Peak-Domantas Sabonis VS Demarcus Cousins

[GSP]

Who u got?

[SpreeS]

Sabas

1. BBIQ
2. Better teammate, better personality...better chemistry, less problems
3. Better built around - more oriented to team offence as a whole

[Colbinii]

I'll never forget the poster whose primary purpose on this forum was posting DeMarcus Cousins Per-36 numbers and then comparing him to Shaq on a regular basis.

In terms of talent, Cousins is in the Top Tier of Centers all-time. Unfortunately, there is a reason he is playing profession basketball outside of the NBA at the age of 32.

[pillwenney]

Cousins is signficantly more talented. I'd much rather have Sabonis on my team, and not just for chemistry reasons. BBIQ goes a long, long way.

[Doctor MJ]

I'll never forget the poster whose primary purpose on this forum was posting DeMarcus Cousins Per-36 numbers and then comparing him to Shaq on a regular basis.

In terms of talent, Cousins is in the Top Tier of Centers all-time. Unfortunately, there is a reason he is playing profession basketball outside of the NBA at the age of 32.

I remember the poster who I went back and forth with repeatedly on the debate between Cousins and Anthony Davis. He was quite adamant that Cousins was already better and would have the better career.

In his defense, he was a Kings fan, so it's understandable he had his hopes up.

Hope whoever it was he's enjoying the Kings' run now!

[GeorgeMarcus]

I'm afraid people will forget Boogie was actually really good because of the way his career fizzled. Still, I voted Sabo as I prefer his style of play in the context of winning basketball. He's a better decision maker and a more grounding presence for his teammates

[GeorgeMarcus]

I'll never forget the poster whose primary purpose on this forum was posting DeMarcus Cousins Per-36 numbers and then comparing him to Shaq on a regular basis.

In terms of talent, Cousins is in the Top Tier of Centers all-time. Unfortunately, there is a reason he is playing profession basketball outside of the NBA at the age of 32.

I remember the poster who I went back and forth with repeatedly on the debate between Cousins and Anthony Davis. He was quite adamant that Cousins was already better and would have the better career.

In his defense, he was a Kings fan, so it's understandable he had his hopes up.

Hope whoever it was he's enjoying the Kings' run now!

If we're thinking of the same poster, he was also an advocate for James Wiseman lol

[tsherkin]

I'm afraid people will forget Boogie was actually really good because of the way his career fizzled. Still, I voted Sabo as I prefer his style of play in the context of winning basketball. He's a better decision maker and a more grounding presence for his teammates

Eeeeh. "Really good" is aggressive for a guy who was only so good on O outside of 2017. He certainly had great potential and we saw a good season from him in 2017 but overall, "underwhelming and problematic" describes him better than "really good."

[Colbinii]

I'm afraid people will forget Boogie was actually really good because of the way his career fizzled. Still, I voted Sabo as I prefer his style of play in the context of winning basketball. He's a better decision maker and a more grounding presence for his teammates

Eeeeh. "Really good" is aggressive for a guy who was only so good on O outside of 2017. He certainly had great potential and we saw a good season from him in 2017 but overall, "underwhelming and problematic" describes him better than "really good."

I agree.

Could have been really good or "flashes of being really good" is a better way to describe Cousins than "Really Good".

[dooki667]

I'll never forget Boogie offensive fouling the heck out of Timmy screaming Timmy like ok time to go to school young fella

[MyUniBroDavis]

Cousins was pretty darn good on offense at least, can’t help but think situation would have hurt him one way or the other

In New Orleans he was better than AD till he got hurt, but AD went to a different level after he got hurt too

[SNPA]

Cousins is the more talented player.

Sabonis is the harder working player.

It depends on what you need, who is the coach, etc.

