DeMarcus Cousins. How good can he get?

[#1 pick]

I think (and I'm hoping) he meant Cousins and Smith are alike mentally.

Exactly.. smh, it shouldn't have went this far.

[#1 pick]

I keep seeing Benoit Benjamin, a guy who had monster stats at times, but whose effort was always questioned.

Most youngin's do not know Mr. Benjamin. I agree, skill wise Cousins is better but Benoit talent was very good for a center but his desire was worst than Tim Thomas.

[ponder276]

I think (and I'm hoping) he meant Cousins and Smith are alike mentally.

Doubt it, I've already seen this guy compare Wall to Steve Nash, Favors to David Robinson and Aminu to TMac.

[510TWSS]

Cousins compares better to Derrick Coleman than Kwame if you want to call bust. Average athlete, lots of natural offensive talent, and very little between the ears.

It's kind of strange to see someone who criticizes Cousins' intangibles so much also have Whiteside at #9 on their big board

Whiteside has what Cousins does not, a ton of upside. I have Cousins ahead of Whiteside, I just don't wet myself over him.

Let's be real here. Cousins still has a considerable amount of upside. The only question is will he reach it. Obviously like with every prospect. Whiteside not only has to develop physically, but his game needs to mature as well. Just because Cousins can step in and contribute right away doesn't mean his potential is considerably lower. Whiteside is interesting, but he's nowhere near the prospect Cousins is.

[Cammo101]

Let's be real here. Cousins still has a considerable amount of upside. The only question is will he reach it. Obviously like with every prospect. Whiteside not only has to develop physically, but his game needs to mature as well. Just because Cousins can step in and contribute right away doesn't mean his potential is considerably lower. Whiteside is interesting, but he's nowhere near the prospect Cousins is.

Cousins is an average athlete by NBA standards who gets very little lift and plays be;ow the basketball. He has nowhere near the upside Whiteside does. He does however, have a significantly higher talent floor, because he can play right now and still be a rotation player.

If Cousins tops out he is likely to be Zach Randolph. If Whiteside tops out he is likely to be Garnett. That is a big difference in talent ceilings.

[Jazzfan12]

How is Cousins an average athlete when he's going to be one of the five strongest players in the NBA next season without any weight training at all? Whiteside-KG is also probably the worst comparison ever as well since KG was an extremely hard worker and an excellent passer...

[Cammo101]

How is Cousins an average athlete when he's going to be one of the five strongest players in the NBA next season without any weight training at all? Whiteside-KG is also probably the worst comparison ever as well since KG was an extremely hard worker and an excellent passer...

Cousins will not be even close to top 5 strongest. He may not be one of the 5 strongest players in this draft. Go look at his combine numbers and you will see an average athlete.

I did not compare KG and Whiteside, I said Whiteside's talent ceiling is a KG like player. That has nothing to do with work ethic.

[Dirtgrain]

So, at this point, some research would be nice, looking at successful NBA big men and finding out which ones were similar to Cousins in combine stats. I'm too lazy.

[DayofMourning]

Saying that Whiteside's upside is much higher than Cousins is kind of confusing. I'm sure that close to 0% of the people who post here have seen Whiteside play, and many have seen Cousins play. Being able to compare the two with little available for comparison doesn't make sense.

Cousins had one of the most productive seasons in decades for a freshman college player...or soph, junior, or senior for that matter. Big men are extremely hard to judge, especially when you're judging against Marshall type opposition.

Give the comparisons a rest until both have faced NBA caliber talent.

[DayofMourning]

By the way, Cousins isn't an above average athlete for his position. However, his combine numbers shouldn't be given any credence to this. He clearly went through the motions and didn't give it his all. Maybe due to his agent's advice?

[Cammo101]

By the way, Cousins isn't an above average athlete for his position. However, his combine numbers shouldn't be given any credence to this. He clearly went through the motions and didn't give it his all. Maybe due to his agent's advice?

