DeMarcus Cousins. How good can he get?

[mattg]

why do people bash Cousin's rebounding? I'll be shocked if he isn't a 10 board a game guy in the NBA. Maybe he won't be an elite 12-14 rebound guy but that's hardly a deal breaker for a prospect like him.

[NetsForce]

how many games Timberwolves win this season?

What does that have to do with anything?

Replace Love with Cousins this year and the Wolves would probably be struggling to reach 5 wins.

[510TWSS]

A bigger Kevin Love is much better. Especially with that 7'6'' wingspan. Cousins passes pretty well out of double teams. He shows he passes better than Curry and Randolph. Rebounds way, way better than Curry. And is bigger than Randolph. I see that as a much better player. I think there's a certain similar perspectives between him and pre-draft Brook Lopez.

[Cammo101]

Cousins and Love are nothing alike.

[Ruzious]

Cousins and Love are nothing alike.

Yeah, I like Cousins a lot and Love a lot, but comparing them for what they'll do at the NBA level doesn't make much - if any - sense.

[BigSlam]

Clearly it isn't perfect, but Curry was a skilled big man with weight and attitude issues coming into the NBA which is fairly similar to Cousins. That is his worst case scenario imo.

the problem with that comparison is that it totally discredits Cousin's ability to rebound. You cant discount his ability to grab boards because out of all the skills out there, rebounding almost always translates the most from college to the NBA level. His production in limited minutes is staggering, that level of production on those minutes reminds me of Rasheed Wallaces high school numbers sort of.

I wonder if Cousins will have the same problem as Beasley has had in the NBA as far as rebounding goes.

I mean, Beasley was a difference maker with his rebounding at K-State. Not so much in the NBA.

[mattg]

Clearly it isn't perfect, but Curry was a skilled big man with weight and attitude issues coming into the NBA which is fairly similar to Cousins. That is his worst case scenario imo.

the problem with that comparison is that it totally discredits Cousin's ability to rebound. You cant discount his ability to grab boards because out of all the skills out there, rebounding almost always translates the most from college to the NBA level. His production in limited minutes is staggering, that level of production on those minutes reminds me of Rasheed Wallaces high school numbers sort of.

I wonder if Cousins will have the same problem as Beasley has had in the NBA as far as rebounding goes.

I mean, Beasley was a difference maker with his rebounding at K-State. Not so much in the NBA.

meh, I doubt it. Beasley never ever enticed me as a prospect. I've always seen him as tweener who can't guard 3s or 4s and just seems to go through the motions. At K-State Beasley was purely a numbers guy IMO. I've never seen a player throw up such huge numbers in a power conference but make such a little impact on actually winning games. He just never seemed to give a damn, which is probably the biggest red flag in my book when it comes to prospects, guys who always had the size/athleticism/talent to dominate lower levels of competition but were just apathetic.

[ponder276]

I doubt it too, rebounding normally translates, Beasley is somewhat of an outlier, he's undersized but quite skilled on the perimeter so has really transformed into much more of a perimiter player in the NBA, which obviously is bad for his rebounding numbers. Cousins is much bigger than Beasley, he'll spend a tonne of time in the post, I see no reason why he won't be a good rebounder in the NBA. He obviously isn't gonna be grabbing 10 RPG in just 23.5 MPG like he did in college, but I definitely think he should be in the range of 10 rebounds per 36 minutes, if not more, even as a rookie (though he almost certainly will not be averaging 36 mpg).

[510TWSS]

Cousins and Love are nothing alike.

Yeah, I like Cousins a lot and Love a lot, but comparing them for what they'll do at the NBA level doesn't make much - if any - sense.

Why not? Seems applicable about as much as Eddy Curry.

Love and Cousins were both wide bigmen, with below average verticals. Love played outside a lot more in College than Cousins did. Love used to step out and hit an open 3 pointer. They both rebound extremely well, shouldn't be defensive mavens.

I think you and cammo are just splitting hairs. No prospect will ever be "exactly" like someone you compare them with.

[Jimmy76]

Cousins and Love are nothing alike.

Yeah, I like Cousins a lot and Love a lot, but comparing them for what they'll do at the NBA level doesn't make much - if any - sense.

Why not? Seems applicable about as much as Eddy Curry.

Love and Cousins were both wide bigmen, with below average verticals. Love played outside a lot more in College than Cousins did. Love used to step out and hit an open 3 pointer. They both rebound extremely well, shouldn't be defensive mavens.

I think you and cammo are just splitting hairs. No prospect will ever be "exactly" like someone you compare them with.

they aren't anything alike

Love spaces the floor and is a great all around passer

Cousins is a beast in the post

the only similarities is that they are both good rebounders and bad defenders

[510TWSS]

Which I noted above Jimbo. The things Love did during his one season are things I think Cousins could've done. If Cal wanted him out there running the pick n roll and pick n pop, I think Cousins could've done that. But no, he wanted Cousins down low 95% of the time. Splitting hairs once again. Seems like the only valid comp for Cousins is Eddy Curry. I think that's a worst case scenario. Cousins isn't nearly as big, was a WAAY better rebounder, much more active in general, better passer...sigh. It's like Deja Vu with some of you here.

