DeMarcus Cousins to the Wolves?

[Nick K]

I've heard some talk of maybe going after Demarcus Cousins. I love his talent but he seems to be a problem guy. Bad temper etc. I've heard he's mellowed some over the last few years. He'd sure be great insurance as another big. What do you all think?

Connelly knows him well.

[winforlose]

I've heard some talk of maybe going after Demarcus Cousins. I love his talent but he seems to be a problem guy. Bad temper etc. I've heard he's mellowed some over the last few years. He'd sure be great insurance as another big. What do you all think?

Connelly knows him well.

I doubt it. I think the combination of low minutes and small market might be an issue for him. If we promised him 15-20 a game maybe. But even if he was above Naz in the depth chart (big if,) he would still be seeing few if any minutes if we go 48 minutes of all NBA center with KAT moving over when Rudy is resting.

[SO_MONEY]

I've heard some talk of maybe going after Demarcus Cousins. I love his talent but he seems to be a problem guy. Bad temper etc. I've heard he's mellowed some over the last few years. He'd sure be great insurance as another big. What do you all think?

Connelly knows him well.

I think a conventional PF is our biggest need, but I don't know if we go to 15. And if we make a trade that causes us to sign someone, if we otherwise wouldn't, maybe PF is no longer the biggest need. Hard to tell what we do, but we have a glut of 3/4s and 5s. So right now Cousins is part of what we need the least.

[wolves_89]

I could see Connelly promising Cousins that he would be the third big (putting Naz out of the rotation) who would get at least 20 minutes a night (and becoming a starter if KAT or Gobert are out). I think Cousins over Reid would make the team quite a bit better while increasing our depth significantly. My biggest concern would be whether Cousins can play the center role in drop coverage successfully.

[Tjstangeland18]

Cousins has worn out is welcome with the culture we want to establish. If Dieng still has anything left in the tank, a great locker room guy and can fill in when needed. That's who I want.

[winforlose]

Cousins has worn out is welcome with the culture we want to establish. If Dieng still has anything left in the tank, a great locker room guy and can fill in when needed. That's who I want.

Signed elsewhere, I believe with Atlanta or San Antonio.

[wolves_89]

Both Connelly and Finch have first hand experience with Cousins, so I'm fairly confident they have a good idea of how he would fit both on the court and off. If Cousins ends up with Minnesota, I'm not going to have any real concerns about making it work.

[theGreatRC]

Kept my eye on him last year when he was on the Bucks & Nuggets because I have been so confused as to how his career took the turn it did even with injuries.

He can still get you a bucket & won't be a liability when he's on the floor, but don't ask him to be your anchor on D..as a 3rd big, you can't go wrong with Cousins, who knows if he comes here for that role, but he might not have many options

He gave Milwaukee 9/6 in 17 minutes and Denver 9/5.5 in 14mpg for Denver.

For the vet min, you'd take that any day, but it all depends on his attitude and if Connelly liked what he brought to the Nuggets when he was the GM

[winforlose]

Kept my eye on him last year when he was on the Bucks & Nuggets because I have been so confused as to how his career took the turn it did even with injuries.

He can still get you a bucket & won't be a liability when he's on the floor, but don't ask him to be your anchor on D..as a 3rd big, you can't go wrong with Cousins, who knows if he comes here for that role, but he might not have many options

He gave Milwaukee 9/6 in 17 minutes and Denver 9/5.5 in 14mpg for Denver.

For the vet min, you'd take that any day, but it all depends on his attitude and if Connelly liked what he brought to the Nuggets when he was the GM

Do you really want both KAT and Rudy on the bench at the same time in the regular season? If yes, this makes some sense, (though it buries Naz,) but if not then Naz is passable with Knight behind him and your better off with a PF.

[theGreatRC]

Kept my eye on him last year when he was on the Bucks & Nuggets because I have been so confused as to how his career took the turn it did even with injuries.

He can still get you a bucket & won't be a liability when he's on the floor, but don't ask him to be your anchor on D..as a 3rd big, you can't go wrong with Cousins, who knows if he comes here for that role, but he might not have many options

He gave Milwaukee 9/6 in 17 minutes and Denver 9/5.5 in 14mpg for Denver.

For the vet min, you'd take that any day, but it all depends on his attitude and if Connelly liked what he brought to the Nuggets when he was the GM

Do you really want both KAT and Rudy on the bench at the same time in the regular season? If yes, this makes some sense, (though it buries Naz,) but if not then Naz is passable with Knight behind him and your better off with a PF.

He's an insurance big; will get minutes if KAT or Rudy can't play, get in foul trouble, etc.

Doubt he comes here, but with the ties to Connelly, who knows

[theGreatRC]

Yo?