That speaks volumes for why everyone is so afraid of Cousins. Just going through the motions when millions of dollars are on the line is pretty telling.

[Esohny]

Whiteside has no shot to be a Garnett like player.

[Cammo101]

Whiteside has no shot to be a Garnett like player.

He has all the tools to be an excellent NBA big. He has the best combination of size, athleticism, and skills of any big in this draft. And this is a pretty good big man draft. But, whoever picks him will need to be patient and coach him up.

[DayofMourning]

By the way, Cousins isn't an above average athlete for his position. However, his combine numbers shouldn't be given any credence to this. He clearly went through the motions and didn't give it his all. Maybe due to his agent's advice?

That speaks volumes for why everyone is so afraid of Cousins. Just going through the motions when millions of dollars are on the line is pretty telling.

Cousins demeanor should give teams a certain amount of pause. He has a bit of a chip on his shoulder. However, he put up numbers everyone else would be happy to have in 20 minutes a game. He's a top three player in this draft and could become the best. That's good enough to not have to worry about missing out on too many millions.

I wonder about the agent's play in things. He didn't put much into the combine, but it didn't seem to be an attitude thing. It seemed to be the general mood, that players weren't participating fully in different aspects of the combine. Maybe Cousins' agent advised him to go half effort to take away from pronouncing his average athleticisim.

[AQuintus]

Hassan Whiteside (Great Athlete?):

27 inch no step vertical
31.5 inch max vertical

DeMarcus Cousins (Terrible Athlete?):

23.5 inch no step vertical
27.5 inch max vertical

[Jazzfan12]

One thing that should be mentioned about those numbers was that Whiteside wasn't wearing shoes at the combine.

[AQuintus]

One thing that should be mentioned about those numbers was that Whiteside wasn't wearing shoes at the combine.

That speaks volumes for why everyone is so afraid of Whiteside. Just going through the motions and not wearing shoes when millions of dollars are on the line is pretty telling.

Edit:

If he wasn't wearing shoes, where did Draftexpress's height in shoes measurement come from?

[Cammo101]

Hassan Whiteside (Great Athlete?):

27 inch no step vertical
31.5 inch max vertical

DeMarcus Cousins (Terrible Athlete?):

23.5 inch no step vertical
27.5 inch max vertical

You also left out the part where Whiteside did this in flip flops and Cousins did not even do the bench press because he didn't know how to lift weights, because he never has. True story.

[AQuintus]

You also left out the part where Whiteside did this in flip flops and Cousins did not even do the bench press because he didn't know how to lift weights, because he never has. True story.

So what you're saying is that Whiteside is a huge headcase that didn't even come prepared for the combine? And that Cousins showed amazing in game strength all year despite never lifting weights? And you still think that Whiteside has a much higher ceiling than Cousins?

On top of that you say Whiteside has the best combination of size, athleticism, and skill of any bigman in the draft?

He definitely has good height and length, but he's supermodel thin. I'd say weight is pretty important to "size." He's an excellent shot blocker and has a pretty good jump shot, but outside of those, what skills does he have?

Considering how close they measured out athletically, I'd say Cousins has a better combination of size, athleticism, and skill than Whiteside. Cousins has almost as much height and length but much more girth. There's size. Cousins has better ball handling, passing, post skills, and probably a better jump shot. There's skills. And I already mentioned athleticism (where Cousins was .01 second slower in the sprint and head a better agility time.)

I'm not even much of a fan of Cousins, but seriously, he's has a higher ceiling than Whiteside (probably the only guy in the lottery that is a bigger headcase than Cousins.)

[Esohny]

Hassan Whiteside (Great Athlete?):

27 inch no step vertical
31.5 inch max vertical

DeMarcus Cousins (Terrible Athlete?):

23.5 inch no step vertical
27.5 inch max vertical

You also left out the part where Whiteside did this in flip flops and Cousins did not even do the bench press because he didn't know how to lift weights, because he never has. True story.

So he's really strong and extremely effective in the post despite never being in a actual strength training program? What a disaster.