[Jimmy76]

Which I noted above Jimbo. The things Love did during his one season are things I think Cousins could've done. If Cal wanted him out there running the pick n roll and pick n pop, I think Cousins could've done that. But no, he wanted Cousins down low 95% of the time. Splitting hairs once again. Seems like the only valid comp for Cousins is Eddy Curry. I think that's a worst case scenario. Cousins isn't nearly as big, was a WAAY better rebounder, much more active in general, better passer...sigh. It's like Deja Vu with some of you here.

tyson chandler had a jumper in high school

doesn't mean you can pick and pop with him

they're as different as bill lambieer and dwight howard

[510TWSS]

I'll give you Love was a better spot shooter, but mainly because Cousins got very few attempts.

Cousins has already shown flashes of a decent jumpshot. Don't know why you hate on it.

[510TWSS]

Which I noted above Jimbo. The things Love did during his one season are things I think Cousins could've done. If Cal wanted him out there running the pick n roll and pick n pop, I think Cousins could've done that. But no, he wanted Cousins down low 95% of the time. Splitting hairs once again. Seems like the only valid comp for Cousins is Eddy Curry. I think that's a worst case scenario. Cousins isn't nearly as big, was a WAAY better rebounder, much more active in general, better passer...sigh. It's like Deja Vu with some of you here.

tyson chandler had a jumper in high school

doesn't mean you can pick and pop with him

they're as different as bill lambieer and dwight howard

Alright, whatever you say Jimbo.

[Jimmy76]

Which I noted above Jimbo. The things Love did during his one season are things I think Cousins could've done. If Cal wanted him out there running the pick n roll and pick n pop, I think Cousins could've done that. But no, he wanted Cousins down low 95% of the time. Splitting hairs once again. Seems like the only valid comp for Cousins is Eddy Curry. I think that's a worst case scenario. Cousins isn't nearly as big, was a WAAY better rebounder, much more active in general, better passer...sigh. It's like Deja Vu with some of you here.

tyson chandler had a jumper in high school

doesn't mean you can pick and pop with him

they're as different as bill lambieer and dwight howard

Alright, whatever you say Jimbo.

I figured my statment was reasonable

Love spaces the floor and rebounds like Lambieer (not half the defense but whatever)

Cousins and Dwight play their entire game inside (what you did in high school doesn't mean much)

a substantive response would be better than generic sarcasm

[510TWSS]

That's the thing with comps. No one is ever going to agree with them 100%. Mostly comps are shallow representations and apply in certain areas, but not all. Eddy Curry is a dumb comparison imo. I think that presumes that Cousins will end up letting himself balloon past 300 pounds.

Kevin Love isn't a 100% ideal comparison either. But if you spew out Curry comps, than you can certainly spew out Love comps. I figure Cousins could shoot from midrange if he was set up by a PG, and allowed to take that shot like Love was allowed to. Love didn't have the dominating post game that Cousins does. I think you can make certain observations from HS performance. I mean that's all we had to go by when Garnett, Kobe, McGrady, O'Neal came out. Certainly college experience is much more valuable a sample to judge by. But it's not like gathering information from HS is completely garbage. I'm fine with agreeing to disagree, which doesn't happen on Realgm.

[Jimmy76]

That's the thing with comps. No one is ever going to agree with them 100%. Mostly comps are shallow representations and apply in certain areas, but not all. Eddy Curry is a dumb comparison imo. I think that presumes that Cousins will end up letting himself balloon past 300 pounds.

Kevin Love isn't a 100% ideal comparison either. But if you spew out Curry comps, than you can certainly spew out Love comps. I figure Cousins could shoot from midrange if he was set up by a PG, and allowed to take that shot like Love was allowed to. Love didn't have the dominating post game that Cousins does. I think you can make certain observations from HS performance. I mean that's all we had to go by when Garnett, Kobe, McGrady, O'Neal came out. Certainly college experience is much more valuable a sample to judge by. But it's not like gathering information from HS is completely garbage. I'm fine with agreeing to disagree, which doesn't happen on Realgm.

good point this gets lost in a lot of the comparison arguments

i see where the Eddy comparisons come from but clearly Cousins trumps him in a lot of ways

[510TWSS]

^^ Agreed.

So do you personally go Favors over Cousins? Just curious.

[Jimmy76]

^^ Agreed.

So do you personally go Favors over Cousins? Just curious.

no I definitely go Cousins over Favors

just more talent

im lower on favors than most (im always weirdly low/high on particular guys for some reason)

imo Favors looks like he's gonna end up a rich mans perkins type player

[BigSlam]

Q: DeMarcus Cousins. How good can he get?

A: Karl Malone like (if he worked on his body/conditioning)?