People like to downplay Cousins. At his peak he is as skilled offensively as almost any center ever. Just a beast. His defense is hurt by the changing era. Cousins comes of age as the three point era does, which hurts centers in general and certainly centers like Cousins. Put Cousins in the league ten years earlier and…

[trex_8063]

I'll never forget the poster whose primary purpose on this forum was posting DeMarcus Cousins Per-36 numbers and then comparing him to Shaq on a regular basis.

In terms of talent, Cousins is in the Top Tier of Centers all-time. Unfortunately, there is a reason he is playing profession basketball outside of the NBA at the age of 32.

I remember the poster who I went back and forth with repeatedly on the debate between Cousins and Anthony Davis. He was quite adamant that Cousins was already better and would have the better career.

In his defense, he was a Kings fan, so it's understandable he had his hopes up.

Hope whoever it was he's enjoying the Kings' run now!

I feel like that was Winsome Gerbil who was super-bullish on Cousins; but I may be misremembering.

To answer OP, I think Cousins was phenomenally talented, and in pure what they do on the court it's super-close.

But man, I'd really rather have Sabonis as teammate/locker-room presence. Also [so far, at least], it seems he's probably more durable. So I'd go with him.

[Clyde Frazier]

I think it's likely the kings make multiple playoff appearances with Cousins + Mike Malone. The scapegoat firing when Cousins got mono is one of the worst decisions I've ever seen. That said, I still voted sabonis. He's extremely talented in his own right and isn't volatile like cousins.

[McBubbles]

Cousins is the more talented player.

Sabonis is the harder working player.

It depends on what you need, who is the coach, etc.

People like to downplay Cousins. At his peak he is as skilled offensively as almost any center ever. Just a beast. His defense is hurt by the changing era. Cousins comes of age as the three point era does, which hurts centers in general and certainly centers like Cousins. Put Cousins in the league ten years earlier and…

I don't agree with this . His "skills" were all star level, not ATG level.

He was great at getting to the rim, getting there between 8-9 times a game between 2014-2018, but routinely converted less than 60% of his shots, which is pretty bad.

His paint percentage reached 40% once in that time span, routinely being between 36%-38%, which is mediocre.

His mid-range percentage reached 40% once in that time span, routinely being between 35%-38% which is ass.

Of the 11 seasons he was in the league, he averaged equal to or more turnovers than assists for 9 of them. Pretty ass.

Boogie's best strengths were his decent 3 point percentages for a big man (averaged 36% on approximately 6 attempts per game from 2017-2018), his free throw rate and his rebounding. His actual "skill level" wasn't anything to write home about imo. Being mediocre at several things < being good at less things. It's my issue with people saying Kobe is the most "skilled" scorer of all time. If the term "skilled" just means "can do things" but doesn't mean "can do things effectively and impactfully" then idk what we're talking about at that point.

Sans rebounding Blake Griffin was basically better than Boogie on every area of the court, including eventually 3 point shooting. Don't hear anyone hype him up like people do Boogie though, not at the time or now ._.

Hell, 2011 Dwight Howard was better around the rim, in the paint and from midrange than 2018 Demarcus Cousins, whilst on higher the volume in all of these areas mind you, whilst also doubling Boogie's OREB, yet I only ever hear people talk about how Dwight sucked and is one of the LEAST offensively talented centers ever.

Boogie's RAPM is also in line with that of an all star / fringe All-NBA 3rd teamer.

A combination of Cousins being the best player on bad teams allowing him to put up big box score numbers, him doing "skilled" things at a high volume like mid range shooting or ball handling, and him peaking in one of the worst time periods for centers from 2014-2018 led to NBA media hyping him up to be some sort of great What If™ player, when in reality his ceiling in a perfectly ideal environment was probably an efficient 22/12/3 guy with average defence. Which is good mind you, top 6-12 player, but not ATG center good, especially not most talented offensive bigman ever good.

[tsherkin]

Put Cousins in the league ten years earlier and…

And what?