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[Domejandro]

I've heard some talk of maybe going after Demarcus Cousins. I love his talent but he seems to be a problem guy. Bad temper etc. I've heard he's mellowed some over the last few years. He'd sure be great insurance as another big. What do you all think?

Connelly knows him well.

To briefly comment on this, the bad temper stuff has been debunked/irrelevant for a long time; he is known to be a good teammate.

[Dewey]

He'd be a nice add to fill in 10-15 minutes a night if we could move Naz for a vet PF

[slick21]

I've heard some talk of maybe going after Demarcus Cousins. I love his talent but he seems to be a problem guy. Bad temper etc. I've heard he's mellowed some over the last few years. He'd sure be great insurance as another big. What do you all think?

Connelly knows him well.

To briefly comment on this, the bad temper stuff has been debunked/irrelevant for a long time; he is known to be a good teammate.

Why did the Nuggets decide to sign DeAndre Jordan instead then?

[BlacJacMac]

I've heard some talk of maybe going after Demarcus Cousins. I love his talent but he seems to be a problem guy. Bad temper etc. I've heard he's mellowed some over the last few years. He'd sure be great insurance as another big. What do you all think?

Connelly knows him well.

To briefly comment on this, the bad temper stuff has been debunked/irrelevant for a long time; he is known to be a good teammate.

Why did the Nuggets decide to sign DeAndre Jordan instead then?

Maybe Jordan is more willing to just sit at the end of the bench for the minimum than DMC?

Jordan has nothing left and he signed like 3 seconds into Free Agency.

[shrink]

Why did the Nuggets decide to sign DeAndre Jordan instead then?

Maybe Jordan is more willing to just sit at the end of the bench for the minimum than DMC?

Jordan has nothing left and he signed like 3 seconds into Free Agency.

That crossed my mind too. Or that Cousins, even though he has made money in the past, would prefer more money, but I should probably explain that it wouldn’t be much more, to anyone unfamiliar with the vet min rules.

The NBA wants to encourage teams to keep well-known names in the league for fans, but they realize it might be too hard on team’s caps to choose a DeAndre Jordan over a cheap second round rookie, that would only cost you $1 mil on a vet min. So the NBA has a rule that while the vet min increases with more experience, the cap hold (towards the lux) will only be like you are adding someone with two years of experience.

Yrs Vet Min
0 $1,017,781
1 $1,637,966
2 $1,836,090
3 $1,902,133
4 $1,968,175
5 $2,133,278
6 $2,298,385
7 $2,463,490
8 $2,628,597
9 $2,641,682
10+ $2,905,851

For example, Cousins has over 10 years of NBA experience, so the Wolves would pay him $2.9 mil for a vet min deal. His cap hold would only be $1.836, and that’s give us plenty of room under the lux. However, if Cousins wanted more than that, like $4.1 mil, we’d have to use the BAE, and he would be a $4.1 mil hit to our payroll. So with his years of experience, the difference between a vet min deal and the BAE isn’t huge, but maybe he wants that extra $1.2.

So Boogie might have said, “call me” because he wants more than the BAE, and he knows we got it, and are one of the few teams that might use it. Or he might have specifically wants to be on the Wolves. Or he might have just wanted to chat with a buddy, and it had nothing to do with basketball. But it’s definitely interesting!

[Dewey]

I've heard some talk of maybe going after Demarcus Cousins. I love his talent but he seems to be a problem guy. Bad temper etc. I've heard he's mellowed some over the last few years. He'd sure be great insurance as another big. What do you all think?

Connelly knows him well.

To briefly comment on this, the bad temper stuff has been debunked/irrelevant for a long time; he is known to be a good teammate.

Why did the Nuggets decide to sign DeAndre Jordan instead then?

Different GM… different team. We know DC and Connelly have a good relationship, but still lots of little factors to be hashed out as discussed in previous posts. I like the idea of him as a 3rd big along with Gobert and Towns

[wolves_89]

One other option for Cousins would be a sign-and-trade deal with the Nuggets using the $4.4M TPE from the Gobert trade. I believe Cousins could get 120% of the vet minimum going that route (which would be $3.5M). That would save the BAE for next offseason. The Nuggets might be willing just for the TPE it would generate.

[Colbinii]

I fully expect Minnesota to roster 14 and keep a spot for a buyout candidate. There is real value in rostering 14.

[winforlose]

I fully expect Minnesota to roster 14 and keep a spot for a buyout candidate. There is real value in rostering 14.

We might move Rivers or Forbes at that point to get back to 14. I was reaching the BAE and found this “ The bi-annual exception starts to prorate on January 10, decreasing in value by 1/177th each day until the end of the regular season” from https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/03/hoops-rumors-glossary-bi-annual-exception-2.html

If this is true, we get more flexibility by using it now and then freeing up a roster spot later.