls and getting involved in distracting personal battles with opposing big men.

I'd put prime Cousins at #5 behind Jokic, Embiid, Gobert and Towns (assuming Draymond is a PF) but he had the talent to be #3.

[Jaivl]

Not top 5 (Jokic, Embiid, Gobert, Towns, Green). Maybe top 10.

[pillwenney]

Cousins gets overrated because of what a tremendously talented beast he was. Fantastic explosiveness and agility at his bulk with good hands and natural handling and passing skill but he didn't approach his game with enough discipline on either end of the court.

Shot way too many 2PA jumpers through most of his Kings tenure considering his marginal accuracy from those ranges. Developing a 3pt shot and shifting a big chunk of those 2PA jumpers into 3PAs improved his efficiency overall but also dragged him away from the paint where he was most effective scoring inside and smashing the offensive glass. Athleticism, brute strength and ball talent made him dangerous in the post but his overall post game lacked structure and his finishing skills were always Dwight-like, which is not a compliment. If he had the touch that Valanciunas has around the rim he would have been nigh unstoppable. Natural passing talent was a double-edged sword since it was never carefully harnessed into a functioning system and combined with his efforts to create off the dribble from 15+ feet made him quite a TO machine.

For a couple of seasons Cousins was a substantial impact defender but he was often out of position and despite his great natural athleticism he probably played 10-15 lbs over what would have been ideal for his defensive mobility. He also had a penchant for picking up dumb fouls and getting involved in distracting personal battles with opposing big men.

I'd put prime Cousins at #5 behind Jokic, Embiid, Gobert and Towns (assuming Draymond is a PF) but he had the talent to be #3.

I don't disagree with the greater points here for the most part, but definitely on some specifics. Cousins was never an explosive athlete in the conventional sense. His main problem in finishing wasn't touch, but lack of explosiveness combined with, as you said, a lack of discipline. He was however, extremely athletic in terms of his combination of size, agility, and at least potential for body control.

It's so hard to project him into any situation, really, because IMO, he really needed a perfect situation. Sac wasn't it for the most part, and I kinda doubt New Orleans was as well, which isn't even that much of a knock on either franchise. I kinda believe that probably 90% of situations in the league wouldn't be right for him. Like you said, he needed a disciplined system, but that also involves a coach he would listen to. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think this is impossible. We saw it developing the year he got the meningitis and Vivek went all Vivek and fired Malone.

If we assume that he's in that ideal situation, he's still definitely behind Embiid and Jokic, but right in the thick of the Gobert/Towns/Bam tier IMO.

If we just plop him in the league and cross our fingers that the situation is the right one for him, I think it's likely he's merely above average and the empty calories player many currently view him as.

[rand]

Cousins gets overrated because of what a tremendously talented beast he was. Fantastic explosiveness and agility at his bulk with good hands and natural handling and passing skill but he didn't approach his game with enough discipline on either end of the court.

Shot way too many 2PA jumpers through most of his Kings tenure considering his marginal accuracy from those ranges. Developing a 3pt shot and shifting a big chunk of those 2PA jumpers into 3PAs improved his efficiency overall but also dragged him away from the paint where he was most effective scoring inside and smashing the offensive glass. Athleticism, brute strength and ball talent made him dangerous in the post but his overall post game lacked structure and his finishing skills were always Dwight-like, which is not a compliment. If he had the touch that Valanciunas has around the rim he would have been nigh unstoppable. Natural passing talent was a double-edged sword since it was never carefully harnessed into a functioning system and combined with his efforts to create off the dribble from 15+ feet made him quite a TO machine.

For a couple of seasons Cousins was a substantial impact defender but he was often out of position and despite his great natural athleticism he probably played 10-15 lbs over what would have been ideal for his defensive mobility. He also had a penchant for picking up dumb fouls and getting involved in distracting personal battles with opposing big men.

I'd put prime Cousins at #5 behind Jokic, Embiid, Gobert and Towns (assuming Draymond is a PF) but he had the talent to be #3.

I don't disagree with the greater points here for the most part, but definitely on some specifics. Cousins was never an explosive athlete in the conventional sense. His main problem in finishing wasn't touch, but lack of explosiveness combined with, as you said, a lack of discipline. He was however, extremely athletic in terms of his combination of size, agility, and at least potential for body control.

It's so hard to project him into any situation, really, because IMO, he really needed a perfect situation. Sac wasn't it for the most part, and I kinda doubt New Orleans was as well, which isn't even that much of a knock on either franchise. I kinda believe that probably 90% of situations in the league wouldn't be right for him. Like you said, he needed a disciplined system, but that also involves a coach he would listen to. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think this is impossible. We saw it developing the year he got the meningitis and Vivek went all Vivek and fired Malone.

If we assume that he's in that ideal situation, he's still definitely behind Embiid and Jokic, but right in the thick of the Gobert/Towns/Bam tier IMO.

If we just plop him in the league and cross our fingers that the situation is the right one for him, I think it's likely he's merely above average and the empty calories player many currently view him as.

After reading your post I went to Youtube and looked at old DMC Kings highlights and realized you're right, he was never exceptionally explosive even considering his size. His explosiveness was still well above average for a 270 lbs player but hardly "fantastic". His agility and - you're right again - body control at 270 lbs were the really fantastic athletic attributes.

[parsnips33]

He is one of those guys you really wish you could've seen in the right situation. Josh Smith is another one for me

Both kinda carved out late career roles, but it would have been great to see them in their prime put it all together