He had turnover issues. BIG turnover issues. He had defensive issues even then. We'd seen teams using the PnR to go after Shaq as early as 2004, it's not like exposing slower-footed dudes was a new move when Cousins was in the league. His per-possession value wasn't there compared to the guys people wanted to compare him to. Even today, post guys who are actually worth it show through.

Cousins was okay, and he had one noteworthy season, but his rep far exceeded his actual on-court value and it wasn't era-related.

[Black Feet]

I'll never forget the poster whose primary purpose on this forum was posting DeMarcus Cousins Per-36 numbers and then comparing him to Shaq on a regular basis.

In terms of talent, Cousins is in the Top Tier of Centers all-time. Unfortunately, there is a reason he is playing profession basketball outside of the NBA at the age of 32.

yes, and that reason is injuries. He was a 25/12 all star before going through quad/acl/achilles injuries.

[Johnny Tomala]

Cousins. He was best Center in the league until he injured his Achilles. Pelicans were on the roll and beat Rockets in that game he got injured. People blamed Cousins for Kings struggles but it was unfair. If he didn't injure his Achilles he would make HOF.

[70sFan]

I'm not going to trash Cousins here, but it's definitely Sabonis.

[SNPA]

Cousins is the more talented player.

Sabonis is the harder working player.

It depends on what you need, who is the coach, etc.

People like to downplay Cousins. At his peak he is as skilled offensively as almost any center ever. Just a beast. His defense is hurt by the changing era. Cousins comes of age as the three point era does, which hurts centers in general and certainly centers like Cousins. Put Cousins in the league ten years earlier and…

I don't agree with this . His "skills" were all star level, not ATG level.

He was great at getting to the rim, getting there between 8-9 times a game between 2014-2018, but routinely converted less than 60% of his shots, which is pretty bad.

His paint percentage reached 40% once in that time span, routinely being between 36%-38%, which is mediocre.

His mid-range percentage reached 40% once in that time span, routinely being between 35%-38% which is ass.

Of the 11 seasons he was in the league, he averaged equal to or more turnovers than assists for 9 of them. Pretty ass.

Boogie's best strengths were his decent 3 point percentages for a big man (averaged 36% on approximately 6 attempts per game from 2017-2018), his free throw rate and his rebounding. His actual "skill level" wasn't anything to write home about imo. Being mediocre at several things < being good at less things. It's my issue with people saying Kobe is the most "skilled" scorer of all time. If the term "skilled" just means "can do things" but doesn't mean "can do things effectively and impactfully" then idk what we're talking about at that point.

Sans rebounding Blake Griffin was basically better than Boogie on every area of the court, including eventually 3 point shooting. Don't hear anyone hype him up like people do Boogie though, not at the time or now ._.

Hell, 2011 Dwight Howard was better around the rim, in the paint and from midrange than 2018 Demarcus Cousins, whilst on higher the volume in all of these areas mind you, whilst also doubling Boogie's OREB, yet I only ever hear people talk about how Dwight sucked and is one of the LEAST offensively talented centers ever.

Boogie's RAPM is also in line with that of an all star / fringe All-NBA 3rd teamer.

A combination of Cousins being the best player on bad teams allowing him to put up big box score numbers, him doing "skilled" things at a high volume like mid range shooting or ball handling, and him peaking in one of the worst time periods for centers from 2014-2018 led to NBA media hyping him up to be some sort of great What If™ player, when in reality his ceiling in a perfectly ideal environment was probably an efficient 22/12/3 guy with average defence. Which is good mind you, top 6-12 player, but not ATG center good, especially not most talented offensive bigman ever good.

His teams sucked. His coaches sucked. His owners sucked. His mentors sucked. His attitude sucked. Hell, even his arena sucked.

All that drags his efficiency down, which is your basic point.

It doesn’t drag down his skill level. Boogie had skill all over the floor, in all kinds of ways. He is more skilled than Sabonis, that doesn’t make him more conducive to winning.

Also note I said almost any center, I didn’t put him at the top.